What is Prayer?

What is prayer? A friend of mine put it this way: 

What is prayer? Talking with God. Having deep communion with him daily, being in his presence for a time, knowing that God is with you, would be all good answers to what prayer is.

 Prayer is indeed, all those things. Prayer is simply talking to God. He knows our thoughts (Psalm 139:2), so whether our prayers are out loud or in our head/heart, he hears them.

Jeremiah 29:12 (ESV)

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

 God promises that when we pray, he will hear us!

1 Peter 3:12 (ESV)

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

    and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Jesus gave us an example on how to pray in:

Matthew 6:5-13 (ESV; italics mine)

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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.

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. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father 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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

 Wow. That's a lot to take in. Let me break it down so it's easier to understand.

First praise God! Thank him for what he's done that day or even praise him for being who he is! What ever you'd like to praise him for, go for it!

What's important? God is! You must remember that he is in control, he is important, and while we can ask him about anything, ultimately, his will will be done.

Provision for things on earth and in heaven. You can ask God to provide you with what you need. (And remember needs are different than wants!)

Protection from the evil one. Satan is prowling like a lion ready to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We need to constantly ask God for this. We can not fight this fight alone. He will be with us and he will help us if we ask him.

Wow, we've already gone over a lot about what prayer is, and things to pray for. I have a few more things to share with you before we conclude this first post.

Philippians 4:6 (ESV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

Do not worry about the things going on in your life. Drop them all in God's lap (Psalms 55:22). Pray about everything and anything! Tell all your requests, your thoughts, about your day, etc, to God! And don't forget to thank him! He has blessed us more than we deserve!

So what is prayer?

Talking to God! 

We do this by:

Praising him!
Remembering who he is!
Asking for provision and protection!
Remembering that God has everything under control,  and is listening to our petitions and requests!

I pray that this is insightful and will be a blessing as we start our series on prayer!