How to Pray and Why

I think as Christians we all have grappled with thoughts of “how do I pray?” and “why should I pray?” Today I am going to use the Lord’s Prayer and my experiences to hopefully answer these questions.

 

How to Pray and Why

 

 

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…”

James 4:8

 

How is your relationship with God? Do you have a close, personal relationship with Him? You know, were you just know that He gets you? Or does He feel distant and the “relationship” feels more awkward than comfortable? I would guess that your feelings on prayer and your relationship with God are about the same. If and when we want to have a better understanding of God and/or a better relationship with Him. Working on our prayer life is a great starting point. The Holy Spirit will lead from there.

 

What is Prayer

 

Dictionary.com says that prayer is 1) a devout petition to God 2) a spiritual communion with God, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession. 3) the act or practice of praying to God 4) a formula or sequence of words used in or appointed for praying: The Lord’s Prayer

 

Everywhere it says God it was followed by “or object of worship” I removed it to lessen the redundancy. Plus, we know that God is not an object as some gods are. Our God is the Creator of all – including all objects.

With the exception of #4 I agree with the definitions here. My problem with #4 is that I do not believe that prayer should be a formula. Prayer is a conversation. The Lord’s Prayer was what Jesus used to teach His us how to pray. I don’t think Jesus intended us to just recite these words back to Him and call that prayer. There is a lot to learn from this prayer, which we will get to in just a moment.

 

How to Pray

 

I feel it is important to note that the prayer we hear in group settings; such as the Pastors prayer at church or a blessing over a meal is not intended to be the same as what we pray when it is a private prayer.

 

It may be helpful to think of it as a conversation with a close friend. The conversation you have with this friend among a group of other friends is going to be different than the conversation with the same friend on your sofa when it is just the two of you.

 

Your private prayer, or conversation with God will be different than anyone else’s conversation with God. Because you are different than anyone else, and God knows that. He made you special, a one of a kind. God doesn’t want you to be anything other than you when you pray.

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

As I stated this is the prayer Jesus used to teach us how to pray. Therefore, it is the best starting point when answering the question of how to pray. I am going to go through each verse and expand a little of what I believe Jesus was teaching. The Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13

 

            
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” verse 9

 

The Lord’s prayer starts by giving praise to God. I have found in my own experience that this is the best place to start prayer. By taking a moment to focus on God, who He is, the almighty holy God, I elevate Him in my heart. And naturally that also humbles me and puts my problems, worries, and frustrations into perspective.

 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Isaiah 6:3

 

“Your kingdom come your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” verse 10

 

This is something that I think many of us too often forget. We need to submit to God’s will. Truly, we can’t know God’s will unless we are submitted to God and willing to follow as He leads. When we accept Christ as Lord of our lives and hearts, we gave Him authority. Although, if you are anything like me, we tend to forget and take the reigns back. Now, I know in my heart and soul that I want God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. However, I tend to think that I know what is best in most situations. So, I do what I think is best, without checking with God first. I need to have daily reminders to be submitted to God in everything. Reminding myself in prayer and I can also pray for help in this area.

 

“Give us this day our daily bread,” verse 11

 

This is where we make our requests known. We give our worries, concerns, needs and wants for ourselves as well as for others, over to God. At this point it is good for me that I have already submitted my will to Him. You see, I sometimes forget that God provides my needs, He does not provide for all my wants. Although, He does often bless me with my wants. The idea is to ask and trust each day that He will provide all that you need for that day. For me there are times that my need is just enough energy to do what need to be done. Trust that God is faithful and that He will provide.

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, not about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Matt 6:25

 

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgive our debtors” verse 12

 

Here we need to repent and forgive. Yes Christ paid the price for our sins at Calvary. He paid the price that we couldn’t. However, that doesn’t mean that there is no cost to us. We are called to forgive as we have been forgiven. I have written more on this topic, The Cost of Forgiveness

 

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” verse 13

 

Jesus instructs us to pray for protection and guidance. I pray this for myself, my family and others that I am praying for regularly. This is not a magic formula for a trouble-free life. There will still be struggles, temptations, and just hard stuff that we will go through. And we may not understand why we were not protected from some of them. There are times that we just have to trust God’s love for us. I believe when all has been said and done, if we could see what we went through and what we were given protection from, we will see God’s love and righteousness.

 

When I memorized this prayer as a child it ended with,

“For thine art the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen”

 

I like this because it has us end where we began, praising the Lord and giving Him the glory. It also leaves us with a humble heart of submission.

 

Why Pray

 

I have read and heard people ask, “why should I pray when God already knows?”

 

My thinking on this is twofold. First and foremost is because we are in a relationship with God. In a relationship we spend time together and talk. We share our hearts, our thoughts, and everything in between. That is what God wants, to spend time with us and to have us share with Him. In the post I wrote on Seeking Truth I talked about the Bible being one way that God speaks to us. Prayer is how we speak to Him. Communication in any relationship is very important.

 

Secondly

 

I think in praying and primarily in the asking we grow spiritually.

 

I think of our children as they grow. At some point we want them to identify their own needs and be able to ask us for what they need. Right?

 

For example, there is a point were our children either do their own laundry or they put it away for themselves. It is about this time that mom loses touch with just how many socks the dryer is consuming. Therefore, children need to let mom know that they need socks. It is really a simple thing and yet it does show maturity.

 

In prayer I think we go a step further when we start to pray for others and are able to identify what others need. Often the Holy Spirit will lead this and it takes spiritual maturity to be in tune with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These prayers will often be of a more spiritual nature for example; prayers for spiritual growth, increased faith or love, help with forgiveness, wisdom, etcetera.

 

One Final Point

 

My final point as to why we should pray is simple. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see that He made a point to pray often. He would get up early to get away and pray, or stay up all night in prayer. If prayer is that important to Jesus it should be doubly important to us.

 

I can’t fully express the blessing of prayer; this is something that must be experienced. So, I say pray and be blessed!

 

I would love to know what may have helped you understand more about prayer. Or just what stood out to you. What was your take away? Please share in the comments below.

 

Grace and Peace

Debra Jean

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Bloggers for the Kingdom @ #KingdomBloggers Anita Ojeda @ Inspire me Monday
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Worth Beyond Rubies @ Weekly Wednesday
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