I need help in understanding prayer. :(

[Daniel Z.]

Hi, my name is Daniel, for years I've been giving effort in trying to get closer to God. I feel he is there, I feel he exists and watches me, and I feel when I am blessed by him. I read the bible every now a then and when I do I feel something overpowering inside of me, like what I read is power. All of that is good, however when I pray I feel nothing. I feel like a fool when I pray, this has be puzzleling me for a while, am I praying wrong? Is there anything in the bible that talks about the proper way of praying?

Also is prayer absolutely necessary? I'm sure it is but why can't God see what I think? I do feel greatfull for what I have in life and I do feel it, wouldn't that be enough or is prayer the only way he can hear me? I guess I just don't fully grasp the concept of prayer.

[Gayla]

Hi Daniel...

I think there are many keys to get closer to God....

You mention one of them.... reading his word.... (every now and then)

If you had a best friend.... how long do you think you would be able to keep him * her

if you only talked to them occasionally :)

How about committing to one chapter per day......

and praying before you read it, asking God to open your understanding of it,

asking him to show you what it means, and to allow you to receive it in the spirit in which he sent it

Also, as you read thru each chapter, how about making notes on what you have read

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you accepted God into your heart, thru what Jesus has done on the cross

Have you been baptised......

Do this for awhile, and please write back, and keep us up dated.

we love you and God loves you more.

[maggie hancox]

Daniel, perhaps start with singing him worship songs before you pray.
Stick to it dear brother, you don't have to be loud to pray. Pray even in a whisper.. it takes time to make connection in this heavily mortal world sometimes.
It helps to do a little often, even if it is just to give thanks for this or that.
for example;
Oh God I love the way you.... (what ever) and no more.
You will find the more you do it, the easier it will become and the connections will happen more often and this awkwardness will pass.

[prince mupenzi]

hulo dear sister , fear not child the lord is with you and he loves u very much , please my child dont give up now listenly humbly the bible sayth , there is a time 4every thing a time for happiness and sadnes , look at job , he was a rigteaus man but the lord left him to be tested by the deciever , so my sister dont fear and be discouraged for its written in the book of mathew 7.7 ask and u shall receive , seek and u will find , knock and the door will be opened on to u, dear sister dont giving praying coz the lord said jesus said keeping praying and never be discouraged. wait i will write to u again to help u

[Theresa]

Dear Daniel:)

Jesus says " when you pray ", not "if you pray". Praying is a powerful tool and it is the one thing that hold things together, it is God's gift to us, it is awesome when we pray and it is not a burden and it should NOT be a burden.
Psalm 14:1-3 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.
Get this image out of your head that you are a fool or you feel like a fool. Obviously, you are NOT a fool because a fool is someone who says there is no God and you are not saying that, so you are not a fool :)

Psalm 107:1 says: Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.
I would suggest to you to be thankful in your heart and let it flow from your mouth so your ears can hear it, God will hear it, thank God for what He has done for you through Jesus and the people He gave you, like your mom and your dad, your family, your friends and whatever situation you are in, it should not stop you from giving God the thanks He deserves. Focus on God, tell Him how good He is and forgive people who wronged you or you wronged them in Jesus name.
You are blessed!

[littlesheep88]

Luke 11:2-4
2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d

I could tell you alot of ways to pray, but I will give you the only way I know how. many people pray differently, but as long as you start with 'Father God' (or something similar) and end with 'In Jesus' name Amen' then it's a prayer. I always start of with the lord's prayer (above) and then thank God for all He has done and then make my request known to God. Its how I stay grateful, to first thank and then ask. It's humbling yourself to God, letting Him and you know that He is in control.

You can also pray about it. and read the word.

God Bless!!

[Jared Wells]

Matthew Chapter 6 Verses 5-15.

[GAD_578]

God knows our hearts and minds and within these we communicate with the Father and when one understands what a Spirit is they shall know that prayer has many formates. I Pray all day long cause I keep God in my thoughts. He tells us to remind him of his promises and it is good to recall his Word in Prayer cause not even God's elect know exactly how to pray in light of any current situation.
Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

We pray to The father in the name of Yeshua Christ cause Christ became our Passover and Sabbath. I know not what to say in responce to one who claims they don't feel nothing when praying or that they feel like a fool. I think that shows why!
A healthy fear matures into love for God. the holy Spirit is a comforter but we can feel a range of emotions. One has need of repentance during prayer. Prayer shouldn't always consist of requests. God likes to hear from us from time to time without us wanting something in return. Reason we were created- Rev.4:11- Everyone has something to be thankful for.

I find alot of people pray about earthly things with little mention of Spiritual things. Either way God is just and knows what we have need for and what we can handle better than we. Once one is in goodstanding with God they are one with the Holy Spirit and recognize it speaking through other people, nature, and the Word... Those individuals can serve as instruments of the Holy spirit.

Another vital fact is that those who blame God for evil or say that God tempts them need not think they can ask him for blessings.NOTE: there are standards to be met to recieve blessings just as negative effects follow a negative cause that stems from ones own free will.

You need not a middle man. and he can even read your mind of which none other can do! let prayer not be premeditated and let it flow from the heart, not being ashamed of seeking such a relationship

[kaysha sandlin]

he does know what you think.....however its like a child.....you know that they want that chocolate chip cookie....they want it beyond belief but unless they ask they are not getting that cookie......its the same way with god......he knows exactly what you want but unless you ask and have faith he cant do anything for you

[Scribe D'Nucov]

Dear Daniel Z, I once asked this same question. Here is what the Lord has taught me.

Prayer is taking theory and putting it into action in the spirit world, but the power of the Holy Spirit and in my own soul. Reading God's word is vital to your prayer life AND prayer is vital to your study of the Bible. Bible reading alone can never fulfill your spiritual life, although it is a vital part. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus if you do not know and obey his Word.

What I have learned is to "pray the scriptures". You see, the Bible is God's word and you have to pray according to God's word to experience the full power of God's Spirit at work in you. If you pray "out of synch" from God's word, you are wasting your time.

So, when I read the Bible, I begin by asking for God to give me "ears to hear" so that I may understand (as Jesus said). Then, as I read passages of scripture, I ask God to reveal his truth to me. Then when I am convicted or I learn something from that passage, I pray that passage over myself and my family. Then, when I am done, I ask God to help me better hear what he has to say to me today and I ask him to speak into my spirit and my soul what he wants for me. Then, I learn to be quiet and listen.

For instance, Psalm 1:1-2 says
" 1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night."

So, I often pray like this: "Father, I know that you want for me to be a blessed man and that your ways are good and I will be filled with Joy as I learn them. So give me the wisdom and the strength of character not to walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor to stand in the way of sinners, nor to sit in the seat of mockers! God I know that your law is delightful, so give me the wisdom and the conviction to meditate on your word and consider your counsel day and night."

And then, I will write down the verse on a card and put it in my pocket. I will read it to myself when I feel tempted to walk in the counsel of sinful people (do the worldly things) and I will quote it back to myself. I highlight that in my Bible and make note of it. I read it again and I do cross reference searches to passages that talk about similar things. Then, I write those down.

By meditating on it (that is to bring it to remembrance and to pray it over myself repeatedly): you learn to digest that into your soul. Your soul can then begin to grow in the Spirit of God and become "Christ-like" (the meaning of "Christian" is to be "Christ-like"). Then you find a desire growing in yourself, by the power of God's word, to do what God's word says. That desire becomes a greater hunger and as you feed that hunger with more prayer and more of God's word, that memorized and "ingrafted" Word of God grows into a strength within you. Then, when temptations come you are able to easily shake them off - because your desire has truly become to "delight in the law of the LORD". Then, when the world is confusing and confounding to others, you have divine insight to what is happening.

As you do this, and you become diligent about it, you will find yourself experiencing the power of God in your life, your prayers will be answered and you will become more the man of God that the Father has called you to be.

In John 15:5-8, Jesus says:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

So, what Jesus is saying here is that if your prayer life is weak, this is how you know that you are not abiding in His Word. If you are abiding in Him and His Word is abiding in you, God will be answering your prayers.

Prayer is a mystery - but what a powerful and amazing mystery it is!! How can I say that? I have seen miraculous answers to prayer!! When there was no hope, I have seen God change things in direct answer to prayer. When there was no way, I have seen God deliver by answering prayer. Sometimes, God seems to wait until the exact moment that someone has prayed. And sometimes, God waits and requires us to pray many times for a season until that thing is answered. But, each time, I have come to appreciate that God uses unique ways to show me that He has answered prayers.

However, you cannot know God's mind, or God's will, to know what prayers He will answer or what prayers He will deny if you are only reading His word "every now and then"; because you will simply forget and be more caught up in Fleshly and Worldly thinking. The Bible is God's tool to give you the "mind of Christ". Without that, you are just praying your own will and your own mind - which is, at best, the mind of a sinner who has a minimal concept of God.

You cannot know God's greatness, nor understand a glimpse of his awesome plan, without a concerted and diligent effort to heartily learn his word on a daily basis. Do you think the Apostles merely read his word "every now and then" to accomplish such great things as they did? No! They meditated day and night on his teachings. They diligently searched the scriptures of the Old Testament! They diligently wrote and studied and prayed Jesus' Word! They diligently sought to understand His truths! Look at the writings of Matthew, Mark, Peter, James, John and Jude and you will see men who had carefully considered his word! Never mind Paul, who was a scholar of scholars in studying the entire Bible.

God worked great miracles through those people because of their faithfulness to become prayer warriors! Consider Mary, his great disciple. She sat at his feet diligently to learn from him and she was the ONLY one who understood that he was about to suffer a great trial and death! She annointed him for burial before he was dead! That was because she was diligently considering his every word!

Prayer is not just necessary, it's VITAL! You have a computer, so you know that your computer needs to regularly get software updates to overcome the various problems of software bugs, viruses, hackers and spamware. Well, there are relentless attacks on your soul from the World, the Flesh and the Devil. And Prayer is your daily download.

I say that, as a man who once asked the same question as you have asked here. 25 year later, I understand that God has reserved his richest blessings for those who will diligently seek him by prayer. The casual person who rarely prays has not understood the mind of God, nor experienced His richest blessings.

The best things are ahead for you, when you will wait on the Lord in prayer and meditation on His Word.

[Scribe D'Nucov]

I have an idea for you: Set a goal for yourself to read the Book of Romans over the next 32 days. It has 16 chapters, so you can read a chapter one day and pray about it (discuss it with God). Then, read it again the second day and search the cross references in your Bible. Do that for all 16 chapters, reading and praying it as I have mentioned above.

Write down what you learn from your studies in the cross references, and write down your prayers - and then write down the answers that God reveals to you. In other words, keep a journal of your dialogue with God through his Word and through prayer.

I will guarantee you that in 33 days, your life will be changed and you will be asking God on day 33 what book of the Bible he wants you to read next!

[work in progress]

To me prayer is invoking Gods kindness for others. I think that He likes that alot. When I pray for others God is kind to me too. It seems that He grants more grace ( understanding of His love) (I feel more assurance of His love) God is love and He He wants us to love each other more deeply too.

We are totally accepted through His blood but our own assurance is where the Bible and prayer comes in as well.

In Jesus blood and love we pray always

JESUS is the great I AM

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords

I pray for you and pray too for me ~ In His great and deep love sister Thea