Does God Answer Prayer (Part 2)

"I don't know how to pray"

I have heard some people describe their reason for not praying in that sentence.  Some, in a group setting, will also say, "I do not know how to pray out loud."

I believe that there are a couple of solutions to this:

• Read some prayers of the Bible and use them as a template for learning how to pray.
• The first time you are praying out loud in a group or alone - read a prayer from the Bible and then re-frame or rephrase it to communicate your personal thoughts to God.
•  Write out your thoughts:
• like how you are feeling toward God, (psalm 31)
• a praise to Him, (Ps. 19, Ps.145-150)
• a request of Him, (Ps 54, 130, 143)
• a thankful statement to Him, (Ps 107, 136)
• a confession to Him, (Ps 51) 
• a fear that you want to admit to Him, (Ps 13)
• a characteristic of Him that you know to be true (Ps 111) 
• something that you read in His Word you want to affirm to Him (Ps 108)
• THEN read those to Him aloud.  

No one said that this is easy but what I have found is that when I talk to God, (and yes, I talk out loud to Him a lot) I find that it is like talking to someone that I really trust who will hear what I say and what I MEAN to say.  I try to speak with respect toward Him as I pray to Him.  I want to honor Him with my words and my heart as I pray.

What about if I am angry at Him for something that happened that I do not understand or agree with?

I have shouted at God in my frustration before - I have been mad about some things that have happened that I thought were unfair.   I have felt like He could have fixed it or at least controlled it and yet the outcome was not according to my expectations.   So I told Him.  Honestly, it did not make me feel any better. But  I was able to vocalize what was really on my heart and after I said it aloud to Him, I began to let it go. 

I truly believe that we must speak out loud to God  - it helps me to hear what I am saying.  It helps me to understand my heart a little more.  It sometimes sounds really silly or outrageous once I have said it out loud and then I realize that my mind has been holding me captive on some crazy, wrong thinking. 

What I love about praying out loud to God (in a group or alone) is that I get to articulate what is in my heart and then I get to let God sort out the right from the wrong. 

Try it.  

Today.

Right now.

Take a minute and tell God something out loud that you have wanted to say for a long time.  

How does it sound?

Probably not as crazy as you once thought! Right?

Next week - Part 3 "Does God Answer Prayer?" 

I want to share with you some examples of Bible prayers - you can read them and pray them back to God!