Nuggets of knowledge article 11

Blessed morning everyone and welcome to yet another installment of the Nuggets of knowledge series
here at metanoiameans.com! Today’s topic is communication with God. This is one of my favorite topics
of practical understanding in the christian faith walk. So…lets get into it. As I have said in many of the
previous installments of this series, our God loves to communicate with us. He wants us to come to him
with every chance we get and to make time every day to do so even when the day doesn’t seem to permit
it. But what does that look like? What does it look like to communicate with God constantly and what are
the benefits to it?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us that the will of God in christ Jesus for us is to rejoice always, pray
without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances. There are many verses in god’s word that encourage
us to have a robust and healthy prayer life but for me, this one takes the cake. It spells out clearly that God
wants us to talk to him. Not some of the time but all of the time. His lines are always open, there is never
a time where he does not want to talk to us.
Biblical examples of prayer:

Hannah’s prayer-
and Hannah prayed and said,

My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.

David’s prayer of gratitude-
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

Solomon’s prayer for wisdom-
You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before youin faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this
great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. 7 And now, O Lord my
God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do
not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have
chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore
an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able
to govern this your great people?

Prayer for spiritual strength-
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on

earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with
power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what
is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power
at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever
and ever. Amen.

As you can see through these four examples, of which there are many more, prayers can take a wide range
of forms and be for a wide range of things. But I submit to you now that it is far wider than we could ever
imagine. Our God wants us to tell him about our day, thank him for our victories and defeats. He wants us
to praise him, exalt him and worship him in everything we do and experience. He wants us to bring our
worries, cares, concerns, fears and joys to him through prayer always. No mater what is going on in our
lives I promise you, God wants to hear about it. Prayers can be used to ask for things just as well as
telling God about things. Yes, our all knowing God knows what you are going to tell him but he delights
in hearing it from you anyway.
I have learned to see prayers as private conversations with God. To see them as alone time with him, as
time where I can be in his presence and focus fully on him. What is it that makes me see prayer the way?
Scripture. Particularly Matthew 6:6 which reads “ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” With
that verse in mind I strive to make the majority of my prayer privet affairs that no one but God and myself
will hear.

A few verses down from Matthew 6:6 we are given a guideline as to how to pray, that reads as
follows:

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be
heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,[b]
on earth as it is in heaven.
11
Give us this day our daily bread,[c]
12
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”

This prayer is wonderful and I have said it many times but, it is important to know that there is no one
size fits all answer to “how do I pray?” This prayer hits the key points of what prayers should have in
them yes but we do not have to say it word for word every time we pray. What are those key points of
prayer though?

They are not in any particular order but you can remember them with the word APPLES:

Acknowledgment of God and who he is
Praising him for who he is and what he has done, is doing and will do
Pleading (asking) for what you or someone else might need
Love, tell God how much you love him
Exalt him
Sin forgiveness

If you cant think of something in the moment that you want to ask God for and just want to talk to him and tell him about your day, try ATTITUDE:

Acknowledge
Thank
Tell
Intercede
Transfer (give your burdens to him)
Uplift (glorify His name)
Declare (your love for him
Exalt him

As you can see these are all areas of prayer, it would be up to you to listen for the holy spirt as you pray to
have him help you find the words for each one. Just remember that prayer is personal and everyone will
say theirs differently. As long as they are done with love, respect, reverence and faith the order in which
you address the elements of prayer isn’t set in stone. My personal conviction is that I must always thank
God and acknowledge him before doing anything else in prayer but for you, your convictions may be
different.

Developing a good prayer habit leads to a robust and healthy prayer life. My current personal goal is to pray 3 times a day minimum. I suggest that if you are a new believer or just really starting to pray, you start with 2 a day. Pray right when you wake up, thank the lord for allowing you to open your eyes and
have a new day while also praying for his will to be done during this day that he gave you. if you feel you
should pray for others during this prayer then that is a wonderful thing to do. pray that the lord gives you
wisdom, knowledge, patience, and strength for the day ahead, tell him you love him and cherish the time
he spends with you say amen and tah dah, your morning prayer is done. Then as you lay down to sleep
you pray again.

Thank the lord for the day, thank him for all of the things he did for you or kept you from
during the day, pray for anyone that’s on your heart, ask forgiveness for any sins you may have
committed, tell god how much you love and cherish him and what he has done for you throughout your
life and say amen, then your second prayer of the day is in the books. Keep in mind that prayer is
personal, its your one on one time with our heavenly father. Just because I pray this way when saying
short prayers doesn’t mean you have to. Prayer is not one size fits all and it never will be. Take anything
anyone says about the content of prayers when and how they should be said as suggestions and not laws
carved in stone.

The bible is the ONLY tangible source that can TELL you how to pray. Anything else is
no more than a suggestion or advice.

Just always remember that prayer is not a chore, task, or punishment, but a privilege.

Always ask the holy spirit to help you pray when you don’t know what to say or to give you the desire to pray when you don’t have it. It is a vital part of the Christian life and an opportunity to pray should never be passed up.

In closing, prayer…. it is absolutely important to the life of a Christian. There are many ways to do it and as long as they are done with love, respect, reverence and a genuine desire to be close to God, then there is really no wrong way to pray.

The only truly wrong way to pray is to not pray at all.

May our LORD bless you all!
Thank you for reading.

mb