Prayer is a very important aspect of the Christian life. It is one of the ways that we can commune with God and learn to hear his voice. However, learning how to pray isn’t often talked about. We aren’t necessarily told how to do it in churches or in much of scripture. Luckily, Jesus gives us a blueprint in the gospels called “the Lord’s prayer”.

““Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”” (Matthew 6:9-13). 

In his sermon on the mount, Jesus gives us tips on how to pray and even a blueprint prayer that we can use as a model. While there are some that use this prayer as the only thing they pray, I believe that it is something that we can use to form our own prayers to the Lord.

Pray in Secret

Before Jesus gives us the Lord’s prayer, he gives a few tips and such on prayer that we need to know.

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do” (Matthew 6:6-7).

Here, Jesus gives us two tips. He tells us first, that we should not pray in public for everyone to see, but in secret. He tells us also that we should not heap up empty phrases and say a bunch of random stuff. We will spend our time talking about the former.

One of the best things that we can do for our prayer life is to have a secret place. This secret place is where we can go and pray, commune with God, worship and more! It is a place where we go to spend time with the Lord, and him alone. Some people call this a prayer closet, where they go into a tiny closet and pray. For others, it can just be your car on the way to work, or your bedroom with the door closed. It doesn’t need to be a specific place; it just needs to be somewhere that you can go to get alone with the Lord.

Do you have a secret place? If you don’t, I would encourage you to find one! Find a place where you can get alone with the Lord. Away from noise, and away from others. Pray to the Lord, commune with him, and worship him!

Give Him Praise

As we get into the Lord’s prayer, we must notice that it is not very long, yet it’s clearly split up into a couple different sections. The first section is one of praise and worship of the Lord.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10).

Jesus starts the prayer with giving the Lord his worthy praise. He begins with “hallowed by your name” and gives the Lord his praise. This is a great practice for us as we can also start out prayers by giving the Lord his worthy and due praise.

I always start my prayers by thanking the Lord for everything he’s done and for specific things that I am thankful for. I also tend to thank him as I’m closing my prayers as well. The Lord has done so much for us and is great in power and mercy. He is completely worthy of our praise and worship and being that we tend to ask for things in prayer, it’s only right that we give him much praise.

Praise also helps us! Have you ever met a super grateful and gracious person? They tend to be the happiest and most secure people you’ll ever meet. That same process is done for us when we begin our prayer time with praise. We become secure in the Lord and start our time of communing with God with pure happiness!

Pray with Him

The next section of the Lord’s prayer is what we are most familiar with, and that is communing with God. To pray is to commune with Him. We cannot pray to God, without communing with Him in some respect. But there are a couple of things that we can focus on while we do so.

There are a few things that we can, and should, be doing while we pray and commune with God.

• Talk to him
• Listen for him
• Let our requests be made known to him

These three things are the bulk of our prayer times, and they are what help us commune with God while we pray.

The most common of these three things is requesting something from God. Many people tend to see prayer time and genie-in-a-bottle time. This is where they ask God for all that they want and need, and then they finish is off with “amen”. But that shouldn’t be all.

While we should ask God for things, as he is a giver that gives good gifts to his children, the most important aspect of prayer is talking and hearing from God.

As you are in the secret place, don’t just ask God for things, but talk to him as you would a friend, and allow him to be heard. Silence yourself and listen for him. Listen and wait for him to speak. God wants to guide us and lead us into the right direction, and this is done through prayer and listening to his voice.

Final Thoughts

Prayer can be a very powerful and great way to commune with God and get closer to him. God is after relationship with us and never stops pursuing us, but if we are not taking time to pray with him, the relationship won’t grow. So, we must spend time with God in prayer to truly grow closer to him, and at the same time, be transformed into his image.

A successful prayer life begins with a secret place. This is a place where you can go to spend alone time with the Lord. It can be a closet, a car, a bedroom, or even the great outdoors on a walk. The most important thing is that you are alone with God.

As we pray, we should start and end our prayers with thanksgiving and praise. Praise is not only what is due to the Lord, as he is so worthy to be praised, but it is also helpful for us! It reminds us that we can’t do anything on our own and that we are completely dependent on God. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t even be able to pray or do anything of value. Give him praise for that!

Prayer life should also consist of a few things. Asking God for things is an aspect of prayer, but I find that it comes second to simply talking to God. When we are communing with other people, say a parent, for example, we don’t just ask them for things. We talk to them, and we listen to them as well. We should have the same heart posture when it comes to prayer and communing with God. Don’t just ask God for things, and don’t just talk with him, but take time to be silent and listen for his voice as well.

Prayer should not be a burden, or a difficult task. It is an act of worship and communion with God, and it is a privilege that we get to participate in it. As you go into your day, spend a little time with God, and let it be a time of communion, not a time of burden.

Have a great week!