Prayer 101

My favorite thing to tell the Lord is, “I love you, God.” And my second favorite thing to pray is also a simple phrase: “Help me, Lord.” The great thing about our relationship with God is that He is always with us, so we can talk to Him any time. The avenues of communications can remain open at all times. This means that I don’t have to use long, flowery prayers. Instead, I can speak what’s on my heart any time, any where. Some people call it having an attitude of prayer.

For the Eternal watches over the righteous, and His ears are attuned to their prayers. He is always listening. Psalm 34:15 (The Voice, VOICE)

We can make prayer so complicated. We don’t have to say long, rambling prayers, and we don’t need to get every word right. We tend to religionize (yes, I made the word up) talking to God. We can get so tied up in the idea of praying everything right and praying for a certain amount of time. I know that God knows my heart, so if I don’t get every word perfect, He gets me and knows what I’m saying. Also, if I don’t know what to pray, I can pray in tongues and know that it is a perfect prayer because the Holy Spirit is giving me the words. And while it is a good idea to set aside time everyday to spend with the Lord, we don’t have to become condemned if we don’t spend our “required” time with Him. Prayer is a privilege, not an obligation. We don’t have to set a timer to make sure we put in a certain amount of time for prayer. We pray because we love God and want to talk to Him, not because we have to. Praying out of obligation instead of love makes prayer a real drag instead of the wonderful fellowship it is supposed to be.

Consider taking a mental image of Holy Spirit with you everywhere you go. When you are driving down the road, picture Him in the passenger seat beside you, and have a conversation with Him. At work, know He is standing beside you, helping you do your job. He is always there, so take the opportunity to chat with Him throughout the day. You’ll communicate to family, friends, your co-workers, perfect strangers, and even yourself all day long, so why not do the same with God? He wants to be involved in every part of your life, and He is always available to talk.