I imagine that you, like me, have wondered on occasion why we should pray? Since God is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and totally sovereign. So why does He need our prayers? Why doesn’t He just take care of situations without us asking Him in prayer? Surely He could step in and take care of anything, so why doesn’t He?

        Dr. Miles Monroe, a wonderful Bahamian minister, has given us a point to ponder. As God was creating man, He said, “Let them have dominion…over all the earth”. Genesis 1:26. That established a law. And God’s law, His word, can not be broken. The “them” was man, the only spirit being in a dirt body. This law ruled out spirits without dirt bodies having dominion over the earth. Were it not so, Satan would literally have the authority to completely destroy mankind, and he probably would. He can’t, though, because he doesn’t have the legal right according to God’s Word to do so. God called Satan the “prince of the air,” Eph. 2:2, not the prince of the earth.

        As an aside, for those who might say that God was an Indian giver and took the earth away from the dominion of man and gave it to Satan after man’s fall, allow me to quote Psalm 115:16, written thousands of years after Adam’s mistake, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man.”

        Now ponder this, God also is spirit as Satan is, and God does not break His own laws. God said, “My word is above my name.” Psalm 138:2. God does not put Himself above His law, which is His Word. Therefore, Dr. Monroe’s thought is that God also does not have legal authority to act on this planet earth without man giving Him permission to do so. Think about that. Since God established the law that man has dominion over the earth, God can not act on earth unless we give Him permission. But, we might say, God is still sovereign. Very true, but consider this; not once in all 66 books of the Bible did God act without man being involved in some way.

        According to Dr. Monroe, God needs our prayers in order to have permission to legally act on this planet earth. That is why we should “pray without ceasing.” 1 Thes. 5:17. If we want God involved in our situations, and those of our loved ones, we need to pray. In order not to break His own law, God needs our permission and authority to act. We have been given dominion over all the earth. That law is still in effect. So “pray continually.”  Pray about everything. Give Him authority to act in every aspect of your life.

        On a further thought, it occurs to me that our doubts cancel our prayers, as we are told in James 1, probably because they cancel our permission for God to act. We pray, giving God permission to act, then we doubt, taking that permission away. So pray in faith, knowing that Jesus told us, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22.

        Yes, God is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving, And by sovereignly deciding to obey the law He Himself decreed, He has declared that if we want His help, we must call on Him. His phone number is Jeremiah 33:3, “Call on me and I will answer you”. There is no charge for the call, so make it often.