Learning How to Pray
The first bible study I participated in was online. I found it through Precept Ministries Canada. I ordered “Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days” by Kay Arthur. I found it completely fascinating and I praise the Lord for leading me to His study.
Praying does not come easy to most. If I’m being honest, I still struggle with the ebb and flow of my prayer life. One day I’ll be in worship, feeling fully present with the Lord; the next, it’s like I’m subconciously avoiding a conversation.
Some days I feel completely at peace through prayer; others, I struggle to even start. Why? The world. The world gets hold of me and keeps me from staying in conversation with God! I know it; I feel it when it happens.
What do I mean when I say “the world gets hold of me”? The answer is also the purpose of prayer. You see, through prayer we put on the armour of God. When we wear the armour of God, we are no longer affected by the powers of the world or the pulls of sin.
Put simply, when I pray to God, I’m doing one or all of the following:
Praising Him
Thanking Him
Recognizing my downfalls and asking for forgiveness
Praying for others—healing, His light to flow through them, to open eyes and ears and hearts etc.
Praying for myself—asking questions, asking for guidance, courage etc.
Giving space to listen to His response
This is just a quick overview. Of course, it changes minute to minute, season to season.
The reason prayer is the answer to the world getting a hold of me is because prayer is the immediate connection to God. When we are connected to God, our move is to fully and completely hand everything over to Him. Our desires, fears, pain, wants, woes, troubles, all of it.
The bible illustrates this as yoking yourself to the Lord.
I have to back up a minute here because there’s something extremely important that can’t be missed about connecting to God. Connecting to God is done through Jesus. Jesus is our access, our key, our door to God. Without Jesus, our sins are not forgiven and our connection with God is less than ideal. The Bible states this very clearly.
John 14:6 — “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
So, when we pray, we pray to God in the name of Jesus.
That’s the yoke. We yoke ourselves to the Lord Jesus and to His Holy Spirit. This way, when we connect to God, our sins have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice. When Jesus was crucified, He sacrificed Himself for the sins of every living person so that through Him we can enter the Kingdom of God.
So, back to prayer. When I pray, I pray in the name of Jesus. I praise the Lord, God of all creation. I thank Him for everything I have. Sometimes I get quite specific. I find the more specific I am, the closer I come to understanding what exactly I’m praying for. After I thank Him, I acknowledge my downfalls. The things I know I could do better. Most of the time, this comes in the form of being judgemental, gossiping, or trying to control others. I pray about the things that don’t feel good when they are happening. I ask for clarity on where I should be focussing. I take the things that are bothering me in that moment or that day and I hand them over to Jesus. I visualize it happening. Mainly, it’s me passing a bundle of confusion or anger or misunderstanding over to the feet of a swirling vision of white linen. I pray for others to find Him the way I did. I pray for Him to plant seeds into the hearts of the people I love who don’t know Him yet. I pray for the strangers I’ve recently seen who are clearly struggling. For me, the most clarifying part of my prayers is when I give myself over completely to His will. Rather than expecting a particular answer to what I ask for, I praise Him for being the Truth and I accept whatever it is He sees best for everyone and everything that’s been mentioned. He is the author of my life. Not me.
I ask Him to use me as His vessel. I ask Him to guide me in the things I say, the things I write, and everything I do. I pray for it to be His will, not my own.
I try to cover these basics daily. Sometimes I’ll miss a day, or three, and trust me, I can feel it when I do. The more time you spend with the Lord, the more time He spends with you. It’s a real thing. So, when I find days gone by without prayer, these are the days where I notice myself backsliding. I start to feel the pulls of the world.
The powers of sin are felt differently for everyone at different times of their lives. If I was twenty years younger, the pulls of the world would be more lustful, more envious, and more greedy. Now, in my 40s, the pulls of the world are more towards pride. This doesn’t mean I’m completely immune to the sins of my past, but in spending time with the Lord, I’ve slowly repented through them. In His strength, the things that used to tempt me no longer hold the power that they once did. This, in itself, is proof enough to keep me yoked with the Lord. I have seen the strength He has provided in the changes that have come over me.
This is the power of prayer. I ask for strength, He protects me. I ask for direction, He shows me. I ask for help, He carries my trouble so that I don’t feel the need to. This is just the surface of what prayer can bring to your life, and, of course, this is just my experience. Yours would be different. Yours would be your version. What you bring to the Lord is what He offers back to you.
One more perspective I want to paint when it comes to prayer:
This is the opportunity to speak to your Creator. One on one time with God. Spend it wisely. In the Bible, God has outlined the best way to communicate with Him. He tells us we don’t need to repeat ourselves over and over. He tells us to pray in privacy. He asks us not to make a show of Him. Pray daily, pray humbly, pray for protection from temptation and evil. Yes, evil exists, and it can be subtle. Ask for forgiveness, and offer forgiveness to those who hurt you. Pray for your enemies, pray for wisdom, pray to God, and for God.
Do not pray while doubting God’s character or refusing to trust Him, or your prayers will be futile.
In the Bible, God has given us a basic prayer outline to follow in what is now referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. As you pray through this guide, you will have the opportunity to address each point the Lord has emphasized as being important in prayer.
God's Fatherhood — “Our Father which art in heaven”
Worship — “Hallowed be thy name”
God's kingdom — “Thy kingdom come”
Submission — “Thy will be done”
Daily provision — “Give us this day our daily bread”
Forgiveness — “Forgive us our debts”
Forgiving others — “As we forgive our debtors”
Spiritual protection — “Lead us not into temptation”
Deliverance — “Deliver us from evil”
“Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days” is the perfect place to start and I encourage anyone at the beginning of, in the middle of, or deep into their prayer life to read, re-read, and take note of the guidance this study has to offer.
Keep notes of your prayers, update your prayers, and pray for patience as you move through your prayers. We all start in different places, at different ages, in different seasons, and at different levels, and growth is inevitable after we commit to our prayer life.
I encourage you to not be discouraged in the days you stumble. God is bringing you here to come closer to Him. All you need to do is trust in Him.
Kylie