Week One

Day One

What is Prayer?

“Pray constantly.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Have you ever struggled with prayer? For me, I worry about my posture, my speech, where to pray, when to pray. I feel as if my prayers should be these elegant, colorful, long, and mountain moving speeches.

Instead, my prayers often sound like this: “God, please help me.” “God, where did I place my keys?” “God, I just need You today.”

I hear the prayers of others that are beautiful, long, seemingly flowing with ease, and I think to myself, Man, I wish I could pray like that! Sometimes I stop praying because I don’t always pray with ease or have a hard time coming up with what to say.

Sound familiar?

God in His grace and mercy has shown me that I should not compare my prayers with others or overthink prayer. So let’s break it down to basics. What exactly is prayer?

Prayer, defined by Merriam Webster is, “an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought.” Simply put, prayer is a conversation with God. Since God longs to communicate with us, He gives us several verses in Matthew regarding prayer as a blueprint for how to pray. “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

He also gives us instructions on how not to pray, “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! … When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:5, 7-8)

God loves to communicate with us no matter how small, brief, or simple our prayers are. Prayer is a gift God gave us to communicate with Him. Isn’t that beautiful?

God, thank You that You bend Your ear to earth just to hear us. Thank You for Your unconditional love for us and longing to have a relationship with us. God, thank You for the gift of prayer. May we not compare ourselves to others when we pray and recognize that prayer is a special connection just between us. Thank You for providing Your Word as a guide on how to pray.