(Note: this page is intended for Christians; if you are not a Christian you are free to read but this page is not intended for you)
One thing is sure: prayer is very important and even vital to the Christian life. Without prayer we would be totally incomplete and very ineffective as Christians: In fact, without prayer you could not even have been saved to become a proper Christian! (Now that's very important!). But many Christians already realize that praying is important to do, but if it's so important, do you as a Christian really realize what exactly prayer is and what makes it important?
Prayer or praying is personally talking to a higher power indirectly (often a god/gods or other spiritual power known to a human) in order to ask/request something or confess something about/to that higher power. [1]
So, prayer is basically just talking; like you would talk to another person:
And throughout the Bible when a human prayed to God this is exactly what they did; they talked to him:
Genesis 24:12-21
“Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today,…’”
Genesis 32:9-10
“Then Jacob prayed, ‘Oh God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac,…I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.’”
Deuteronomy 9:26-27
“I prayed to the Lord and said,
(Referencing to what he said in Exodus 32:11-13)
‘Sovereign Lord do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’”
Judges 16:28
“Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more,…’”
1 Samuel 1:10-11
“...In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord,…saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son,...’”
But even though prayer is like talking to a person some ways, in all other ways it’s very different:
In an average conversation with another person: the person you are talking to can be seen and is visibly there, with God however he is usually not seen.
Also, usually in a conversation the other person talks back to you, with God most of the time he does not respond back (at least usually not with a audible voice: that is an actual voice you hear in your ears).
This makes it difficult and awkward to pray to God sometimes: it's strange to just begin to talk what with what seems like no one around or to no one in particular. It can seem like you are speaking to yourself or an imaginary friend or are just crazy.
However ,we as Christians, can always be confident that even though we cannot see God listening to us face to face and don’t hear him speaking back to us, that he definitely sees us trying to talk to him and he especially always listens to every word we say to him: The Bible and even God himself confirm he is always watching and listening to his people when they are talking to him, even if it seems like he isn’t:
Psalm 5:3
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you [by praying].”
1 John 5:14
“...This is the confidence we have in…[praying to]…God:… he hears us.”
Isaiah 65:24
“…while they are…speaking I will hear.”
Matthew 6:6
“...when you pray..[in]…your room (when you pray alone)…your Father, who is unseen…sees what is done in secret (God sees you talking to him and hears what you say),…”
In this way, talking to God in prayer is much more like going to talk to a king of a nation or writing a letter to the president: your talking to someone, but you're not talking to just anyone; your talking to someone in great power, fame, and authority who is willing to hear what you have to say: you do most of the talking, telling what you want to say, and the one in power mostly listens to you.
Talking to God in prayer is also like approaching a great king to talk: it's a free privilege for any Christian (or any human for that matter who knows and is willing to talk to God) but nevertheless it’s a high honor to talk to the God.
Think of the amazing privilege of prayer: You have 24 hour, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year access anywhere you are in the entire universe and beyond to always talk privately to the great creator and ruler of all of reality (God): and he will always genuinely listen and consider what you have to say!
To think about prayer this way truly changes how we should look at prayer: because if we truly believe the words of the Bible: that God is the ultimate creator/ruler of the universe and is willing to listen to us, we begin to see how much of a massive privilege that we as Christians have!
And while God does not usually directly respond back to you talking to him it's not totally true that God does not respond to your prayer: God does respond back, but he usually responds indirectly by answering a request.
Much like a king that has decided to respond to a request These fulfilled requested asked for in prayer is God answer that he has hear your prayer and has decided to give you your request:
Psalms 17:6
“I call on you (in prayer), my God, for you will answer me (will respond by fulfilling the request);…”
God himself says:
Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to me and I will answer you…”
God is a God who answers prayer
Psalm 65:2
“...You [God] who answer prayer,…”
God answers prayers in awesome actions/miracles of it being fulfilled:
Psalm 65:5
“You answer us (from our prayers) with awesome and righteous deeds, God…”
So, if you ask God for something in prayer and it actually happens then you can be assured God was listening to your prayer and decided to answer your request! (That’s something great to consider: the holy creator and ruler of the entire universe listens to you and even responded to your request!)
Another important thing to consider about prayer is prayer is very powerful and has the potential to change everything
Prayer can heal sickness/disease that otherwise could not have been healed:
James 5:14
“The prayer offered…will make the sick person well;…”
Through prayer God forgives someone's sin (this is a massive truth: as covered above, we could not have been saved/forgiven if it wasn’t for prayer!)
James 5:14
“If they have sinned, they will be forgiven (through prayer).”
This is because God will honor the prayer and heal them/forgive them, all because someone asked!
James 5:14
“... the Lord will raise them up (heal them).”
Prayer can make a woman pregnant (make a new life):
Many times, though the Bible married women had trouble getting pregnant and longed to have a baby. For many of them prayer was the way they got pregnant:
Genesis 25:21
"Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant."
1 Samuel 1:10-11
“...In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord,…saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son,...’”
1 Samuel 1:19-20
“…the Lord remembered her. So, in the course of time Hannah became pregnant..."
Prayer can make a plan successful
Such as finding a wife which was an important mission Abraham sent his most trusted servant to do:
Genesis 24:12-21
“Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.’”
And because this servant prayed to God, God answered his prayer by immediately making the signs he asked for come true:
Genesis 24:15-21
“Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder….The woman was very beautiful…She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’ ‘Drink, my lord,’ she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, ‘I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.’ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.”
And because this servant prayed to he made his journey a success and singled him out a wife the way he asked him to, so he praised God for answering him:
Genesis 24:26-27
“Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.’ ”
Prayer can stop or help certain powers/forces on Earth and even the universe as Jesus hints in this statement of his disciple’s authority:
Matthew 18:18-20
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind (pray against something) on earth will be bound in heaven (actually be stopped/withheld from full force), and whatever you loose on earth (pray for something) will be loosed in heaven(actually be helped/empowered).”
Prayer can even save your life from death!
Hebrews 5:7
“...During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death,..."
Prayer is this powerful because a simple prayer has the power to change God’s mind!
2 Samuel 24:25
“…the lord was moved by prayer for the land…”
So, when you are in need or want something to change just ask God for it!
As the apostle James says
James 4:3
“...You do not have because you do not ask God.”
and
James 1:5-7
"If any of you lacks...you should ask God, who gives generously to all..."
Because God is the only one that has power to give it:
Hebrews 5:7
“...he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him..."
Considering all this, we need to take prayer far more seriously than we probably do!
While being able to talk to God anytime and anyplace is wonderful is there a particular way you should always talk to him?
The Bible states two main ways that a human can pray:
They can pray audibly, like talking regularly to a person
Or they could pray in their mind/thoughts (heart):
Prayer also does not necessarily have to be audible but can be though in the mind as if you were speaking it audibly directed towards God and be just as effective as audible prayer (also called praying in your heart):
This is the way Abraham’s servant found the right bride for Isaac:
As said above Abraham’s servant prayed for God to show him a sign on who the right woman was for Isaac and God immediately answered his prayer
Later ,as he is telling of his success, he says he had prayed this whole prayer in his heart (mind: as a though directed toward God)
Genesis 24:45
“Before I finished praying in my heart,…”
He prayed this whole prayer in his thoughts and even before he finished praying God was begging to answer this prayer!
Genesis 24:45
"Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder."
Hannah became pregnant to one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel this way:
1 Samuel 1:10-11
“...In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord,…saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son,...’”
But the rest of the verse says Hannah was praying this prayer in her heart (in her thoughts):
1 Samuel 1:13
“...Hannah was praying in her heart,…”
In fact she was sort of whispering the words she was thinking in her mind, because the temple high priest saw her lips were moving but she wasn’t saying anything and foolishly assumed she was drunk:
1 Samuel 1:12-13
“As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli (the high priest) observed her mouth…her lips were moving but her voice was not heard (she was mouthing out/whispering her thoughts). Eli thought she was drunk…”
God was able to heart this prayer in her thoughts and granted her wish: she became pregnant:
1 Samuel 1:19-20
“…the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, [ Hebrew meaning ‘heard by God.’] saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’”
So he was born because God heard her prayer in her thoughts! Later this boy became one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel!
1 Samuel 3:19-21
“The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.”
So, the Bible reveals God listens and considered both ways of praying equally: so, depending on the situation: where and why you pray and even your own preference feel free to pray to him either way feels comfortable to you: either audibly or in your heart (thoughts). Either way of praying is acceptable, because God listens to both!
Jesus adds several important things to prayer for Christians
Before Jesus came and made the New Covenant (Christianity) loyal humans who followed God usually prayed any way they knew how (mostly they just addressed God’s name at the beginning and said what they wanted to say:
Genesis 24:12-21
“...he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham,…’”
Genesis 32:9-10
“Then Jacob prayed, ‘Oh God of my father Abraham,…’”
Deuteronomy 9:26-27
“I prayed to the Lord and said,
(referencing to what he said in Exodus 32:11-13)
‘Sovereign Lord,….’”
Judges 16:28
“Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord,…’”
1 Samuel 1:10-11
“...In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord,…saying, ‘Lord Almighty,...’”)
But when Jesus came, he set some more specific rules on how to pray to God from that time onwards (these rules are especially important for us Christians!)
As said above, in the past humans praying to God referred to God and a holy title that described him like sovereign God or almighty God, but Jesus set a new and very different example on how to pray to God:
he commanded his disciples to refer to God as their Heavenly father:
Matthew 6:9
“This…is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven,…”
This was vastly different from the usual title of ‘God Almighty’ it was far more personal: Virtually no one before this referred to God in prayer as their ‘father’, but Jesus wanted to make the personal connection of how God feels about his people clearer: God thinks of his people as his children:
1 John 3:2
“Beloved (the church/Christian congregation), we are God's children…”
And since God thinks of us as his children, he wants us to think of him as our father: so, Jesus is emphasizing this when he commands his disciples to start referring to God as their father in prayer. By doing this he is making a more personal and former bond between the prayer and God.
Along with this, Jesus said several other things about how to properly pray:
Another thing about prayer Jesus taught was to not make a big deal about praying or brag about it: Because during this time a religious group called “the Pharisees” would pray out in the open to only show off in front of others: Not to talk with God! This was a very bad example for other followers of God and Jesus corrected this bad behavior: he said he wanted his disciples to do the exact opposite the hypocritical pharisees were doing: He wanted them to pray in private in order to show they genuinely wanted to talk to God:
Matthew 6:5-6
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites (the religious pharisees), for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.(they don’t really pray to talk with God they pray to show off!) Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door (get somewhere private) and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Jesus isn’t necessarily saying to never pray in public or around any other people (Other parts of the New Testament reveal it’s okay to pray around other Christians [in public] and even with them:
Acts 1:14
“They all (Christians) joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”)
he is just saying to pray for the right reasons: not to show off to others how devoted you are, but to just talk to God, this was the point of the whole lesson Jesus was preaching about:
Matthew 6:1
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to [just] be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
(Though it’s a good idea anyway to try to pray in private sometimes just to be completely alone with God).
Along with this Jesus also said to not be constantly repeating a sacred phrase or ritual-like sentence to please God like the pagans did:
Matthew 6:7-8
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them,…”
Many pagans when praying to their gods would constantly recite the same vain prayer out of tradition in hopes to formally address the god/s so they would hear their prayer or just for the sake of tradition itself. This way of praying lacked the personal and sincere relationship of talking one on one between the prayer and the god/s. Jesus didn’t want his people (his disciples) praying like that: when they prayed, he wanted it to be a meaningful talk with God: instead of repeating a vain meaningless prayer that they didn't even mean he wanted them to genuinely talk to God as if he was a person standing right there and mean everything they say. In this way we stop treating prayer like a boring religious ritual and begin to treat it instead as a time to personally and deeply talk to our great heavenly father about our personal thoughts and concerns.
Jesus took prayer very personally so much so that he cried and prayed very hard for God to save his life from death:
Hebrews 5:7
“...During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death,..."
Jesus also says there is power in two or more of Jesus’s disciples praying about the same thing:
Matthew 18:19-20
“…truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
This is called the prayer of agreement:
It's When two or more Christians agree to pray about a specific thing in total agreement. And according to Jesus is very powerful and will be answered!
Talking to his disciples, Jesus told them when praying to God in requesting something to always ask in his name (his authority):
John 14:13-14
“...ask in my name…and I will do it.”
John 16:23
“...ask in my name.”
He assured them if they asked for anything in his name in prayer that he would definitely answer their prayer!
John 14:13-14
“...I will do whatever you ask in my name,…You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
When Jesus was speaking of the day, he was resurrected he said about them:
John 16:23
“In that day (after his resurrection) you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father [God] will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
That’s a massive promises Jesus said: he confirmed If his disciples asked anything in prayer in his name, he would always answer it. This was to show his God-given authority as Messiah was approved of by God and therefore whatever was asked in his authority was going to be given to honor God’s decision of choosing Jesus:
John 14:13-14
“...I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son…”
And ever since Jesus said this, Christians have always been encouraged to pray in Jesus's name:
Paul says to Christian Ephesians to give thanks to God in prayer IN THE NAME OF JESUS:
Ephesians 5:20
“Always…[pray]…to God the Father… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus also said once a request in prayer has been asked for in his name to believe immediately with no doubt that God can do it and even with do it: he asks his disciples to believe on his promise that you have already been given it and it definitely will be answered:
Mark 11:22-24
“’Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ ”
James also says this; and also gives a warning for those that have doubt that their prayer will be answered: If a Christian prays for something but doubts it will come true God will not answer it just because they are unstable in their mind and not believing in him or what his son said:
James 1:5-7
"...you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind (unstable). That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
So apparently asking for something in Jesus's name is not the only important thing to do also, when asking and afterwards to believe that God will be faithful to answer that prayer is equally important!
And then his disciples themselves told their churches they were over that God would give them anything they asked for:
1 John 5:14-15
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God:…he hears us. ...And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
James 1:5-7
"If any of you lacks...you should ask God, who gives generously to all...and it will be given to you."
This is called the prayer of faith, because the prayer is said in trust that in Jesus name it is going to happen:
James 5:15
“…the prayer offered in faith…”
However, does this now mean God will answer all our prayers if we pray them in the name of Jesus and believe it will come true? After all, Jesus pretty much confirms if you do these two things, he (and God) will automatically give you anything you ask:
John 14:13-14
“...I will do whatever you ask in my name,…You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
John 16:23
“...Very truly I tell you, my Father [God] will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
Mark 11:22-24
“...Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them…. whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
He says he will give us ANYTHING we ask for if these two things are done! So, does that mean we will always get anything we ask for? Even if it’s asking for someone’s death we really don’t like or to be millionaires? does prayer in in Jesus's name and in faith still have limits for Jesus and God answering them? Despite what Jesus says, the Bible reveals we don’t always get everything we pray for, because there are certain condition and rules that have to be meet first before the prayer is absolutely answered like Jesus says here.
So, with all this in mind this is how a Christian should try to pray:
Christians should refer to God as ‘Father’ or ‘heavenly father’ so when beginning your prayer, you can call God ‘father’. (This does not necessarily mean you always have to refer to God as father you could also sometimes refer to him as ‘God’ or ‘almighty God’ as the loyal humans of the Old Testament did).
Ask for all things in Jesus's name (authority)
Christians should always ask in Jesus's name this is done by saying ‘in Jesus's name’ before or after your prayer
‘Father in Jesus name I ask…’
Talk for the right reasons (not just to ask for stuff) and have a genuine talk like you would talk to a person right front of you.
So, in conclusion according to what the Bible says so far this is how you correctly pray the Christian way! Prayer is a powerful way to not only fix certain situations but also our main way of communicating with God for now. So always try to pray every day and in the right way.
Sources:
[1]
Merriam-Webster “Pray”
Website: