I am not sure how to pray

-

It was the Monday morning after an Easter Sunday, where I had just poured myself out for the Lord the day before. Needless to say, I was wiped out and experiencing a typical pastors blue monday. When I checked my email that morning, I received a note from a young mom of three, who just moved into the area because of her husbands job transfer. She was writing to inform me that she went onto our website the night before and read our How to know God page, and received Jesus as her Savior.

 It's been three years now since receiving that letter, and it is a blessing to me to know that she is still walking with Jesus. 

 In the original email I received from her, one of the things that she asked me about was prayer. Now that she has given her life to Jesus, she knows she is supposed to pray, but she said, "I am not sure how I am supposed to pray"? The following is my original response to her letter on how to pray.

 The most important thing about prayer is to be real with God. Remember that He is Your Heavenly Father who loves you. In fact, it may be hard to believe at times, but He loves you more than you love your kids. And He also loves you more than your kids love you! That is a huge love!

At first it may be harder for you to talk with Him, because it's so new for you. You can look at it this way. In the same way that you and your husband had to be patient for your children to learn to say their first words, and then their first sentences, and then have conversations with you, so too does God understand that about us. And I am sure that just like with your kids now, you probably wish they would talk a lot less, and listen to you a lot more, so too will your prayer life get to that point with God one day as well. Sometimes the prayer "experts" spend more time talking to God than they do listening.

 There is no one that has mastered the art of prayer, and no one that I know who feels like they pray enough. So just do your best to spend that alone time talking and listening with God and know that God is there listening with a loving heart.

 Share your struggles and fears with Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Share your hopes and dreams because more than likely, He is the one who placed them in your heart (Psalm 37:4). And most importantly share your desire with God to know Him more and to be pleasing to Him in life (Matthew 6:33).

 Prayer is not meant to be a "lotto-ticket" of course (James 4:3), but a time where you share your heart with God (Psalm 116:1-2), and allow God to share His love with you (1 John 3:1).

 There will come a time, for some sooner than others, but the time will come when you will be able to recognize God speaking to your heart (1 Kings 19:12). Of course, if you ever hear God in this manner, you will want to make sure that it is in line with the Word of God, as He will never contradict Himself, nor will He ever lead you away from God’s Word (1 John 4:1). 

 Another thing to remember in prayer, is that when you are listening to God, He may put someone on your heart. A friend, co-worker, neighbor, family member, etc. When this happens take the time to pray for that person, because there is a good chance that it is the Holy Spirit putting that person on your heart because they need prayer.

 One last note on prayer.

 Faith is crucial to our prayer life. In order see God move in and through our prayer life we have to exercise faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). God is not concerned with how eloquent our words are in prayer, just how big our faith in Him is (Mark 11:24).
RELATED ARTICLES
1. Alone Time With God

Popular posts from this blog

What is godless chatter?

-
Image
What is godless chatter? The term godless chatter is used by the apostle Paul when he exhorts Timothy to, “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:16-18, NIV). In context, this passage of Scripture is dealing with the godless chatter of false teachers who were sneaking into the church and trying to corrupt the truth of God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:14-3:9). Paul clearly warns Timothy about them when he points them out by saying, “Their teaching will spread like gangrene” (2:17). Paul likens the godless chatter of false teachers to gangrene, which was a deadly disease that spread rapidly and ate away at a persons flesh. This Greek idiom truly emphasizes the repulsiveness of the ministry of the false
Read more

Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known

-
Image
Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known The primary vision behind the Christian faith can be simplified down to the following statement; "to KNOW Jesus and to make Jesus KNOWN."  Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known, that’s really what our Christian faith is all about.  The verse that has inspired the first part of this this saying “ to KNOW JESUS and to make Him Known”, is found in Philippians 3:10, which illustrates the apostle Paul’s heart for wanting to know Jesus more and more through pressing on daily in his relationship with Him. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:10, “that I may KNOW Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”  This was Paul’s greatest desire in life, to become more like Jesus... by being conformed into His image, and the only way that this could take place was if he continued growing in his relationship with Jesus. In fact, Paul would continue on in Philippians 3, by saying, “N
Read more

John 5:1-15 (Sermon Outline)

-
Image
Sermon Outline When Jesus is your only option; you’re in a good place! John 5:1-15   I.                 Introduction:  Jeremiah’s faith a.      The reason I have that slide up of a blue car, is because last October around Jeremiah’s 7 th birthday, Lyndsey was sharing a heartwarming story with me about a conversation she had with Jeremiah that day. You see, Jeremiah had asked her for a stamp, and when Lyndsey asked him why, he said, “I want to mail a letter to the car people.” Lyndsey didn’t think much about it, but then a couple hours later she found the envelope, and she asked what it was. She said to Jeremiah, “It feels like money is in the envelope.” Jeremiah said, “It is money. I am going to mail  the letter to the car people so that I can buy my favorite colored car.  I want to send them the letter with my money so I can get a blue car.” Jeremiah had found one of the car dealership mailers that came with the junk mail, and took it over to his desk and put it all together to send h
Read more