I recently started a new position as Prayer Ministry Coordinator at my church. One of my goals in this position is to read various books and other materials on prayer (my best friend would say this is a thinly veiled excuse to read yet another book). I picked up Philip Yancey’s book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference. I have wanted to read it for a while and it was the first one on the shelf.
In Chapter four, Yancey writes, “If I had to answer the question ‘Why pray?’ in one sentence, it would be, “Because Jesus did.” I have heard this particular question many times. I was, however, struck by the simplicity of Yancey’s answer. It is easy to get lost in a long drawn out theological answer. The simple answer is that Jesus did.