Questions and Answers: How to Pray

Question: I’ve never really prayed before. How do I get started?

Answer: Prayer is not complicated—but getting started can feel that way. God doesn’t want prayer to be intimidating, though. He designed it to be our lifeline—a direct, open, and daily connection with Him. Prayer is a habit you can start today, and it begins with just a few simple steps.

First, prioritize prayer by picking a time and then protecting that time. This helps ensure that prayer becomes a part of your daily routine. Many find that the morning is most effective—even Jesus prioritized His prayer time by praying in the morning (Mark 1:35). Regardless of the time, the key is to prioritize prayer by making sure it happens at a consistent time every day.

A second key is to go to God privately. He certainly wants to hear from us anytime, anywhere, but Jesus advised that our main, daily prayer should ordinarily be in private (Matthew 6:5–6). Praying to God privately lets us talk to Him without inhibition and in genuine sincerity. It’s not that praying in public is always wrong—we see plenty of examples in Scripture of God’s servants praying publicly—but our main prayers should be done privately.

The next key is knowing what to pray about. There are many examples of prayer in the Bible, in many different circumstances. Some prayers will be short, and some will be longer, and each may have a different purpose.

However, when Jesus was teaching His disciples about prayer, He gave a general model for our main, daily prayer. He encouraged us to begin by glorifying and thanking God and expressing our desire for His coming Kingdom—for His rule on this earth to fix this world’s problems (Matthew 6:9–10). Following His outline, it’s only after focusing first on God and His coming Kingdom (v. 33) that we pray about our wants and needs (v. 11). And God does want you to tell Him about your needs, the needs of others, and what’s happening in your life. Nothing is too small for Him to care about—Scripture assures us that He wants to hear our every request (Philippians 4:6–7).

Next, we’re to humbly confess our sins to God, asking Him to forgive us and to help us forgive others (Matthew 6:12, 15). To help us avoid future sin, we can then ask Him to protect us from the devil’s temptations. Then we close our prayer by praising God for His power and glory (v. 13).

Jesus gave us this model or outline for our main, daily prayer, but we shouldn’t just repeat the words of Matthew 6 back to Him, verbatim (Matthew 6:7–8). God wants us to talk to Him from our heart and with our own words (Jeremiah 29:12–13; Hosea 7:14). You may find it helpful to make a prayer list to revise as circumstances change in your life or the lives of others, but your prayers should be in your own words, from the heart. And we must always pray with humility. God’s servants commonly knelt in their prayers when they could (e.g., Luke 22:41; Daniel 6:10), illustrating a humble attitude.

Prayer Is a Habit—Build It!

And don’t worry about praying “perfectly” as you begin! Like all disciplines, prayer is a facet of life that will improve as you practice and grow over time. While your prayers may be short at first, as time goes on you will discover you have more and more to discuss with your Creator. You may find that sometimes you don’t feel like praying. Don’t let that discourage you—just pray anyway. In fact, you can even pray for the desire to pray, if you’re struggling with it. Don’t worry if you forget to pray one day—just pray as soon as you realize it, getting right back into your routine. And never give up—prayer is a foundational part of your relationship with God.

If you would like to learn more about prayer, we recommend our free study guide Twelve Keys to Answered Prayer. You can request your free copy or order it online right here at Tomorrow’s World.