What do you do with your friends that you fail to do with complete
strangers?
If you knew that by simply taking five minutes out of your day to have
a conversation with God your life would change for the better, would
you do it?
Communication is key in any relationship and throughout the bible God
speaks to his people and they speak to him.
Jesus tells us to pray, not on the street corner, but to go to a place
where we can be private and speak to God. He tells us to be specific
and not to 'babble'. He tells us to ask Him for things. Good
things. He tells us to ask that God's will be done, because
God's will is always the right one. He tells us to request
that God will meet our most basic needs. He tells us to ask God to forgive
us for what we have done that is wrong. He tells us to ask God for help.
Help to forgive, help to resist temptation to carry out further wrongs.
He tells us to ask God to act on our behalf, taking us out of the harm
of evil. He tells us to acknowledge God's authority and eternal power.
And finally He tells us to believe that it will be done. Matthew
6:5-15
Could you do that? It takes less than five minutes. Of course
if you're anything like me your prayers might end up taking a bit longer
and have a lot more emphasis on your needs, and not just the
most basic ones!
But amazingly that's ok. God understands us. He tells us that we are
His children and what Father doesn't want to meet the the needs of his
children, even to the extent of spoiling them a little?
Here are some other examples of biblical prayer:
"please God, can my wife have a baby?"
Genesis
25:21
"thanks God, you're amazing!"
1
Chronicles 29:10
"Oh God, please give me success at this interview"
Nehemia 1:10-11
"Dear God, please relieve me from this distress"
Psalm 4:1
"Oh God, can I live longer please?"
Isaiah
38:5
"God, can you get me out of this whales stomach?"
Jonah
2:1
"God, please help the poor"
Acts
10:5
"Oh God, please help our leaders"
Acts
14:23
"Dear God, please heal this person"
Acts
28:8
"God, please bring these people into a relationship with Jesus"
Romans
10:1
"Thank you God for answering prayers"
2 Corinthians 1:11
"Dear God, make my wife/husband perfect"
2
Corinthians 13:9
"God please let love abound"
Philippians 1:9
"Dear God, please help me to do your will"
Colossians 4:12
"God please bring this person back from the dead"
John
11:41-44
Jesus prayed for us too you know
John
17:6-19
IXOYE
