What is prayer?
Is prayer meditation, or silence? Simply put, prayer is talking to God. As I was a child we said simple prayers like God is good, God is great, let us thank Him for this food AMEN. We said this prayer at mealtime. Others have prayers that they say before they go to bed like "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
Prayers are a reflection of our thoughts and feelings. Most people think only to pray when they have a list of things they need; God please help me win the lottery, please help me get an A, please help me to buy this new car. While He cares about hearing all the big and the little details of our life, I often think about how I talk to others in my earthly relationships. Do I only talk to my kids when I want something from them? No, I tell them how great they are, I ask they questions about what they did at school? How do they feel about certain situations? All the conversations are building a relationship. It is the same thing when we talk to God. He wants us to say how thankful we are for all the good things that are happening. He wants to hear how sad we are about certain things that are taking place in life. He wants to hear our negative feelings we have about a person or our questions when life isn’t going the way we want it to. We can pray long prayers or short prayers, at different times and in different places such as while we are in a store, in our car, in the morning or at night, or a little all throughout the day.
The best guidelines we have in scripture about how to pray is found in Matthew 6. His disciples asked Jesus when He was on earth how they should pray. He said, “And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans.” He is saying, when you talk to God don’t use a bunch of words just to being saying something out of ritual. Think about what you are saying to him. It doesn’t have to be profound or fancy. He wants to hear what is on your heart.
Then He goes on to say:
Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name.
Show Him respect when you speak to Him, don’t just rush there without thought.
Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
He is doing work here as well as preparing for the days we will be with Him in heaven. Ask for things if it is His will, not ours and what we want.
Give us today, our daily bread.
He cares about all of our needs, whether they are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. He cares about the big things as well as the little things.
Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Confess to God all that we have done and He promises to forgive us and remember them no more. We also must learn to forgive others so that He will forgive us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
We can avoid doing things we shouldn’t if we ask Him to keep us from being tempted.
Do you ever talk to God? Do you treat Him respect when you talk to Him? Do you thank Him as much as you ask Him to help you with things? How often do you talk to Him? Does He ever talk back to you? If He does how does He speak to you? A relationship is a two way street! Try having a conversation with Him. He wants a relationship with You!!!
Do you ever talk to God? Do you treat Him respect when you talk to Him? Do you thank Him as much as you ask Him to help you with things? How often do you talk to Him? Does He ever talk back to you? If He does how does He speak to you? A relationship is a two way street! Try having a conversation with Him. He wants a relationship with You!!!
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