Prayer (part five)

I have called you friends (John 15:15).

Speaking with God through prayer is an indispensable part of Christian life.  Yet many believers struggle with how to pray.  That uncertainty keeps them from praying as often as they should.

Of course, Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for our own.  But if you leaf through the Bible, you will see the Lord’s Prayer only twice among dozens and dozens of other prayers.  While the Lord’s Prayer is wonderful and a great way for Christians to pray together, it is not the only way that we can speak to God. 

The prayers you hear in church are usually quite formal, because worship tends to be a formal activity in a formal setting.  But your prayers don’t have to be that way.  Jesus is your King, but He also calls you friend.  That means you can talk to Him without getting fancy.  If you want to know how to speak with Jesus, open the Bible and read the four Gospels—see how the disciples talked with Jesus during the years they were together.  They were talking with God—those conversations were actually prayer!  When you speak to the Son of God, you don’t have to be any more formal than the disciples were as they walked with Jesus, ate with Him, shared their concerns with Him. 

So let’s consider a few examples.  Suppose that you are sitting down to take a quiz and you’re afraid that you’re going to do badly. You could pray, “Lord Jesus, help me to do my best.”  That’s all you have to say.  Or suppose that you’re going out on a date with someone you really want to impress.  You could pray, “Dear Jesus, please keep me from making a fool of myself tonight.”  You might be applying for a loan or to get a job.  You could pray, “Heavenly Father, please see that my application is approved.  But if that’s not what You want, show me what I should do instead. In Jesus’ name, amen.”  Maybe you are tempted to do something wrong, and there’s a lot of pressure on you.  Your prayer could be, “Holy Spirit, help me figure out what’s right, and give me the strength I need to do it. May Jesus’ will be done.”  If you want or need to say more, by all means go ahead.  Just remember that prayer doesn’t have to be hard or complicated or long-winded.  The main thing is that God wants to hear from You, that your relationship with Him might grow stronger as a result.