Just come before God and talk to God. Just you are.
While I believe there is no fixed way, these are simple steps I could think of in coming to God in prayer, based on my understanding and experience :
- Come just as you are
- Acknowledge Who God is
- Give Thanks
- Confess and ask for forgiveness for any wrongs
- Pray according to and in line with God’s Word and His Will
- Pray believing God will reply you
- Press on in prayer
- Wait, watch and listen to God
- Receive
All we have to do first is simply just coming to God.
God Knows and Loves us
God knows us. Who we are, where we have been, what we are going through, and even what we are going to ask (Psalms 139:2~4 , Matt 6:8 ). So there is nothing to hide, and absolutely nothing we can hide from God anyway. The Almighty Who created us loves us to come to Him just as we are, trust Him and ask believing in Him.
- Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD – Psalms 139:4 (ISV)
- Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him – Matthew 6:8 (WEB)
If anyone who desires to pray and wants to know how to pray, before anything, I would like to encourage you. God Loves you, bless you and God has been waiting for you.
It is not by accident but I believe God is drawing you to know Him, and to show Himself and how He love you just as it is written,
- “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out”
– John 6:37 (ESV) - “… no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father”
– John 6:65 (ESV)
You are blessed
- “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
– Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)
It states poor in spirit, and does not necessarily mean literally poor, which signifies, whoever comes to God, seeking with humble heart, will be blessed.
What is prayer?
Generally it is understood that asking or requesting God for something is prayer. However, it does not always have to be for asking but it can be said that prayer is any kind of communication with God, which includes requesting.
So prayer is communication with God or any form of contact with God can be considered as prayer.
How to Start Praying?
When we pray, we just need to communicate like we communicate with each other. It is basically as simple as that. We do not need to complicate it.
Like friend talking to friend, father to child and so on.
This is how Lord Jesus told us to pray as well.
When we learn something, I think it is best to learn from the best, and I think Lord Jesus doubtlessly is the best.
How did Lord Jesus Pray?
Posture – Do I need to kneel, close my eyes, put hands together?
Sometimes we hear the right posture to pray is to close eyes, kneel down, and lower your head down to pray. While there is nothing wrong with this and it is truly one of the best posture to pray, it is not a requirement.
When Lord Jesus prayed, we can guess (since it is not stated very clearly) that sometimes he prayed this way. E.g. on the mount of Olives before he was crucified.
However, other times, He stood up, lifted up His head, and prayed looking unto heaven. To some, this may be very surprising. But this is what is written in the Word of God, the bible.
So when we come to God, we do not need to be restricted by such regulations. But rather, just need to Come, Just as we are…
This means we pray or talk to God whether traveling in bus or train, just sitting down, driving, doing the or even lying down. While it may not be the best posture since there will be difficulty in focusing due to the distractions etc, there is no rule against such.
However, it will definitely help to focus on God when we close our eyes, and go to a quiet place to pray. Lifting hands, putting hands together, and even kneeling down in reverence to God will help additionally as our own body posture reminds us the seriousness of what we are doing, that is, talking with God, Creator of all things.
- Come as you are
God knows us inside out. In fact God designed us and made us (Psalms 139:13, 16). Before we even speak out, God already knows what we are thinking and what is in our heart. Our desire (Psalms 38:9), cry of our heart, and what we are going through.
- Psalms 139:4, Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD (BSB)
- For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb… Your eyes saw my unformed body – Psalms 139:13, 16 (BSB)
- Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You. – Psalms 38:9 (NASB)
- Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalms 37:4 (NASB)
I urge that all will read the whole chapter of Psalms 139 to understand how much God cares for us and that God knows us.
So there is no point in hiding anything from God. God desires us to come just as we are, talk to him in honesty (Psalms 51:6) because God already knows what is in our heart.
That is, even when we have done wrong. King David came before God in sincere repentance and God received him and forgave him.
One verse that we should never forget is 1 John 1:9. If we would come to God confessing our sins and sincerely ask for forgiveness, God will forgive us.
- Psalms 32:5 (NASB), I acknowledged my sin to You, And I did not hide my guilt; I said, “I will confess my wrongdoings to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.
- Psalms 51:6 (NKJV), You desire truth in the inward parts
- 1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In fact it will hurt God more if we do not come before God because of the sins, than the sin itself.
Even when we are upset, may question and complain to God, God honors the very fact that we are coming before Him. God knows the difficulties in our lives and that many things we are not able to see or comprehend. God does not expect us to know and understand everything.
But God desires that no matter what the matter is, that we will turn to Him in prayer, pouring our heart including our complaints.
We may think it is rude and dishonoring God. But since God already knows what we are feeling and thinking, would not God want us to just come clean?
Many times David came before God and cried out to God. Many great men of God including Moses, Habakkuk, Job, Jonah and Elijah too came and asked God, almost questioning Him. But to none of them God was angry and punished them. Rather God answered them.
Among them, one of my favorite incidents was about Jonah. It blows my mind away about the way that God responded to Jonah’s rudeness toward God (especially Jonah chapter 4). Do read the short book of Jonah and I pray that you will be encouraged too.
Also in case some wonders about God’s mercy and grace being different during the time of the old testament and the new testament, we have to take note that all these men of God are of the old testament.
Among many prayer related teachings, Lord Jesus also taught the disciples how to pray, which some call it Lord’s prayer. However, it is more like a principle of prayer that Lord Jesus was teaching.