What does it mean when we say, “I prayed?” or “I spent time with the Lord.” or “I asked God and we will see what happens!” Ok that last one you may never say it out loud, but that is the attitude we go into prayer with.

Do you ever feel like you are praying but really don’t know what to say? How to act? What words that are “acceptable to God?” Let me assure you – none of that matters. It is not how big your words are or if you are speaking to God in King James Version so He will understand you.

I know you have heard these types of prayers before, something like:

“Our great heavenly Father, oh thou are the omnipotent One. I asketh Thee to cometh to us, the lowly citizens of earth. I do not knoweth Your ways. I would be amiss to pretend to cometh close to knoweth what Thou art doing on the earth. We may not know what the sweet by and by will looketh like, but Thou knoweth and Your will be done across this great land. I doth not want the cankerworm to destroy my soul. Lord, I open my coffer to Thee, Oh Holy One of the Covenant! Grace today as we, the wicked, boweth and revere You. Amen!”

Is it wrong? Absolutely not! Do you have to pray that way for God to hear and be near? Absolutely not! Pray the way you talk. There are times I come to God in an humble state of humility and just listen for Him. Wait for Him. Watch for Him to come into the room. I do not have to say a word, but my heart is in a stance of connecting with His. Putting everything out of my mind, but Jesus and the cross.

THEN

There are the times, I come running into the room, sliding like I am sliding into first base at a game, and I just scream, “Oh God, help me!” Sometimes that is all I can say. You know the times I am talking about. The times that you lost your temper all day for no reason. Those days everyone got on your nerves and you got on your own nerves. Those days you hear something that you cannot deal with on your own. You get out of sorts and you feel so human that you start to think that a God, Who is so holy, will not have the stomach to look at you.

There is no right way or wrong way to pray, if your heart is connecting with His. Don’t feel weird or awkward when you pray at home. But feel excited that you get to talk to God and He will talk back. It is a 2-way conversation. You have to change your focus from what you think you should say to God to what you actually want to say to God.

Do not hide things from Him. If you have failed, tell Him. Ask for forgiveness. If you are fighting with bitterness, tell Him. Ask Him to help you deal with the issue and move past it. If someone has betrayed you and you are fighting hate, tell Him.

Nothing surprises God when you tell Him what you did or thought or said. He already knows. We just have to ask Him into the situation so He can help heal us.

Those are the days and He is waiting with open arms to listen to you. He will let you cry on Him, tears and snot running (ok I just grossed myself out with that! lol) everywhere and you are UGLY crying. He wraps His arms around you because you came to Him. You trusted Him with your innermost hurts. He wants you to talk to Him. That is what praying is – talking to Him and letting Him speak back to you. He is not looking for a beautiful prayer that you do not even know what you are saying. He is looking for heart, earnestness, truthfulness and trust in Him.

WORSHIP:

REFLECTION:

1. Get a journal and for the next 7 days write down a prayer and then, daily, pray that prayer out loud to God. No one needs to see it. Just you and Jesus! Talk to Him like you are talking to your best friend.
2. Put on worship music and just sit and listen for God to talk to you. Make room for Him to come into the room. Block everything and everyone out. Do not think about the laundry that needs done. The paper that needs to be written. The cleaning that needs to be done. The cooking you need to do. Set this time aside just to talk to God.

Monday Prayer:

Tuesday Prayer:

Wednesday Prayer:

Thursday Prayer:

Friday Prayer:

Saturday Prayer:

Sunday Prayer:

How do you feel when you pray? Weird? Awkward? Why? Write down what you are feeling and talk to God and ask Him to help you become more familiar with Him, so you can have those conversations with Him (pray).