One thing is to pray. But, another is to know how to pray to God. The prayer approved by God is the so-called “biblical” prayer. We call “Biblical Prayer” the foundation of prayer included in the Bible. The Bible gives us models, advice, types of prayers. The Bible guides us and teaches us about our life of prayer.
It is rightly so that this fundamental question imposes itself on us: How to pray to God? Faced with this problem then, we are invited, on the one hand, to seek the biblical foundations of prayer. And on the other hand, we are called to find tips to succeed in our moments of prayer.
It is in this approach that the preacher Thomson Dablemond (brother of Isaiah) invites you to read the whole of this blog devoted to the question: How to pray to God?
I – The Foundations of Biblical Prayer
The question “ how to pray to God ” cannot be answered without exploring the foundations of biblical prayer.
The 1st Foundation of the Biblical Prayer: Ask God
The first biblical foundation of the faith of asking God in part responds to the concern that how to pray to God.
Before receiving anything from God, it must be asked of Him. Consider this scripture passage: ” Do not worry about anything; but in all things make your needs known to God through prayers and supplications, with thanksgiving. “Philippians 4: 6.
But why ask God by prayer, if God knows everything?
When we ask God, we publicly give Him permission to be active in our lives. God wants us to ask Him what needs. He wants us to bring him our prayer requests.
If we do not ask him, we will not receive the gifts he has promised. For, indeed, Jesus said, ” And I say to you, Ask, and they will give you; search, and you will find; knock, and we will open you. For whoever asks receives, whoever seeks finds, and one opens to him who strikes. ” Luke 11: 9-10.
Some people often find that prayer may be too big for God. What ignorance! These kinds of people, in reality, do not really know who this God is. The more we try to limit God, it was as if we were trying to be a little him. We do not speak of a god, or an idol, or a man to whom a prayer must be addressed. No, we are talking about an eternal God, supreme, sovereign, immeasurable, unfathomable to whom nothing is impossible. He is above everything.
It is with confidence that I declare this: We can really ask everything to God. No request is too small or insignificant before God. He is omnipotent. I want to talk to someone who reads this blog. Just as it says, “pray without ceasing,” in other words, “ask without ceasing.” Do not be afraid to ask God, he is a father of love. He knows how to give reasonable and necessary things to his creatures.
The 2nd Foundation of the Biblical Prayer: Faith
In addition to asking, Jesus mentions another aspect in the context of prayer: it is faith. Ask alone is not enough. There is a second principal aspect that must be present in our prayers: faith. In fact, without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11: 6). When questioning how to pray to God, we must consider the aspect of faith.
If we come to God, we must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Effective prayer must be accompanied by faith. In the Bible, belief is related to trust. We can only trust someone when we know it is trustworthy.
By faith in prayer, we express our trust in God. Remember that God said, “Ask, and they will give you.” And faith in prayer comes to affirm our trust in God. To have faith in prayer means to take God at His word.
What God is asking of us is that we stick to his promises. Hence the third foundation of the biblical prayer: to claim the promises of God.
The 3rd Foundation of Biblical Prayer: Claim the Promises of God
This aspect of the biblical prayer gives another opening to our problem: how to pray to God? Yes, you can ask God – you can even have faith in what you ask God – but if you do not claim the things for which you prayed, it is in vain.
You must understand one thing: the third aspect of Bible prayer is the reception. Indeed, after asking God and believing in his promises, we must claim what he has promised. We proclaim the promises of God, and by faith, we give him thanksgiving even before we succeed in fulfilling our prayer.
In some ways, when we pray, we must grasp the promises of God – pray with and according to the promises of God. In truth, in truth, God always gives what He promises. And what God promises is always in our favor, for our well-being, our joy, our salvation. In the promises of God are hidden our needs and desires that we must express – the words we need in prayer to reach the heart of God and push his hand to act on our behalf. Happy is he who lives on the promises of God, just as he who prays with and according to the promises of God.
Until then in our attempt to deal with the question: how to pray to God? – It would be wise to understand that relying on the foundations of biblical prayer is knowing how to pray to God. But, more practically, how to pray to God?
II – How to Pray to God?
We cannot define a schema to provide an objective answer to our problem: how to pray to God? However, the Bible gives us tips and tricks to follow regarding private and individual prayer.
1 – Pray God in Secret
“But when you pray, enter your room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ” Matthew 6: 6.
The individual prayer must be an intimate prayer. When we decide to spend time with God, alone with God, we do not need to show others, our neighbors, that we are in contact with God. We do not even need to cry aloud as if we are talking to a distant God. God listens more to him who knocks at his little door, enters his court, and opens his heart to God in the simplest of ways; not to be seen by men but heard by God in secret.
2 – Praying God Without Multiplying Empty Words
Here again, it is still a grave mistake even by some fervent Christians: to pray and to multiply vain words. Jesus gives us this advice: ” While praying, do not multiply vain words, like the Gentiles, who imagine that by dint of words they will be heard. Do not look like them; because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ” Matthew 6: 7-8.
Such advice deserves to be taken seriously. In fact, those who pray to God, do not multiply empty words as if he spoke to a god who hears with difficulty or who is deaf, still less to a god who sees nothing and who knows nothing. No! On the contrary, God is not an idol or a man: He knows everything, he sees everything, he can do everything; it is omnipresent, it probes our hearts and our loins; he knows our past, our present, our future; he knows our deepest desires and needs. What is the point of praying to God by multiplying vain words? Above all, it is not the act of multiplying vain words or having many words to convince God.
I would like to talk to someone, especially whoever reads this article. In prayer, it is not a question of convincing God with many words. No. Besides, it’s not about having a rich vocabulary either. No. It is instead a question of asking God, of addressing us in the simplest of ways.
3 – Praying God by Claiming His Presence
It is necessary to think that prayer is to claim the presence of God in our life and his intervention. In some ways, one must always be thirsty for one’s presence. So claim his presence at all times and in all things, day and night. It is asking God to always be with us and in us.
4 – Praying God by Taking the Time to Open Our Hearts to Him
Prayer must be perceived as an intimate conversation we have with God. This intimacy must be marked by our sincerity. We must take our time to speak to God with all our heart.
I’m sick of seeing people praying to God and being ashamed to open their hearts. They talk to God with a lot of hesitation or dumbness. That’s funny! For what can a man hide from God? Another thing is that there are people too who are in a hurry to leave the face of God while praying. If, they could taste the happiness of being listened to by God.
I am addressing you who read this blog in these terms: God never tires of listening to and answering the fervent, humble, sincere prayers addressed to him. Never tire of talking to God. God always inclines his ear to the mouth that speaks to him – such as a son speaks to his Father. Our God is a God of love, of compassion. Know that no matter how much time you spend praying to God, it does not bother God. On the contrary, God enjoys listening to his people and responding to his children. God is always willing to listen to you and answer your concerns. Do not hesitate. You can confide in him without fear or fear, with the peace of heart and the certainty that he will treat your request.
5 – Pray in the Name of Jesus Christ
It is good to note that in prayer we address our request to God, through Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus tells us: “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ” John 14:13. Read also John 15:16, John 16: 23,24.
Indeed, there is no other name given among men by which we were to be saved (Acts 4:12). God is fulfilling us in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are called to pray only in the name of Jesus Christ, to finish our prayer in the name of Jesus. We get everything from God through Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the God of our salvation, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. Thank you, Lord. Let us not lose sight also of this fact: it is by pure grace that we obtain the fulfillment of our prayers in Jesus Christ when we pray to God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
6 – Pray with Perseverance and Be Patient
Yes, everyone can pray. Each in their own way of leading his life of prayer. But one of the things God expects of us is that we must persevere in prayer (Luke 11: 5-10 / Luke 18: 1-7).
7 – Pray God with Consecration (By Fasting) If Necessary ...
Fasting, meanwhile, is another form of prayer: but more specifically, it is the deprivation of our inclinations or food to consecrate ourselves to God: a consecration to communication with God for a specific subject or for a consistent cause, in which we spend enough time in prayer in sincerity and in a spirit of reverence. This being so, fasting, seen as communication, allows us to consolidate our relationship with Jesus.
Fasting can be seen as an urgent and closed communication between God and us; it is, in a way, a real concentration on the theme (the subject) of our conversation with God. This is why fasting must always be accompanied by deep and sincere prayer (Nehemiah 1: 4 / Daniel 9: 3): hence the expression Fasting and Prayer.
*** We do not fast to show men that we are fasting; just as we must not make prayer an instrument of ” have you seen ”: just to say that prayer and fasting must be a secret communication between God (Matthew 6: 5-6) and us. (Matthew 6: 16-18).
8 – Pray God as He Asks for an Effective Prayer
Here are some things we need to consider that summarize the basics of biblical prayer as well as the relevant guidance for effective prayer. How to pray to God? Or, how to make effective our prayer to God?
Effective prayer is that which is done:
– With faith and trust in God (Mark 11: 24 / Ephesians 3:12)
– Sincerity and simplicity (Matthew 6: 7-8 / Mark 12: 38-40)
– In a spirit of humility and even in a spirit of repentance
(2 Chronicles 7: 14 / 2 Chronicles 33: 12-13)
– With all our heart (Deuteronomy 4:29 / Jeremiah 29: 12-13)
– Following the will of God (Matthew 26: 42 / 1 John 5:14)
– Accompanying his prayer with obedience and the fear of God (1 John 3:22 / Psalm 145: 19 / Proverbs 1: 28-30).
Conclusion on How to Pray to God
At the end of our attempt to answer the interrogation that was the subject of our article: How to pray to God?, It would be nice to remember that the more the prayer is done according to the biblical principles, the more we can be sure of ‘get a reasonable profit. Such prayer brings us closer to God – it makes us grow in faith – it transforms our lives – it keeps us on the path to salvation.
Given the usefulness of this article, I urge you to make good use of it. Let’s learn to communicate better with Heaven. It’s in our personal interest. Be blessed in Jesus Christ, amen!