How Should I Pray?Намуна

Comfort in Prayer

How should I pray? In what way should I go about praying? How do we think rightly about how to pray? We have Jesus’ instruction, on the Sermon on the Mount, regarding how to pray. We want to pray rightly. 

What I would encourage us with, in prayer, is the understanding that our Father knows what we need before we ask for it. We do want to grow in prayer; I want to be better at prayer. All my Christian life, I want to grow in that area, like in every other area of my Christian life. But I am comforted because God isn’t answering my prayers based upon their pristine nature or structure or language. He knows what I need before I ask for it. 

The Spirit of God Himself intercedes for me with groanings that can’t be uttered. We struggle with prayer, but nevertheless, we are called to seek the Lord. We each need to pray knowing who He is and knowing what His truth is. I strive to agree with Him with my mind and my heart, knowing that what He does transcends my ability to pray. That gives me comfort because if answers to my prayers depended upon my ability in prayer, I wouldn’t see the Lord do much. The fervent prayer of a righteous person accomplishes a great deal, but even in that there is weakness. Take the most righteous person you know—outside of Christ Himself, the most righteous man or woman you could imagine—he or she is still going to have some weakness in his or her prayer life, because he or she is not yet glorified. 

So, I go to God as one of His children, and I give voice to what is in my heart and mind. He knows what I need; He knows before I ask. He answers, not based upon my righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ. That’s why I am coming to Him in the name of His Son. I’m coming to Him based upon what His Son has done for me. I come to Him in the power of the Spirit. I come relying on the Spirit of God to intercede for me when I don’t even know what to ask for. This gives me great comfort. I am able to pour out my heart to my Father and know that He is at work.