Why Should I Pray?

    Think of the last time you talked to someone. If it was your mom, you could've been talking about really anything. If it was the checkout lady at a store, it was probably very constructed and impersonal;    

    "Hi, how are you?" 

    "Good, you?" 

    "Good. (or maybe great) Is that all?" 

    "Yep, have a good day!" 

    "Have a good day!" 

Scripted vs Constructed Prayer

    It's weird how often I have used this interaction for most people I greet. Sometimes, it's all that's necessary, and others, something is up with me that day. The way I might want to respond is, "No, it's been a rough day. I've been upset and tired all morning, and I need a hug." (Of course, I don't recommend that you actually say that to a stranger, haha.)

    Now that you know what I mean by a "scripted" conversation, think about the last time you prayed. 

    Was it a quick, every-day script you made for when you talk to God? 

    I definitely know what mine sounds like; "Thank you for this day, please watch over my family, and bless this food to my body. Amen." or maybe, "I'm sorry I sinned again. Please forgive me, and help me not do it again. Amen."

    Why is it so hard to get personal in prayer? How can I have a conversation if He can't talk back to me? Or, better yet, why bother praying if He is all-knowing?

    The first thing I'll address is scripted prayer. Having a simple/short prayer isn't inherently wrong. Asking for our meal to be blessed, for example, can get super repetitive because we eat so often. What gets weird is when the prayer loses it's meaning, or when it's the only prayer you have. 

    A great example of a constructed -rather than scripted- prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13.

    

    "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

    The reason I made a separation between constructed and scripted prayer is because it has been taught to be that the prayer in Matthew 6 is a skeleton rather than the entire body. It is a base that we can add the meat to in our own personal situations. Still, it sets us up for important concepts like praising God (hallowed be Your name), submission to God (Your will be done), reliance on God (Give us this day our daily bread ... deliver us from evil), etc.  So, it is constructed, or a base, rather than fully scripted. 

    Constructed prayer is helpful, whereas scripted prayer can get impersonal. I have a few types of prayer I have identified that help me construct my time with God so it is productive, and I wrote that in this blog post.

Doubts

    Okay, so, "Why is it so hard to get personal in prayer?" "How can I have a conversation if He can't talk back to me?" and "Why bother praying if He is all-knowing" are all questions I have heard and asked myself. They are understandable, but none of them should promote you to doubting prayer. Let me try my best to answer them so you can see why prayer is so important and good for Christians to do.

    Why Bother If God Is Omniscient?

    I'm going to make up a scenario. You often help your little brother with his shooting skills before the championship, and you just saw on Facebook that he got the buzzer beater, winning his game. You are wicked excited for him, and wish you could've been there. Once he gets home, he runs out of the car with a smile on his face, and immediately blurts out the great news to you, giving you a big hug. He even thanks you for helping him train! You get to be excited together, and have this memory to strengthen your sibling relationship.

    How would it feel if he hops out of the car with that same excitement, but when he sees you, just ignores you and celebrates by himself? You ask, "So, how did the game go?" but instead he just says, "I know you were watching it on Facebook. Do I have to explain what you already saw?" That would feel like a knife to the chest. I think it's the same with God.

    He wants us to come to Him to have that relationship. Just because He understands everything doesn't mean He doesn't want a conversation. God longs to hear your perspective, emotions, and life. Jesus died so we could be free from our sin (and the wrath of God) to become close to Him. 

    How Do I Have A Conversation If He Can't Respond?

    First off- God can respond! He speaks in many ways, yet because humans are so used to the audible or visual communication, it is very different to hear from the Lord. Also, I think God can and will use audible and visual communication like in the Bible, so don't rule that out. He is all powerful, and capable of anything. Still, He whispers in ways that we have to pay attention to in order to hear. 

    He also can shout plain, honest truth in hundreds of thousands of words, specifically from His Word; the Bible. God literally gave us 66 books for us to hear His heart in!

    Acadia, but the Bible doesn't answer all my questions! How am I supposed to know if my life is in line with His plan? 

    Alright, that's a very valid concern dear reader. That's why the Holy Spirit is residing in us after we are saved, He is there to speak to us. That's what I mean by "whispering in ways we have to pay attention to in order to hear," the Spirit is so close, and ready to reveal Himself to us, we just need to open our life up to that communication. Perpetually living in sin can hinder that, as we are not submitting to the Lord in obedience, but rather being stubborn in our will. We have to step down and let Him move in our life so that He can speak to us.

    That could come up by "doors" that open or close. This happens all the time in what at first seems like coincidence, but by repetition/confirmation God will make Himself clear. An insane example just happened to me and my family very recently:

    Since May, I have been burdened by something, and it clung so closely to my heart I was sure it was important. And when I brought it to my parents, they weren't convicted by it (typically, God will put in on all of our separately if He wants a change in our family). Yet God seemed to keep reminding me through thoughts, His Word and even my friends! So I presented the issue to my parents, emphasizing that it was big. They turned me down, but later agreed to look into it. The same day they looked into it though the "door shut": circumstances proved me wrong. I was a little sad, but I understood that I could've just been hyping myself up over nothing. Yet, the day after the door closed, it swung open so widely that my mother and I were shocked. A lady came to us explaining that it was fate, and we were needed for this issue all of a sudden. 

    I don't know who fate is, but I know who God is, and He's never spoken so quickly to my family before.

 

    Prayer might seem like a one-way discussion, but He will reveal Himself, I promise. I also talk about meditating on His Word to hear from God in the blog post I linked earlier. (I'll link it here as well.)

    How Do I Get Personal With God?

    I think the answer to this one is super simple; pray often, and pray realistically. 

    If you only mumble those scripted prayers I talked about once day, of course you will never feel personal! Scripted conversations are used for strangers to break the awkward silence. Treat God like a person who is actually there, sitting right next to you. Chat with Him more often than you chat with your bestie. Don't hide the awkward secrets and emotional topics from Him; He is all-knowing, remember? He wants to hear from you, even the weird parts. 

    If you could trust anyone with the darkest corners of your life, it would be God. He loves you and is the only one who understands your intentions. Jesus died -the greatest act of love- while we still hated and rejected Him (Romans 5:8).

    How much more will He care for us and give grace when we are looking to Him for help! 

    Another element that comes into play when doubting how personal God can be, is the thought, "God can't hear me. I'm too insignificant." I hope you understand that even though God is so so huge, His presence expanding to every place in the universe, He is also the one that designed and holds protons and neutrons together (Colossians 1:17). He comprehends every thought you have, and He hears every whispered prayer. 

    Not only is God way bigger than us, He is way smaller. He is everything, and eternal, so we will never be able to understand how well He knows us. I heard this quote, and I forget who it is from, but it goes like this;

    "Don't doubt if God knows you. The clay of our bodies is still warm from when He formed us."

    

Go Pray!

    Invest in the most important relationship in your life right now; you should go pray with God! He is so incredible and deserves to be the first priority in your life. Salvation isn't hindered on how perfect we live, but rather having faith and relying on God through prayer.

    "But I will look to the Lord: I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me." Micah 7:7

    Thank you so much for reading, have a great rest of your day! God bless!

    - Acadia :)