How Should I Pray?
Communicating with God means learning how to pray and then waiting for His response.
Simply put, your heart-felt way of communicating or talking with our Heavenly Father is how you pray. However, we must also realize that God will always speak back to us through prayer. When we’re waiting on God in prayer, we wait to hear His instructions, directions, and/or answers based on our requests. So, prayer isn’t just talking to God; it’s having an open dialogue where you both speak, listen, and respond.
Learning how you should pray takes developing your faith in God’s Word, the application of openly communicating with Him, and then time for a maturing process. Prayer is a part of everyone’s Spiritual journey in developing a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father and Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Each time we pray, we establish a supernatural connection and bond with the Lord. We not only have the opportunity to ask for solutions to problems, thank Him for something He’s done, apologize, or acknowledge His eternal presence, but we also get to hear from Him!
Prayer with God is vital and beneficial to your overall well-being.
Allow me to share what I’ve read, learned, and grown from, but most importantly, PRACTICED over the past two years. There is a simple, but not easy, art and discipline of waiting on God when praying. And from this “waiting on God” process, three things have become very apparent each time I pray –
Establishment of Peace & a Closer Love Relationship
I am encountering the overwhelming yet simple joy and peace of God to a hugely greater extent than ever before in all my 33 years of walking in a personal love relationship with the Lord.
Overwhelming Joy When You Pray
And for those of you who don’t know me, my joy levels in Jesus are pretty high 98 percent of the time (just ask my beautiful bride).
Ability to Hear God’s Responses
I am hearing and acting on an ever-clearer whisper of God’s voice in my heart. He is even giving me answers to prayers I have never even prayed.
So, how should you pray?
I have personally found that following a simple initial process of praying will help put you on a path towards more profound and intimate communication with our Heavenly Father. Over time, as you develop Spiritually in your relationship with God, your prayers will change, and you’ll eventually find yourself communicating with God on much deeper levels, and not just during designated times.
As you grow with God and learn to wait on Him, you’ll soon learn to communicate with Him all day, every day. You’ll also understand how to hear His voice clearly through life’s circumstances and various seasons.
Have a Prayer Starting Point
There is a “starting point” with prayer for every Believer, and this is how I recommend you begin. First, obtain a prayer journal of your preference to write down thoughts and scriptures that help you grow in your faith walk with God. Having a devotional also helps encourage your heart each day and learn important scriptures concerning God’s will for Believers.
Fortunately, there are simple mechanics when it comes to prayer and what you should initially do during those times. For beginners, I recommend starting with an easy 3-step process:
Step 1: Take Time Out
Set aside 30 minutes of daily uninterrupted time. If you cannot start daily, plan as often as you can to get towards daily prayer as a goal.
Step 2: Read God's Word
Incorporate reading a devotional that encourages listening moments to hear from God and increase your faith in His Holy Word.
Step 3: Pray With God
Begin praying and communicating with God, and then wait on Him to speak to you. Be sure to write in your journal whatever He says that touches your heart and provides instructions or actions you should take.
Remember, God always responds and speaks to us concerning our prayers.
The way we communicate with God is different from how we talk with others. Usually, when speaking with people, they respond right away, and so do you. With God, however, this process is slightly different. There are five critical things you must understand about learning how to pray, and each one starts with having confidence in knowing that:
Waiting On God’s Responses
God’s responses and answers to prayer can come at any time or any moment. He can speak to us during prayer time, while we’re sleeping, or carrying out our daily activities. Sometimes, God’s responses are immediate, as we quiet ourselves and wait in His presence to hear from Him. Other times, we wait, and the answer comes through something we’re doing, a dream, vision, through something we’ve read in scripture, through someone speaking, or through a song or specific event. Either way, we must await His responses in faith and expect to hear from Him at any moment.
Just because God doesn’t answer at a specific time doesn’t mean He will not answer at all. This is where developing and practicing patience, faith, and learning to hear His voice comes into play. As we begin praying with God, we soon know how to listen to His still small voice and see His answers through our daily walk of faith.