For a Christian, the big thing to get about prayer is that it is about being a little child with a loving, holy, compassionate and almighty Father. Through faith we share the status, the access, and the welcome that the Lord Jesus Christ himself enjoys with God the Father.
Paul Miller says it well: Don’t try to get the prayer right; just tell God where you are and what is on your mind. That’s what little children do. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with a wandering mind. Come messy. The only way to come to God is by taking off any spiritual mask. The real you has to meet the real God. He is a person.
What follows comes from the book ‘Prayer’ written by Tim Keller.
ONE: DRAW NEAR TO GOD
As you begin, focus your mind by reading one or two of these passages:
- I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)
- Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)
- Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
TWO: READ THE SCRIPTURES
Read your Bible passage fixing on one verse or truth that strikes you. Meditate on it using some of these questions:
- What does this show me about God for which I should praise or thank him?
- What does this show me that I need to confess and repent of? What wrong attitudes, behaviours, emotions or idols does this expose?
- What do I need to do or become in the light of this and how shall I ask my Father in heaven for it?
- How does Jesus enable me to do this?
- How would my life change if this truth were alive and real in my mind, heart and soul every day?
- Why is God showing me this today?
THREE: BEGIN TO PRAY
Here are some suggestions. Use one or two as time allows.
Turn the verse you have been thinking about into prayer.
- Give thanks and praise. Sometimes make this all you do for the whole time.
- Pray for the coming day, for the events in church this week and for a few people from church.
- Pray for the nations using the Operation World website.
- Spend some time working with the ‘growing in repentance’, ‘deepening your joy’, or ‘putting your armour on’ pages.
Or pray the Lord’s Prayer, taking up and expanding on one or two of the petitions: Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen
Or pray through some of these questions:
- Is God working my life?
- Am I doing business with the cross every day?
- Am I building my life on the fact I am justified by faith in Christ? Or am I loaded down with guilt because I am seeking righteousness in something or someone else?
- Am I repenting every day?
- Am I forgiving someone every day?
- What is it I do simply because I love Jesus?
- Is the Spirit of God a known and felt reality in my life?
Always end by setting your heart at rest in all that God is for you in Christ