Category Archives: How to Pray

We all need help how to connect with God in prayer.

Very Simple Prayer – as the Lord Taught Us

When we just do not know what to pray, here is a really simple one that Jesus taught us.  So short and simple.  This prayer takes care of our needs and God’s needs.  It actually starts with God’s needs, which is the Kingdom.

Our Father who is in heaven, may Your name be sanctified.  May Your Kingdom come.  May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  And supply us today what we need and forgive us our wrongs as we forgive the wrongs of others.  Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

What is Prayer?

Prayer is just talking to God.  God is real, He exists and listens, we just need to start talking to Him.    Prayer does not need to be formal or in some special place or with some special people. Prayer is just talking to God in reality. So we don’t need to be phony or make-up something, just start saying what is on your heart as you think about God.  Prayer is just a dialog between us and God.  Prayer can be alone for with others.  Prayer can be when we are happy and when we are sad.  Prayer can be what we feel when we are very encouraged and when we are very depressed and low.   Prayer can be when we are a sinner (and we all are sinners) and when we feel we are a saint.  Prayer can be when we love God and when we hate God. Sometimes we are hurting because of something that happened, so tell that to God.  Sometimes after we pray we feel high and sometimes low.

Sometimes we have things we want God to fix or do.  Sometime He does them, other times it just does not happen.  We can in prayer talk to God about ourselves and talk about others.

In the Bible there are many sample prayers. These Bible prayers are great examples of words if we need them, but still the best is what just comes from our heart as we think about God.

Three quick tips to help your prayer:
1. To know Jesus Christ as savior makes a big difference in prayer results
2. To know the Bible also helps our prayer
3. To obey the Lord also helps our prayer

So try some prayers, just talk to God what ever words come to you as you consider God.

Glory of God’s Inheritance in the Saints

Ephesian 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling,  and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints

What does all these words mean,  seems a little too heavenly for it to relate to me a sinner.  Don’t you know I’m just a sinner.  But think you and I a sinner, right, a dirty rotten sinner, no hope, only deserving of the fires of Hell, no eternal future, just NO HOPE.  God is holy, but I am a dirty sinner, so no contact no connection, and no hope.

BUT BUT God did something to make you rich, you and I sinners.  A Holy God whom we could not approach did something to make us rich, He sent his son,  The Son of God as a man, who lived on the  earth, Jesus who died on the cross for me a sinner so I could approach the Holy God.

The saints (all God’s redeemed regenerated believers who enjoy all that Christ did at the cross) are full of the riches of Christ. They have all had some experience of Christ they could share about what Christ did for them, even if just “He did it for me (a sinner) at the cross and removed all my sin. I (a sinner) can now approach the Holy God because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross almost 2000 years ago”  What Christ did made us sinners rich with Christ.

Some people title this section:  Our Resources in Christ.  “Paul in this section sets forth the amazing and unlimited blessings believers have in Jesus Christ, blessings that amount to our personal inheritance of all that belongs to Him.”

Notice the verse says “His Inheritance”  So after we inherit all that Christ is and all He did on the cross, He inherits us.  After we have received Christ  we become his special possession.  This also secures our eternal inheritance.

… Paul prays for God to give believers true comprehension and appreciation of who they are in Jesus Christ, in order that they might begin to have some idea of how magnificent and unlimited are the blessings that already belonged to them in their Lord and Savior….

In essence Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be spared from frantically searching for what was already theirs, but rather would see that the great God who is their God is the source of all they need and has it ready for them if they are open to receive it. Such a receptive attitude requires that God Himself give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him 

 It is tragic that many believers send their agents out looking for some priceless item and become entangled in a quest for something more in the Christian life, for something special, something extra that the “ordinary” Christian life does not possess. They talk of getting more of Jesus Christ, more of the Holy Spirit, more power, more blessings, a higher life, a deeper life—as if the resources of God were divinely doled out one at a time like so many prescriptions or were unlocked by some spiritual or software combination that only an initiated few can know.

Have you ever been away from home and lost your cell phone.  For me it always causes a panic, once I thought I lost it but turns out it was in my hand.  The point is something valuable is precious and when we don’t have it we eaisly panic.

Many christian panic, I have no power no feeling towards the Lord or the Bible, or Home group or Sunday Am and go weeks wondering what to do…

But Christ did it all on the cross and you possess him.  You are rich in Him.

Paul’s Prayer for the Church

Paul’s Prayer for the Church that the saints may see the hope of His calling

Ephesian 1:17  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, 

The big word here is “See the Hope”.  There is a lot of hope in His calling, we just need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see it.    Revelation is something that has been covered up and now is revealed.

Even in Revelation 1:1  it says “The revelation of Jesus Christ..”  so revelation is needed to see Christ.  And here the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the Word of God.

1 Cor 2:9-10  9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”   10 But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.     

The Holy Spirit illuminates us so we can get supernatural information.  Paul wants us to receive divine information and understanding by searching through the word of God and understanding the character of God.

Another powerful verse is Romans 8:16  The Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God.

Faith, Love, Thanks and Prayer

Paul’s Thanks for the Church – faith, love, thanks and prayer

Ephesians 1:15  Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,   16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:   

Let’s get a little into the context of the book of Ephesians.  Paul wrote this letter to impart a high vision of what Christ has done and yet wants to do through the church.  The first 3 chapters are the vision with Christ in the heavens after accomplishing redemption for us on the cross.  Then the last 3 chapters are a lot of application about Marriage, family life and how we get along with other and ourselves.

Paul particularly was thankful for his readers’ faith and love. Faith finds its focus in Christ and expresses itself in love to others. Such love is the evidence of genuine faith.

In verse 15 Paul mentions 4 items:  faith, love, thanks and prayer.  Paul is thanking God for the Church composed of those in Ephesians who have faith in the Lord Jesus, and those who love the saints.

Its very interesting that Paul focuses on God and thanks God, rather than focusing on the problems that might have plagued the Ephesians.  Was Paul blind to the believers issues, or did he see something higher in what Christ accomplished that drove him to just thank the Lord for the saints who just loved each other in this city.  Sometimes a prayer meeting with just praises can do more than itemizing all the problems, but of course both are real prayer.

Notice also that Paul mentions first their faith, then their love and then thanks.  Why does he not mention sin, that the believers are just sinners saved by grace.  It seems in chapter 1 of Ephesians Paul does not even give a hint of sin, but he sure does in chapter 2 where he says “dead in trespasses and sins”.  So Paul in chapter 1 mentions faith, then love, but chapter 2 death and sin.

How Do You Find God?

What a great question! How do you find God, and where is He. God is real, God is present. One just needs to simply talk to Him, and that talking is called prayer. Put aside all your thoughts about formal prayers, formal places to pray and just talk to God. “Hello God, sorry if you are busy but I have a need.” Talk to God just like a close friend. He understands you just the way you are.

Consider this simple prayer found in the Bible. Psalms 18:6 I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.

The Lord’s Teaching on Prayer – top key points

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is  a key part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew six where Jesus is teaching His disciples a wonderful teaching on prayer.  Notice the word “your” before the words “kingdom” and “will“.    This is a key passage on the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom and will. God’s kingdom is the place where God is in full control.

The Holy Spirit Prays in Us with Groanings

Great words from Andrew Murray about working with the Holy Spirit in our prayer time. Let the Holy Spirit be our prayer helper and teacher.

You complain that you do not feel able to pray thus, and ask how you may be fitted to do so.  You speak much of the feebleness of your faith in God, and love to souls, and delight in prayer.  The man who is to have power in intercession must cease these complaints.  He must know that he has A NATURE PERFECTLY ADAPTED TO THE WORK.  An apple tree is only expected to bear apples, because it has the apple nature within it.  “You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”  The eye was created so see:  how beautifully fitted it is for its work!  You are created in Christ to pray.  It is your very nature as a child of God.  The Spirit has been sent into your heart—what to do?  To cry Abba Father, to you draw your heart up in child-like prayer.  The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be uttered, with a divine power which our mind and feelings cannot understand.  Learn, if you would be an intercessor, to give the Holy Spirit much greater honors than is generally done.  Believe that He is praying within you, and be strong and of good courage.  As you pray, be still before God to believe and to yield to this wonderful power of prayer within you.

These are quotes from The Inner Chamber by Andrew Murray on Moses the man of prayer.