“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
Prayer is not a mysterious practice reserved for the religiously devout. Prayer is listening and talking to God; prayer is relationship; prayer is worship. Prayer is a privilege, and we are invited to freely pray from the heart, spontaneously, and in our own words. Throughout the Bible, people prayed bowing (Exodus 4:31), some prayed on their knees (1 Kings 8:54) and on their faces (2 Chronicles 20:18; Matthew 26:39), while others prayed standing (1 Kings 8:22). I truly believe that God is more interested in prostrated hearts than with how we position our bodies.
God wants to hear our requests. God wants his children full of joy and gratitude. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). We have no need to chatter on and on and on and on and on and on. By no means am I suggesting that we inhibit the Holy Spirit, but I do think we need to resist the impulses of the flesh demanding human methodologies. “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7). God wants us to be faithful; he wants us to believe. “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6), but our motives must be aligned with God’s will; we should seek his will, even for what we ought to pray. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). When our motives are aligned with his, we can approach God with confidence and even expectancy. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). We should expect to receive his great kindness and mercy. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Let us come to the Lord in submission and obedience casting aside our own agendas no matter how well intentioned.
I’m grateful for God’s unfathomable grace; his generosity and kindness, because in so many respects, I find that I often fall short, including, in prayer. But does God abandon me? Does God leave me to my own devices? Does God refuse to hear me until I reach some point of acceptability? Not at all! The Holy Spirit is hard at work interceding on my behalf in Christ Jesus. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). God is always rushing to the aid of his people; we are never on our own. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). We do not have because we do not ask God (James 4:2).
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Amazing Tangled Grace 
Love this post. Prayer is something that we all should do anytime and anyplace. It could be something simple like thanking God for something that you didn’t expect or definately for getting you up every day. This is part of a prayer that I say every morning. “HAPPY Moments , Praise God , Difficult Moments , seek God, Quiet moments , worship God, Painful Moments, Trust God, Every Moment Thank God . ” God bless you and keep on giving us these inspiring posts.
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Thank you, and great observations! People sometimes make prayer so complicated, and it’s a shame. Legalism is always trying to slip its way in!
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AMEN AND AMEN! prayer was always suppose to be simple. People have seemed to lost that concept .
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
JUST TALK TO GOD ABOUT IT!
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I wrote about prayer too, and I’m so glad to see so many people talk about the importance of prayer. And the fact that many of us do struggle with prayer. There was once a blog I found, and I couldn’t read the posts because of all the elaborate words in it. It had a Christian message within, but everything surround it hindered me. I think we can be like that. We go through routines, or check list in prayers. But we don’t always talk to God about thoughts we struggle with, or our heart issues. This is something I’m working on. Thanks for sharing!
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You’re welcome! I’m glad that we and others are talking about prayer too and bringing these struggles out into the light. The devil just hates that.
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