Prayer is something that’s obvious and seems to come naturally to believers, until you stop and think about it. It didn’t take long to realize just how bad I was at praying after I came to Christ. I know many Christians who admit to struggle at praying, even those who came to accept Jesus early in life. So I just thought I’d take the time to share what I’ve learned about prayer.
- God invites us to pray. Have you ever wondered why God wants us to pray when He already knows what we’re going to say? I sure have. But what if prayer actually has more to do with God speaking to us than us telling Him our needs? Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
How awesome is that!? The God who created the universe wants to reveal His great and mighty secrets that we don’t know! We just have to talk to Him. But more importantly listen. Prayer is a two-way communication between you and God. Not just a one-sided conversation. God communicates in a variety of ways through His Word, people, circumstances, and His creation. It’s easy to tell God our problems, thoughts, desires and then get distracted or fall asleep afterwards. But when we don’t take the time to listen or pay attention to what He’s saying, we’re going to miss out on what God desires to show us!
- It pleases God when we pray. God takes delight in our prayers. They’re like an offering to Him. “May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”-Psalm 141:2.
“Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.”-Revelation 8:3-4.
I think a lot of times we’ll pray to find out how we can please God, when He just wants us to spend time with Him. God created us to glorify Him by seeking His face and knowing Him more intimately.
“My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with Me.”
And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”” (Psalm 27:8)
3.Prayer is a duty. Not only is it a privilege to pray, it is also a responsibility of every born-again believer. Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for several reasons:
1.We won’t fall into temptation
2. To intercede for people on their behalf
3. To carry out God’s will on earth
(1 Samuel 12:23, Daniel 9&10, Matthew 6:9-13, Matthew 7:7, Matthew 9:38, Luke 22:40, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:1, 1 Timothy 2:1, James 5:16)
Sometimes it’s easy to see prayer as a chore and just pray the words like a mantra thinking it’s good enough to please God. But read what Jesus has to say about vain-less repetition during prayer in Matthew 6:7, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.”
And in Isaiah 29:13, “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” God isn’t impressed by how eloquent our prayers are, if our hearts attitude fail to show utmost respect and reverence towards Him, resulting in disobedience which greatly dishonors Him like a burnt offering (1 Samuel 15:22). God desires for all of us to be faithful in prayer, even when we don’t feel like it, but more importantly He treasures our obedience and allegiance to Him. (Mark 12:30)
- We must pray in faith. James 1:6-7 says, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” Praying in faith doesn’t mean that when you just believe with all your might, you will receive your request, or that you didn’t have enough faith when your prayer wasn’t answered the way you wanted. All it means is that you remember who you’re praying to. You must come to the Lord knowing He is all sovereign and has wisdom to answer your prayer in the best way for His glory. I’m actually glad God doesn’t give me everything I ask for!
Sometimes when I pray, I really don’t have much faith. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t make myself trust God. In these moments, all we have to do is ask God for faith! He wants His children to trust Him. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can! Think about it. If the Spirit is God and is perfectly in tune with God’s will, and the same Spirit also prays for us, wouldn’t the Holy Spirit give us things to pray for that God wants us to pray? If God Himself lays things on our hearts to pray, it means we can have complete confidence knowing that God desperately wants to answer those prayers.
- God helps us in prayer. Have you ever wanted to pray, but couldn’t think of the words to say? I know I have! In this situation, when something so heavy is on our heart, but we’re not sure how to express it or know what to say, we must remember that “…the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” -(Romans 8:26). Isn’t that so comforting and reassuring? We can ask God to tell us what to pray for and give us the desire to talk to Him when we don’t feel like praying. There’s a ton of prayers in the Bible to learn from and model, especially the Psalms and from Jesus Himself. The more we abide in God’s Word, the more we are familiar with His heart and won’t run out of things to pray.
“The secret to prayer is aligning yourself to God’s heart rather than being heard for the words you pray.” -Jen
Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” In this verse, it doesn’t say that God took away his troubles, but instead He removed his fears. It doesn’t sound like it made things better, but the Psalmists fears disappeared because God assured him that He heard his prayer and was in control of the situation. So God doesn’t always take away our problems, but He comforts us and gives us peace whether it’s handling our situations, developing our trust in Him, or giving us what we need to grow in our faith in His timing.
After pouring our hearts to God, we can rest assure that He has heard us and will take care of the rest.
Something to keep in mind is that prayer really works! So if you’re praying for God to move, well get ready because He is going to move mightily!
“Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.” – Max Lucado
“A godly man is a praying man. As soon as grace is poured in, prayer is poured out. Prayer is the soul’s traffic with Heaven; God comes down to us by His Spirit, and we go up to Him by prayer.” – Thomas Watson
“What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men who the Holy Spirit can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.” – E. M. Bounds
To have a strong vibrant prayer life, it is very important to meditate on God's Word to develop a richer, deeper and intimate understanding of who He is which impacts how you approach Him in prayer. Knowing God's character and who you are in Him, that is knowing your identity as His beloved child, will make a difference in how you pray. Like with any relationship, it takes time to build and grow and the more you learn about God the more you'll know Him and it will flow through your prayer life. Things like unforgiveness or bitterness will hinder your prayers from reaching God and so can shame and so forth. Faith develops more as you consistently "work out" your beliefs in Him. Like gaining more muscle through exercising and eating right. If you’re struggling to have a consistent bible and prayer time, here are some links to check out:
Appreciating How God Made You (My personal story)
My Identity in Christ + Spiritual Warfare
Consequences Unforgiveness Has On Prayer
Forgiving The "Unforgiving" (Powerful reminder of the importance in knowing God's Word and prayer)
Winning The War Against Shame and Condemnation
The Role Prayer Has Against Bitterness Towards Slander Or False Accusations
How To Dig Yourself Out Of A Bible Reading Rut
Reading The Bible For New Christians
The Secret Sauce To Spiritual Growth
24 Bible Reading Plans That Will Satisfy Anybody
The Most Comprehensive List Of Bible Reading Plans
Six Sources For Weekly Bible Memorization Verses
How To Create The Ultimate Bible Study Plan For Beginners
