Follow: Life-Giving HabitsSample

How to Pray

Think about the last time you were in a conversation with someone you did not know very well. It might have been awkward. The reason these conversations are uncomfortable is often due to the fact that there is no relationship. We never talk, and so therefore we have nothing to talk about.

On the other hand, if you know someone really well when there is a deep relationship, the conversation is easy and natural. You don’t have to try or force it, it is just a conversation with someone you know and someone whose company you enjoy.

The closer two people are to one another in a relationship, the easier, and more regular, and more intimately they communicate with one another. By observing two people’s conversations, you learn a lot about how well they know one another.

What do your conversations with God, your prayer life, say about your relationship with God?

Prayer is essentially an expression of a relationship. Why do we sometimes feel uncomfortable in prayer?

Either because we forget that we are already in an intimate relationship with God because we are in Christ – and we are declared “right in His sight” because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

- OR

We feel uncomfortable in prayer because we have the wrong understanding of Prayer.

Prayer is the place where we exercise or express the relationship we are already in with God.  Simply put, prayer is “talking to God”. It is a conversation with your Father in heaven.

If prayer is a conversation with our Father in heaven like Jesus teaches in Matthew 6, then there should be no formula or one method a Christian should pray right?

My wife and I have regular conversations, and it is utterly unimportant to us how or when we talk to one another. The only thing that matters is that we talk to one another. It is the same with God.    

• There is no position you need to sit or stand or bend in when you talk with your Father.   
• There is no rhyme you should say or particular “things” you “should” pray for when you talk with your Father.   
• There is no specific time or duration you should pray when you speak to God.   
• Your prayers can be utterly unique and genuine.

How you pray is unimportant; that you pray is extremely important!

Jesus prayed.

Mark 1:35 says "Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray."

Jesus was in the habit of prayer. Although we can pray to God continuously and at any time, if we do not schedule it, we struggle to grow in this habit. Make sure you dedicate a time slot – this is no different to my wife and me who schedule date nights so that we can spend time together.

Another thing I discovered: I have tried to sit still and talk to God in the same way as my mother does, but it did not work at all. I either fell asleep, or I started to think about the next time I would get a chance to play golf.

I get distracted easily. As a result, I found my best time of prayer is when I go for a walk outside. Or even just walk up and down in one room. This helps me to talk with God and not get distracted. I imagine myself as taking a walk with God.

I have even at times bowed down for a moment with my forehead on the ground. It is just me and God, and me expressing myself before my God. It is the uniqueness of my relationship with God being expressed in prayer.

I invite you to try something new in your prayer life today. Talk to God in a new way. Maybe try a new time or place than you usually do. 

How, or when, or about what you talk to God does not matter, the only thing that matters is that you talk with your Heavenly Father... today!