Just as God really does speak to us in his word, he is also really listening when we pray. It’s a simple question, but it can be tough to answer.

We should absolutely pray spontaneously whenever and wherever prayers arise in our hearts — during a break at work, before a test, in line with our groceries. Jesus says, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Prayer is conscious, personal communication with the God of the universe.

He loves you. The widow was rewarded for her persistence by an unrighteous judge. Prayer should be prioritized and scheduled, but the beauty of our newfound freedom and mercy in Christ is that prayer can happen anywhere.

They are our deepest and most enduring needs. . The Saints teach that the very mention of name of Jesus sends the demons running.

Can we pray right now?” It felt awkward the first time, but I learned an important lesson.

You need God in and through prayer more than you need anything else. He wanted us to keep asking, keep pleading, keep praying. I pray outward in circles, beginning with my own soul, then for my wife, then for our families, then for our small group and our church, then for our nation, and lastly for the nations, especially the unreached in the world.

It may just feel like journaling out loud at times, but there is always someone on the other side of prayer. The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:21–23). All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Jesus never intended for his model prayer (what we call “the Lord’s Prayer”) to be our only guide or counsel for prayer.

If you learn something new about him and his ways, tell him. So what can we even say? Physical needs are important, but they pale in comparison to our spiritual-emotional and eternal needs.

And so we deprive ourselves of his mercy and power in massive areas of our life and world.

Read something from the Bible (even just a verse) before you pray. But if we take that mentality into prayer, we may only ever pray for physical or circumstantial needs. The Jesus Prayer is used as the refrain of a prayerful meditation. “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). Oh, how precious is the Bible.

No one is “worthy” of God’s grace; there are no “necessary requirements” that makes us “entitled” to God’s blessings.

Otherwise, you will do nothing but pray. It should start alone with God in your prayer closet, but it never needs to stay there. If the unrighteous judge could not ignore her, how much more will our heavenly Father hear us? Don’t think now about praying for that need or desire for decades. We specifically say, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God”, hear my prayer. There, they saw Jesus garments go pure white, and He began to shine with a resplendent light that was almost too much for the to bear.

Those prayers shouldn’t be tacked on to the end of our “real” needs.

For some people, setting aside time to be alone with God is intimidating. It is the very word of God. Jesus is the Lord of our lives… we will follow His teachings, do what He wants us to do, base our lives on the way of living that He has showed us. At the end of each day, what matters most happens at the spiritual and emotional level, not the physical and circumstantial. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9–11).

Try praying through your circles. When I say “prayer circles,” I’m not talking about circles of people that pray in a group, but concentric circles of people in your life.

And so we settle for middle-of-the-road mediocre requests. As we call on the name of Jesus, we call upon Him as “Lord” – “Lord, Jesus Christ…” “Lord” is a title of honor. One of the most important prayers in the Orthodox Tradition is the “Jesus Prayer.” It is not long or complicated, simply, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Some make it even shorter: “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy one me.”. Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? On any given day, God may choose to move or “speak” in some unexpected way through his Spirit — bringing something to our mind, altering some circumstance, saying something through a friend. Your email address will not be published. 0.00% Christian. Do we have enough faith to think God cares about another Monday morning at work or with the kids? Do we have enough courage to pray that God would save the 136 million men and women in the Shaikh people group in Bangladesh?

And I don’t just mean before meals.