Prayer: Just Talking To God
God wants to be in constant communication with you! Yes, you! I have heard many say, “but I don’t know how to pray” or “I’m too nervous.” Well, if you know how to speak, you are halfway there! There really isn’t a certain structure to praying. Although, there can be certain prayers you are taught to pray, you also have the choice to just talk to God! Nothing is too big or too small for you to bring to His attention because He already knows everything. In addition, God is a God of details. He knows all about you and your life, even the number of hairs on your head right now (Luke 12:7)! The amazing thing is that He still wants you to engage with Him about anything and everything. There shouldn’t be pressure that comes with praying to God. Our relationship to God is that we are His children (1 John 3:2). Our relationship to His Son, Jesus, is that we are His friend (John 15:15)! Therefore, we are a part of a family and community with God! When one is close with their family and community, there is a level of trust and comfortability that comes with every encounter. The same is true with God! We can go to Him with anything and trust that He will take care of us and any problem.
Every trial and feeling is meant to draw us back to Him!
God has shown how He will take us just the way we are at any time. Yet, His goal is to transform us into who He has made us to be, which is always better! You can learn to be comfortable with talking to God as you realize how much He really cares for you. He desires for you to continue to get confident in who He is and in who He has created you to be! God is always working, and He wants you to be a part of His Kingdoms work. How can you be a part of that when it comes to prayer? Well, I’m glad you asked! God wants us to know Him through His Word before anything else. When we pray, we can use our knowledge of His Word and stand on it by reciting it back to Him! In this way, we meditate on who He is while also reminding Him of His promises. The Lord says in Jeremiah 1:12, “..I am watching over my word to perform it.” God is faithful to His Word and cannot go against His character. Since He will not change who He is, when you pray His Word, you can be reassured of that fact! Another way you can be a part of His Kingdom’s work through prayer is by praying with expectancy and confidence. This happens as a result of knowing who He is and what He says. First John 5:14-15 encourages us by saying, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” God responds in accordance with what He sees fit as it aligns with His will. Since we know that God knows us better than we do, and that He is a God of details, we can also be assured to firmly believe that He will do what’s best for us. Although, it may not be in the way we expect, we can still have expectancy that He will show up. Romans 12:12 tells us to, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, and be constant in prayer.” In every circumstance, and every aspect of your life, you can talk to Him! Remember, He wants you to be in communication with Him, whether in hope or in affliction.
You can talk to Him as you go throughout the day since He is present with you in each moment, thought, and feeling (hence the title).
God is not afraid or worried about what happens next in your life, or what you have done already, because He is in complete control!
Some ask “if God knows everything, why should I pray?” Well, Jesus shows the importance of praying while here on earth as even He took time away to pray and have personal time to connect with the Father! I’ll give you some examples of what you can pray that is in line with His Word and will. Jesus actually models how we can pray in the Bible. Matthew 6:9-13 includes The Lord’s Prayer which you can say when you don’t know what specifically to pray for. That prayer asks for God’s will to be done and focuses on who He is! Now, here are some examples of some specific things to pray about. When you feel overwhelmed, you can ask Him for peace, as God’s word says He gives His peace “which surpasses all understanding” to guard your heart and mind in Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Another is when you get frustrated with someone and think about saying something rude or gossiping, you can ask God to give you the words to speak what “is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:29). Then, you can set a good example and reflect God in that moment instead of being quick to judge or act out. In addition, when you know you should show love to others but find it hard, you can ask God to give you His strength and love to operate out of! God’s word says that in your weakness He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that God will equip you with kindness and patience (Colossians 3:12)! Also, your prayers don’t need to be a certain time span. God will listen to you yap and rant, or He will hear a quick prayer like, “help me Jesus” or “thank you Jesus.” So, when you feel inadequate, unequipped, or just don’t think you know what to pray, you need to go to God’s Word. There, you will find what He says about you and find what applies to you so that you can pray His words and not your own.
