Many Christians do not know how to pray. I too struggled with this. I found a sermon from John MacArthur that helped. I took some notes so I could learn. Now I will share those notes.
How to pray
- Prayer is talking to God. A conversation, just like you were speaking to a friend or someone you know
- No fancy words are needed
- No vain repetition is required
- No begging
- Prayer is just a conversation
- God talks to us when we read his word, the Bible. We talk to him when we pray
- Don’t ask for stuff you don’t need. New car, new house, etc
- Don’t ask for things you already have. Peace, grace, love. etc
- Prayer is just talking to God. It’s not fancy or formal or informal
- You can close your eyes but you don’t have to
- You can pray to God, to Christ, or to the Holy Spirit. Or to all three if you like
- It is commanded that you see everything in relation to God
- Prayer is a way in which God can display his power and gain glory. That is important
- We are to pray because prayer blesses us
- Sometimes prayer works right away, sometimes not. Sometimes our prayers are answered in a different way than what we asked for
Conditions of prayer. Yes there are few conditions
- Ask in faith
- You must ask in Gods will. ie: Father this I ask in your will
- Must come from a pure heart
- There is no need to end the prayer “in Jesus name”. But you can If you want to.
- Sin is a hindrance to prayer
What do you pray about?
- Yourself
- Others (those in authority, police, government officials, church, etc)
I don’t claim to have perfected this. I still struggle with it at times. But I keep trying. Pressing on.