How to Pray

The Gospel According to Bj.

How to Pray

Prayer is simply "communication". Most of the time it implies communicating with God. I am not writing this to criticize anyone's method of praying. I just want to help you pray better. I will try to keep this short yet effective.

1. Pretend that God is sitting beside you. Understand that God is invisible but don't treat Him as though He is far away or not there. Do you ever feel like your prayers hit the ceiling and fall back to the floor? If you realize that God is right there with you then you know He hears every word.

2. Expect to hear from God but don't get upset if He doesn't speak. God does not waste words. He is not very talkative as we are. But when He does speak, you need to listen and take heed to it. Don't expect an audible voice from God. The last time (as recorded in the Bible) that God spoke audibly the mountain began to smoke. The people were so scared (Exodus 20:19) "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." God speaks with us in a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:12) "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." This is how Elijah heard God's voice. I have heard the voice of God many times. It has always been without sound waves. Think about this. When you hear a person talk with you their voice sends ripples of air to your ears. Your brain translates those waves into words that you understand. God simply puts the words directly there without using sound waves.

3. Treat God like a real person. This is our biggest obstacle I think. We tend to say beautiful prayers that impress other people but God is not impressed because we really don't talk to Him as though He were real. I think of God as my Dad. To me He is. But He is also the greatest individual that has ever existed. I liken Him to the President of the United States. I know He is greater then the President. But if my Dad was the President, how would I talk with him?

In private I address him as "Dad." And I am real with him but yet respectful. If I were to address him in public I would probably call him "Mr. President." I try not to be too formal in private. That tends to make my relationship with God distant. He is my Dad and I am going to jump in His arms. throw my arms around Him and let Him know I love Him.

4. You are never alone. I can not go anywhere that He is not with me. I can talk with Him anytime, anywhere. He knows everything that I think. We even laugh together. And yes, God does have a sense of humor. You need to realize that there is nothing you go through that God does not know about. He goes through it with you. Often times He is watching to see how you will handle it. If you will trust in Him. If you will confide in Him. If you will turn it over to Him. And by all means: quit worrying.

5. Try to keep your prayers unselfish as much as you can. Study Matthew 6 and Luke 11 and you will see that we need to pray for God first then pray for "us" and "our" not "me" and "my". This is what Jesus taught His disciples about prayer.

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