Why God waits for you to pray

The book I wrote on that subject - Why God Waits For You To Pray - came about because that question puzzled me... and evidently stumps others as well.

Why does God wait for humans to ask... if He does?

I think you have to answer that last part first. Does God actually wait for people to pray before He acts?

Think about it. When did God decide to release Israel from slavery in Egypt? After they asked (Exodus 2:23-24). When did He decide not to destroy Israel in the wilderness? After Moses interceded (Exodus 32).

When did God give Hannah a son? After she prayed (1 Samuel 1:10-20). When did He give King Hezekiah fifteen more years of life? After he cried out in prayer (Isaiah 38:1-6).

When did the Father resurrect Jesus, saving him from (out of) death? After intense prayer (Hebrews 5:7).

I could go on. According to Dr. Herbert Lockyer's book, All The Prayers of The Bible, the Scriptures record 650 prayers and 450 answers, which came after they prayed.

That's why James wrote, "You don't get what you want because you don't ask God." (James 4:2 ERV).

So it seems easy to recognize through Scripture that God waits for us to ask. But, why?

In How To Pray, R.A. Torrey answered by saying, "Because there is a devil."

Since we're "behind enemy lines" we must take the initiative to ask God into this fallen world, or He won't act. That's because this world lies in a war zone with three "wills" competing for it: Satan's will, Mankind's will and God's will.

When God gave this world to man in the Garden of Eden, and man then rejected God's help and fellowship, the world fell under Satan's dictatorship. (Note Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:3-7 & 1 John 5:19).

All this being true, the believer must actively reject Satan's dictatorship and purposely invite God back into the human condition.

Otherwise, He waits.