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| Pray alone |
When I don’t know what to Pray!
You sit in a dark place. Alone! Broken! Confuse! Needing help! And the last resort you have is God. You know He listens. You know He understands. He loves more than anyone else. It became a routine, a habit to being unable to pray alone with God. It happens over and over again. Talking to God in a solitary place becomes harder and harder.
If we’ve been asked about the importance of prayer, I’m absolutely sure we’re going to say, “Prayer is necessity.” But how often we fail to pray? It is possible that the only venue someone is active in prayer is in a church group.
Are you called to pray like that? Becoming negligent?
Becoming negligent in prayer is avoiding one of the most vital parts of Christian life. Christians are instructed to be “devoted in prayer” (Romans 12:12); “to pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17); and “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16).
To be one of the believers having an “I do not know what to pray syndrome” is to live a lifetime of not having a closer and more intimate bond with God.
Jesus taught us to break a bad habit of prayer.
1. Don’t be like the Hypocrites
In Jesus’ time the Pharisees had a distorted example of prayer for they “practice their righteousness before men to be noticed by them;”
Nowhere in the Bible does praying in public is condemned. The king of Nineveh in Jonah’s time had decreed a national day of repentance, Jesus prayed to the Father when He fed 5,000 men and the early church was devoted in a corporate prayer.
A distorted practice of prayer is praying to catch people’s attention and not God’s.
“You have no reward with your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 6:1 [NASB]
2. Don’t attract Praise from People
The Pharisees display of devotion is non-sense. Their prayer doesn’t come to God. They are not divinely awarded by God. People’s attention and admiration is the reward they get
“They have their reward in full”
Matthew 6:5 [NASB]
The Pharisees’ hypocrisy is an example to avoid.
“When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and you Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:6 [NASB]
Public prayer or a group prayer is an add on and not a substitute for private prayer. You don’t need a special decorated room. It is a room where you can be alone for a few minutes and a good place to pray. Some go to mountain alone. Some have their own prayer room. Anywhere you can be alone can be used for private prayer.
So what are we going to say in prayer?
Some have their list in prayer. Some do not. Some pray whatever things that comes in their mind. Just pray and talk to God about everything as if He is your Father and a best friend to share everything. God as a Father “knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Tell God how tired, stress, hurting, offended, unable to trust. He is not surprised when you discuss to Him everything. He knows your very need.
God is more ready to provide us good things. Like our earthly father, God wants a personal lasting relationship with us built on love.
Like we can have a closer relationship with friends and relatives, prayer can do the same to us with God. We are to spend time talking to God who cares, understands and willing to listen and wanting to hear from us.
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