Learning How to Pray

It’s not much of a secret that life can be tough. When unexpected situations and difficult events come, it can be hard to find stability and sometimes it’s unclear where to turn. It seems simple when others say “Pray about it” but it can feel hard to know where to start. Prayer is a pivotal part of any person’s relationship with God, and the Bible gives us examples of how others prayed and teaches us how we can as well.

How to Pray Like Jesus: Learning from the Lord’s Prayer

No matter how long your relationship with God has been, there’s always room to grow in prayer, and the greatest example that we can learn from is through Jesus himself. In Luke 11, one of the disciples who walked with Jesus while He was here on earth asked Him to help them to pray. Jesus then gives us a model prayer (typically called “the Lord’s Prayer”) starting at verse 2 and shows us what to focus on when we pray. He starts his prayer stating “When ye pray, say” letting us know that He expects us to pray.

How to Pray with Humility and Submission

He then goes on to pray “…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” Jesus begins His prayer humbly recognizing who God is and praising Him. He then also teaches us how to submit to God’s will. Jesus prays “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth” letting us know that God is in control in heaven and on earth. All of heaven and earth (that includes all that happens to us) has to bow to Him. Later, we see that even Jesus, in the greatest test of his life, would submit as well.

How to Pray in Your Darkest Moments

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was faced with His approaching death and began to feel the weight and agony of what He would go through. In Matthew 26 we see Him in his most sorrowful state as He prays that God takes this cup away from him. But, after this first prayer Jesus prays again and the prayer is different. In His second and third prayer, instead of asking God to remove the cup, Jesus prays “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” Luke 22:43 records the same prayer and lets us know that after His first prayer, God sent an angel from Heaven to strengthen Him. Jesus is the ultimate example of praying correctly and after He humbled himself, God exalted Him (Phl 2:8-9.) It’s comforting to know that in our hardest moments, we can pour out to God and in return He gives strength when we submit to His will.

How to Pray When Your Heart Is Overwhelmed

During the different stages of life, some may feel like David did where he was transparent in stating “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer… when my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Ps 61: 1-2) It’s important to note that in his situation, David first asked God to hear his prayer. To put things in perspective, David was the king of a successful nation and a strong leader, but he still recognized that God was still higher than him. He knew that God didn’t have to answer his prayer, and he humbled himself.

How to Pray with Faith and Praise

Here David’s heart was struggling and overwhelmed, but he didn’t stop there. Instead of staying stuck, he turned to God and knew that God would lead him. In fact, David had faith to believe that God already heard his prayer (Ps 61:5) and would respond to him (Heb 11:6.) So much so, that he ends his prayer praising God.

One of the main things that we see about these prayers is that most of the prayers were not about them. Both Jesus and David spoke about their situations and struggles, but they bowed and let God’s will be done and were able to get through it. When we pray, it’s easy to pray about our circumstances and use the time that we should be using for praying, to just talk; but venting to God is different than praying to Him. God wants us to come to Him, giving Him our burdens (1 Pet 5:7) and He’s touched by it (Heb 4:15,) but prayer bends our will and desires to focus on God’s will. Prayer gives us an opportunity to move past the chaos, speak with a mighty God, and allows us to align with His purpose.

How to Pray with Trust and Surrender

In this year, remember that prayer is an intimate time where we get the opportunity to pray to God, humble ourselves, and at the end of it all, trust the one that gets to make the decisions.

Need more encouragement? Check out the PRESS Prayer Movement Podcast!