Praying When You Don't Know How To Pray

I have experienced times when I went to pray and no words came out because I did not know how to pray. I knew the mechanics of prayer, but I could not frame the request. Sometimes I did not know God's will in the matter and sometimes the situation was beyond me and when I tried to pray, I could not get past the "Heavenly Father."

That is an experience every Christian has. We have saved-loved ones who are desperately ill. Do we pray for physical healing (which is what we want); or that God would heal them by taking them home? Sometimes we are in a situation that is totally overwhelming and we cannot put words to it.

Right now we have prayer requests like that: for loved ones who are saved and very ill. There are other hard prayer situations too. For example, how do you pray concerning the war in Iraq? Our impulse is to pray for the safety of our troops, our friends, and loved ones. Another impulse is to pray for the well being of Iraqi Christians. Those are well and good. How about the other side? If safety for our people means the death of Iraqis, is that something a Christian can and should pray for? If they die outside of Christ they go to an eternity in Hell! Also remember, Christ commanded us to pray for and show love to our enemies.

So how do we pray? Sometimes a prayer that goes, "Heavenly Father, ... (silence and a groan - moan), ... Thy will be done." is ok if you are trying to pour out your heart to God. As Paul tells us: "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." {Romans 8:26-27}

There are ways we can pray that we know are in God's will, such as:
1) That God is glorified and people will know God is God.
{1 Kings 18:37; Psalm 46:10; Daniel 4:17}
2) That Christians would be strong in the face of spiritual conflict.
{Matthew 26:41; Ephesians 6:10-18}
3) That people would come to salvation.
{2 Peter 3:9}
4) To pray for government leaders that we may live in peace.
{1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:17}
5) That Christians would become mature and stronger in the faith.
{Ephesians 6:19-20; Colossians 1, 2:3}
6) To pray with an attitude of rejoicing and being thankful in the Lord.
{Philippians 4:4-7}
And there are many more.

So in these hard to pray situations, we can pray confidently, because of the work of God the Holy Spirit. We can pray in God's will, because we can always pray that He be exalted in the situation; we can pray for salvation: whether for the salvation of a loved one or someone we don't even know personally. We can always pray for God's will as revealed in Scripture and that His will is done.

So pray! I pray that as you pray, the peace of Christ will fill your heart and mind.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker March 2003



Articles by Rev. Daniel B. Baker :: Webmaster: Joseph I. Baker