How to Pray

Praying is a way to connect with The Most High.  There are certain ways to pray. We pray directly to God. Prayer may be recited, murmured, spoken silently or spoken out. You can pray to give thanks, for forgiveness, repentance or other things. 

 

The starting point to prayer is having an aim. True prayer comes from the heart. True prayer is powerful because it is heard. Prayer requires clean hands and prayer is directed to God for a purpose. The prayer from the heart reaches God’s throne. For example, this could be seen from the prayer of Solomon (Kings 3:1-14 ) where Solomon asked God for an unselfish purpose to have the wisdom to lead G’s people. It is written that God gave Solomon what he requested and the things he did not. Solomon’s method of prayer of not asking for a selfish purpose provoked God to bless him with other things that he would have desired to the extent that his wisdom and wealth surpassed every other King that ruled before him.

 

The prayer of Hannah (1:9-28) is another reminder of how to pray. The Bible quotes that Hannah poured out her grievances and pain before God to the extent that priest Eli thought she was drunk. She wanted a child because she was barren and people laughed at her for her bareness. That overwhelmed her soul to ask God for help. We are told that God answered her prayer by giving her Samuel, who became the servant of Eli and one of the greatest prophets in Israel.

 

So how do we pray?

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• Avoid selfish requests or evil in your prayer

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• Never pray for someone’s misfortune - Be careful what you are asking for. Is it against someone, out of anger? Is it to see someone’s downfall? This is not the right way to pray. Praying for God’s protection against people who want to hurt you is different from praying for someone’s downfall because you want to see them in a bad position. That is to satisfy your ego.

 

Jabez was a sorrowful person. His method of prayer was not to become more honourable than his brethren, but because he was sorrowful person. He became more sorrowful than his brethren. God answered his prayer because he was in pain and not because he wanted to be better than his brothers.

 

Prayer should be directed to the source of providence, which is God Almighty, who has the capacity to give and do all things. What we ought to understand is that God is the creator of heaven and Earth and everything in the world belongs to Him.