When And Where Do I Pray
Anytime and anywhere can work, but its good to find a distraction-free time and place if possible. God deserves your focused attention, and you might find it harder to listen to Him in a busy place.
Some people create a space in their homes for this purpose, like a prayer closet. Others will choose a favorite park to take time out with God, or even a coffee shop.
What Do I Say
Start by addressing God directly in a way that acknowledges the uniqueness of who He is.
People will say things like, Father God, Heavenly Father or Almighty God. How you choose to address Him will remind you and anyone you might be praying with about who you are talking to and what He represents in your life.
Prayers From The Bible
The Bible is filled with prayers. Every biblical leader knew the importance of prayer. People prayed for understanding, blessings, strength, healing, family, direction, unbelievers, and more.
Today, we cast so much doubt on God. Hes the same God. If He answered then, He will answer now. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 Rejoice always, pray continually.
Path of righteousness
1. Psalm 25:4-7 Teach me your ways, O Lord make them known to me. Teach me to live according to your truth, for you are my God, who saves me. I always trust in you. Remember, O Lord, your kindness and constant love which you have shown from long ago. Forgive the sins and errors of my youth. In your constant love and goodness, remember me, Lord!
2. Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
3. Psalm 19:13 Keep your servant also from willful sins may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
4. Psalm 119:34-35 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
5. Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
Strength
7. Psalm 119:28 My soul is weary with sorrow strengthen me according to your word.
Help & Protection
Healing
Forgiveness
Guidance
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A Prayer For Forgiveness
Dear God, Im sorry for my sin. I ______________ , which was a sin against you, as well as a sin against __________ . Please help me turn from this behavior. I will begin ________________ instead of what I have done. Please forgive me and help me to grow in my relationship to you and _________, whom Ive hurt. Thank you for your love and mercy. Thank you for forgiving me and choosing to forget my sin. In Jesus name, Amen. ~ Sue Schlesman
Prayer To Heal A Friend
Think, o God, of our friend who is ill, whom we now commend to Your compassionate regard.
Comfort him upon his sickbed, and ease his suffering. We beg for deliverance and submit that no healing is too hard for the Lord if it is His will.
We, therefore, pray that You bless our friend with Your loving care, renew his strength, and heal what ails him in Your loving name.
Thank You, Lord.
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The Truth From These Texts
So there is a doctrine a biblical truth that we can now state with great confidence from these texts: Christians must endeavor to live in a way that does not hinder their prayers. It has three parts:
It implies that prayers can be hindered. Our prayer life can be clogged, blocked.
What blocks prayer is often our lives the way we live, the way we relate to wives or husbands or kids or parents or colleagues or neighbors.
Opening the way of prayer to God involves a conscious endeavor. In each of these texts Peter is telling us to resolve to do something so that our prayers will not be hindered.
A free, open, real, satisfying life of prayer is not automatic.
In other words, a free, open, real, satisfying life of prayer is not automatic. It doesnt just happen to you while you are passive. If it did, these three texts would be pointless. Your prayer life in 1994 depends in part under God and his enabling grace on how you choose to live at home and at work and in your private life of solitude.
So another way to state the doctrine weve seen in these verses would be: do whatever you must do so that your prayers are not hindered. Form the resolution right now in your heart while I am preaching that you will not be passive about your prayer life this year that you will take some active steps to make it good.
Renew My Mind Body And Soul
Lord, I come before you today in need of your healing hand. In you all things are possible. Hold my heart within yours, and renew my mind, body, and soul.
I am lost, but I come to you with grace. You gave us life, and you also give us the gift of infinite joy. Give me the strength to move forward on the path youve laid out for me.
Guide me towards better health, and give me the wisdom to identify those youve placed around me to help me get better. In your name, I pray, Amen.
Also, read Bible verses about healing to find comfort in God’s word.
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Can You Learn How To Pray Like Daniel
Prayer is an integral part of our Christian walk with God. I have a confession to make to all of you. Too many times I pray out of obligation rather than out of a desire to share my concerns, get to know my fathers heart, and out of an act of worship to a King who died to save me.
We need to strive to remember how important prayer is and how privileged we are to be able to pray to our Creator.
Daniel prayed with power, with victory, and with results. We need to learn how to pray like Daniel did so that we can cultivate a flourishing prayer life. Remember, prayer is your life-line to Jesus.
The Bible says that God is the vine and we are the branches. If we spend time with him, others will be able to see it .
How do you cultivate a life of prayer? What prayer strategies work best for you? Let me know!
Do you have something that you struggle with when it comes to prayer? You are not alone. Id love to hear what your biggest struggle is when it comes to cultivating a life of prayer.
Do Not Pray Like The Pharisees
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:5-6
This one is all about motives.
Its important that when, how, and what we pray comes from a pure and sincere place in our heart. We should never use prayer to flaunt our spiritual prowess!
Our prayer time should be about spending time with God and praying. Its about relationship and intimacy. It should never be about us looking better than others.
And when we do go to prayer meetings and if we pray out loud we should make sure we stay soft before God and check out heart when needed. Our prayers should never be about drawing attention to ourselves but drawing close to God.
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Ways Not To Pray According To God
Is there really a proper way to pray?
Prayer is a powerful tool for communicating with God. It is an opportunity to become one with the our Heavenly Father and grow in our relationship with Him. Prayer also helps us to find strength for today and hope for our future. We should actively pray and trust in its power to change our circumstances for good. Your faith life directly correlates to the quality of your prayer life. Prayer has the power to change not only the people and things around you. Prayer also has the power to change you from the inside out. Is there a proper way to pray? Should we be in a certain position standing up or sitting down, kneeling or bowing down? Is there a special way we should begin our prayers, or close them? If youve ever asked yourself this question, youre not alone. If we want to know the proper way to pray, our best resource would be Gods Word. Here are six ways not to pray according to the God:
Putting Prayer In Perspective
Jesus instruction on prayer in Matthew continued with this admonition:
When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him .
Jesus contrasts prayer to the Father with the prayers of the Gentiles. He describes Gentile prayer as the repetitious babbling of many words. What might this mean, and how do we relate this to our prayers?
- Like the Gentiles. The Gentiles did not worship the true God.
- Repetitious babble connotes a lack of real content.
- Many words to be heard suggests rituals, incantations, and technique.
Gentile prayer is about the manipulation of spiritual forces and entities that do not generally care about you as an individual.
We can, of course, now give Jesus words a Christian spin:
- Like the GentilesPraying to God in Name, but not in knowledge. This is similar to what Paul wrote to the Romans about the Jews who did not accept Jesus as their Messiah, For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth .
- Repetitious babblingPraying without real content. Perhaps this would be like reciting liturgical prayers without connecting to their content.
- Many words to be heardPraying with an attitude that God is not listening and must be manipulated to answer.
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Bible Verses About How To Pray
Bible verses related to How To Pray from the King James Version by Relevance
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Aarons Blessing For Israel
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.
The Lord gave this prayer to Moses, and instructed him to tell Aaron to use the prayer to bless the people of Israel. The Lord said that when Aaron prayed this prayer, He would come and bless them. God will bless those we love when we use this prayer as well. We can use this prayer as well as a blessing for the people in our lives like our spouses, children, and friends. The blessing is great for when you are separated from those closest to you. It will give you the comfort of knowing that God is walking with your loved ones when you are away.
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Bible Verses On How To Pray Without Ceasing
There are so many Scriptures on the power of prayerand many of these Bible verses talk about how we can pray without ceasing. But what exactly does it mean to pray with ceasing?
How can we actually pray without stopping, and how much time in prayer should we spend each day? These are real questions that we can find the answers to in Gods Word.
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Lets take a look at what it means to pray without ceasing, and how we can call upon the name of the Lord each day for His power, hope and strength in our lives.
Pray From Your Perspective
When we pray a passage, the perspective might differ from that of the original speaker or writer. For instance, David prayed, You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him . While God has not promised to build us a house like Davids, he has promised that in his own house are many rooms and that he is preparing a place for us . We have to be careful about twisting the texts in a way that transforms their meaning. But when we pray Scripture we can include our own context in a Biblical way.
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Why It Matters What You Pray
When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband drove me to my obstetrician appointments. Now something you learn when expecting is that its not so easy to hold your bladder. On the way, I brought up my struggles to my husband and asked him, Should I tell the doctor about my incompetence problem? He busted out laughing and let me know one of the definitions of incompetence is mental deficiency.
I had the wrong word. The right one is incontinencethe word used to describe my problem. Hes told that story too many times. I guess its my chance to be humble now and tell you. Oh, and yes, he told the doctor about it when we arrived. I definitely learned the correct definitions of those two words that day!
Gods Word can be misguided the same way I used the wrong word in my story above. Thats why its important to study the Bible and use an applicable verse. When you do, you will see results. Notice the conditional sections of the following passage:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 ESV
The key is asking according to Gods will.
Study 2 The Sin Of Prayerlessness
PRAYING ALWAYS WITH ALL PRAYER by Francis Dixon
The key-verse of this study is 1 Samuel 12:23. Did you know that prayerlessness is a sin? We say that it is unfortunate that we do not pray more we admit our prayer life is weak and ineffective but in actual fact we sin when we do not pray. Ask yourself, How much do I pray? or How little do I pray?
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The Lords Prayer And The Beatitudes
You can take each line in the model prayer and find at least two of the beatitudes that reinforce it. When you are done, all the beatitudes are mentioned at least once.
Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God .
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God .
May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them .
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them .
Give us today our daily bread.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied .
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth .
And forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted .
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy .
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God .
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them .
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way .
Give Us Health Of Mind And Body
Almighty God, you know that we are surrounded by many great dangers, and because of our human frailtywe cannot withstand them. Give us health of mind and body so that we who suffer under sin may overcome and win the victory in you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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Do I Pray To God The Father Jesus Or The Holy Spirit
This is completely up to you. Choose one or try praying to each member of the Trinity at different times, because they are all listening to you. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit is the presence of God living within you. So you can address Him directly with confidence that He is as close as He could be.
Find out more about how to understand the Holy Spirits role in your life.