People often write to me and ask me to send them some prayers that they can pray or if I will write them some prayers that they can pray in the morning or for some special event. They perhaps think there is some formula or words that are effective in communicating with God. I believe that there isn’t a specific formula of how to pray. The truth is that PRAYER is TALKING TO GOD. God is looking at our hearts and He wants us to come and talk to Him and hear Him talk to us and lead us and guide us in the journey of life!
Hebrews 4:14 – 16 (Vs 16): So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.
Some things in life we complicate. It often seems that the simple things in life become so complicated that we simply don’t do them. Prayer is one of those things. For many reasons we complicate the issue of prayer. The result is we end up excluding prayer from our lives, when in effect it is a very simple and vital element of any Christian’s life. I believe that God meant for prayer to be a simple, spontaneous outflow of our relationship with Him.
1. JUST TALKING TO GOD
What is prayer? Prayer is simply just talking to God. I think that many people pray more than they realise, but because we have complicated prayer and turned it into a formal religious endeavour, we step back from prayer. God just wants us to talk to Him. Prayer is the communication process between us and the Lord.
Isaiah 65:24 I will answer them before they even call to Me. While they are still talking to Me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
Christianity is a relationship with a living God. This relationship is built on communication. We need to talk to God (Pray) and let Him respond.
2. OUR FATHER
God is our Father. As with our earthly fathers, we should be able to communicate with ease. I have a two young daughters. Many times it is just small talk, but I give them my full attention and listen intently. I will always ask them to tell me their secrets and they will usually tell me that they haven’t got any secrets except that they love me! God wants to do just the same. He wants us to come and talk to Him and He is waiting just to listen to us speaking to Him. Jesus taught us to pray to Our Father.
Luke 11:2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven”.
Our Father is always ready to listen when we talk to Him! How do we speak to our fathers? I don’t go to my father and say: ‘Be thou my vision, Oh father of my life!’ I just speak to him and in the same way God wants to us to speak to Him. God is ‘our Father!’
3. DEVELOPING OUR THOUGHT LIFE INTO A PRAYER LIFE
So much of our lives are consumed with our thoughts and our thought life. We think about things, worry about things, concern ourselves over things, get distressed and fearful and we even get stressed and anxious. I believe we can begin to turn our thought lives into a prayer life and begin to turn those aspects into prayer. Recently, as I was driving home from work one day, I was pondering the fact that something that I noticed was a real disappointment to me. Instead of allowing that disappointment to turn to frustration and stress, I turned it into prayer and began to pray. In that moment the burden lifted and I forgot about it by the time I got home.
4. GOD HAS TIME FOR YOU
God is not too busy to listen to you. He is ready and able to give you His full attention.
Jeremiah 18:1-2 Here is another message to Jeremiah from the Lord: Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made, and I will talk to you there.
Like a good father who has always got time for his children, so God wants to give us time.
Psalm 102:17 He will listen to the prayers of the destitute, for he is never too busy to heed their requests.
Remember prayer is dialogue with God. We must not do all the talking but we must give God the opportunity to speak to us in return.
5. ASK GOD
When we talk to God we can ask Him for those things that we may need. I am so glad that we can approach God in this way.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.
Luke 11:9-10 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Why don’t you approach God for those issues and circumstances that are a concern to you today? Just talk to God about them and let’s begin to trust Him.
6. EXPECTING GOD TO COME THROUGH FOR YOU
God wants to come through for us.
Mark 11:24 Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it’s yours!
BELIEVE is a strange word – but I believe we must believe God in three areas:
- Believe in the CHARACTER of God. He is faithful and He does care for us.
- We must believe in the INTEGRITY of God. If He said He will do something – HE WILL.
- We must believe that HE IS ABLE. We must believe that nothing is too hard for Him.
Isaiah 65:24 I will answer them before they even call to Me. While they are still talking to Me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
Nothing is impossible with God. While we are still talking to Him about our needs, He wants to start coming through for us. What more could we want? Be expectant (believe and have faith) as you talk to God about the things that concern you.
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