Why is prayer important?
Whether you’re a newer Christian or not, there are tons of questions still floating around about prayer from Christians (and nonbelievers alike). Why does it matter? How do I actually pray? Is God upset with the way I'm praying?
Today I want to take you through some of the biggest questions asked about prayer and tell you what God has shown me about praying.
"Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
I'll start with this verse reference, as it shows what God thinks about prayer. We should pray all the time, but how can we do that?
Prayer should be a sincere and personal conversation with God.
Prayer is meant to connect us with God, no one else. Since we should be praying at all times, this means that it will eventually have to become natural and personal for each individual, or else it will exhaust you to resenting prayer.
It's ok to be honest with God, and a lot of people wonder if they should hide the things from God that he hates, while in actuality we should be sending those thoughts, beliefs, and questions to him just as much as other prayers.
God already knows you more than you know yourself, so don't lie or hide yourself from Him when you pray.
Tip #1: Make sure you are yourself when you pray, being honest in your thoughts and your personality.
When praying, use your vocabulary, not theirs!
A big lie about prayer in the world is that we have to sound professional enough, say a certain amount of words, and appear pure and perfect on our own to be acceptable to the Lord. When we're doing this, how is this different than Old Testament times when people believed that works earned their spot in heaven?
You've already been saved by Jesus because of His endless love and grace, so prayer shouldn't be obtained as appearing perfect either. It is not a performance based action but a loving and personal connection with God.
It might be tempting to sound really good in front of God. Don't we all want to appear perfect to Him? When we try to sound like Shakespeare or king David in the Psalms, we're not being authentic.
I've always found it amazing that God can just understand and speak every language. He knows each and every language, along with their cultural norms. You're perfectly ok talking to him as naturally as you would talk to family.
"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7)
Tip #2: Instead of focusing on the tone, vocabulary, and auditory pleasantness of each prayer, focus on lovingly talking to God as if you were talking to the people you love the most.
Use Bible verses to align your will to His and mature in your prayer walk
The most powerful prayers we can pray are verses of scripture to God. You must know your Bible for a large number of reasons, and praying scripture over your life and others' lives is a powerful tool.
When we pray bible verses to the Lord we are living in his will, which is the goal for us as Christians and one of the goals of praying.
You can use Bible verses to strengthen your knowledge of prayer and pray like the Lord wants you to, and you can also use Bible verses for certain times in your life that the verse connects to.
Here are some great verses that you can use in your prayer time:
The Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)
He regards your prayer (Psalm 102:17)
Asking for him to listen (Psalm 86:6, Psalm 102:1, Psalm 143:1)
Prayer of peace (Numbers 6:22-27)
For spiritual warfare (1 Corinthians 15:55-58)
Getting closer to God (1 Chronicles 16:11)
What to pray for (Ephesians 6:18, Matthew 5:44)
Prayer is so more than asking God to give you something
Imagine talking to someone you love, either your spouse, best friend, or family member. How do you approach them? How do you talk to them?
Imagine only asking for things every time you see them.
When it comes to prayer, we can always ask God for things because he is omnipotent, but it's vital that our relationship with God through prayer isn't just what he can give us.
I've been through many seasons where I lacked consistent prayer to the Lord and mostly thought of Him the moment that I wanted or needed something. I always knew deep down that it wasn't right and that my talks with God couldn't revolve around my requests only.
Tip #3: Practice praying to God in gratitude, not solely requests. Ask Him to bring light to the areas of prayer that you should pray more about. Lastly, practice praying for others.
Do I always have to pray on my knees or out loud?
While prayer to God on our knees or out loud are great, God still hears our prayers when we're praying in another way.
When someone can get on their knees or pray out loud, it is a good way to respect and honor the Lord and be in submission to Him, but sometimes we need to pray to God on the way to work or while we're in a social situation, and those prayers inside of our heads or spoken during driving are just as important.
Prayer is about a connection with God, not about the physical requirements met in order to be heard. This can be performance based and is very similar to the topic of making yourself pray formally in order to be heard by God.
Tip #4: Pray to God in the best way that you can based on your current situation, not meeting a list of physical requirements in order to allow yourself to pray.
Prayer is more freeing than the world depicts it as. I think that more people would truly pray if they knew that it wasn't about rules, but about a personal connection with the Lord.
A person doesn't have to be in a certain location, they don't have to meet a list of physical requirements every time, and they don't have to sound unnatural in their speech to God. He understands our heart. We can be honest and natural with Him.
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (Romans 12:12)
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