How Do I Pray?

Prayer is the steady state of awareness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creating a constant and seamless union of heart and mind with the Almighty that SHIFTS earthly perspectives, plans, and purposes as heaven becomes visible on earth.

How to Pray

1. Make it personal.

We think it is transactional, like an ATM. It's not. It's communion with Almighty God. The goal of prayer IS God, not getting something from God. A person is on the other side of the conversation. He is Our Father! So we can start by saying to Him, "Father, I'm here and I just want to be with You."

2. Lead with praise.

His name is hallowed. He is Holy. It's communion together. It's not just hanging out. It's taking time to tell Him what you love about Him, what you appreciate about Him, and praise Him for who He is and what He's done. It will give you a new perspective and bring you in line with Him. Praising Him will impact the communion You have with Him.

3. Align with His plans.

"Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

And in my life as it is in heaven. And in this meeting, conversation, and decision as it is in heaven. Fill in the blank with whatever we want, but let His Will be done. The strength of prayer is to align with what He's already doing. Henry Blackaby said, "Find out where God is at work and join Him." For example, at Passion City Church and Passion Conferences, we are involved with Bible Translation because that is an area where we see God is at work.

How do we know what God is doing? Get with God! Jesus did this all the time. Early in the morning or late at night, Jesus would go away by Himself to be with His Father. He tells us in John 5:19 and 8:38 that He only does what He sees and hears the Father doing.

4. Give us today what we need.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

A simple part of prayer is saying, "I know you are good, You have enough, and I will have what I need today." When asking God for what you need, you can...

P-Pause.

R-Remember the

A-Almighty is

Y-Your Father,

E-Everything you need, you

R-Receive.

We are going to ask, seek, and knock as the scripture tells us to, but we do that knowing that He has already been giving. We don't have to worry about having everything down on the list, we can say, "Thank you that you supply all my needs according to Your Will and Your work. Christ, You are supplying everything I need."

5. Clear the air.

We cannot punk God or pull one over on Him. We can't fake praising Him, He knows our hearts. Confess your sin! Own it. He already knows it, but it clears the air. Matthew 5 tells us to leave our gift at the altar if we have an unresolved issue with someone and go make it right first, then come back and give our gift. Why? Because it honors the grace of God. We can't be in His presence, in communion, praising Him, and confessing the richness of His grace when we are withholding the richness of His grace from someone else. We should often leave communion with God with our own to-do list of people we need to make things right with. We are to seek peace as much as we can as far as it depends on us. See Romans 12:18.

6. Acquaint yourself with His Word and connect it to your communion with Him.

We often separate praying from reading the Bible. Our lives are about communion with God and communion with God is what prayer is all about, so our lives are prayer. His Word encourages us in this. We are going to have the Word (Bible) in communion with The Word (God). We are telling Him what He told us. For example, read Psalm 46.

Verse 1: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Prayer: God, you are MY refuge and MY strength today, it says you are an ever-present help in trouble and I am in trouble, I need you to be what you are, MY ever-present help.

7. Don't be afraid of the silence.

Pause, be still. We come in hot, all in a fluster because we haven't budgeted well. We can take a big Holy, Supernatural breath, remind ourselves of Who we are talking to, and how He is trustworthy and sovereign, and then ask Him for help. The best friends we have are the ones where no one feels compelled to fill the silence. We're just happy to be present and with them.

8. Be grateful.

We don't have to "feel it" to practice it. Praise Him anyway. Thank God anyway. Honor Him anyway. Soon, we will experience our feelings starting to follow and change. Recognize He is sovereign. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says the One who has called you is faithful and He will do it. That is something to be grateful for!

If you think you have nothing to be grateful for, remember that He sees you individually and He knows you. We can't personally call head coaches, politicians, or CEOs, but we can call on Yahweh. He doesn't screen calls or ignore us. We can't call the CEO that we work for, but we can call on the One who created the CEO and we don't even have to tell Him our name because He knows it. That is something to be grateful for! Move from general thanks (Life, breath, grace) to specific thanks (not giving up on my middle child, fighting for me in that interview, teaching our family your Word together).

God desires a deep and intimate relationship and communion with us. This is how we pray.