The question of how to pray can seem daunting, and many Christians have varying answers, but let’s simply look to the Scriptures. Here’s a list of what the Bible has to say about how to pray:
Reading through these verses anchored me and encouraged me. Praying it does the same for many of you!
Thank you for sharing this. One thing I find comforting when reading through verses about prayer is how honest and human many of the prayers in Scripture are.
Some are full of gratitude and confidence, while others come from grief, fear, confusion, repentance, or exhaustion. Yet throughout all of them, God keeps inviting people to come to Him honestly.
I also love that Jesus did not just teach about prayer — He modeled it constantly. He withdrew to quiet places to pray, prayed for others, prayed in suffering, and prayed “not my will, but yours be done.” That makes prayer feel much more relational than performative to me.
This list was a really encouraging reminder that prayer does not have to sound perfect to be sincere.
Prayer is talking to God and the words we use don’t matter so much as what our heart is saying. The greatest blessing I came across is the knowledge that my heart is an open book before Him so finding the words from my heart is the important thing. No matter what they are. No matter how distraught they may be. He knows it all anyways.
Praying towards thankfulness is important because it exercises true gratitude when you’re not feeling particularly grateful. It turns the mind and emotions to blessings received, when the ordeal seems over bearing.
I have prayed for someone knowing full well that my heart wasn’t in it. The absence of any true desire was my fault and pointed to something not right in me. But I prayed anyways knowing that the prayer was right and asking God not to take my heart into consideration, but to change my heart.
Prayer underscores our relationship with God. It’s communicating with our Creator who knows it all anyways. And we know, He knows but there’s something about coming into His presence with our feeble words, whatever they may be, that defines our relationship with Him.
We pray in faith that He hears us. I’ve seen plenty of evidence that He’s heard me. Yes, no or wait, but He’s heard me. What a privilege we have in prayer. What mountains it can move and what hearts it can change. Not that we’ve initiated the change, but that He hears us and answers.
God is our Father, and what father shuts out the voice of his children? David was a man after God’s own heart. All those secluded days herding his father’s sheep meant that God was his only companion. His prayers must have filled the countryside. It was prayer without ceasing. When the time for Goliath came, he was ready in a faith built strong from an intimate relationship with God and that intimacy was founded on prayer.