Dear Heavenly Father, Dear God, or sometimes just God, or Jesus, and then talk to Him.This is just between you and the Lord. Group prayer is different. There are many kinds of prayer that we will talk about in a later lesson. This is just for people that don't know how to pray.
Here is a story from one of my Inspirationals that I get from email. I will list the ones that I get at the bottom of this lesson for you to check out and subscribe if you so desire.
A man's daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray with her father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows and an empty chair beside his bed.The pastor assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. I guess you were expecting me," he said."No, who are you?" "I'm the new associate pastor at your local church," the pastor replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew that I was going to show up." "Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the pastor shut the door. "I've never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, 'Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here's what I suggest. Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I'll be with you always.' Then just speak to him and listen in the same way you're doing with me right now." "So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm." The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old guy to continue on the journey.Then he prayed with him, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her daddy had died that afternoon. "Did he seem to die in peace?" he asked. "Yes,when I left the house around two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside,told me one of his corny jokes, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But, there was something strange.In fact, beyond strange--kinda weird.Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed. See if you can imagine Jesus sitting next to you and talk to Him as to a friend. And, also, listen to hear what He says to you. Starting out, this may not be easy but as you grow in the Lord and read your Bible you will hear Him. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Reading the Bible is how you get to know the Lord. Read the Book of John first and then go to others. The Lord spoke to me about this. I had just met a new friend. When we got together, we would share with each other things about our lives. The Lord said--This is what you need to do with me. Get to know me better. We are friends. You are my child. I know you. You know me, but you need to know me better." Well, I knew how to do that--READ THE WORD and PRAY!!!! One of my favorite hymns expresses it---"What A Friend We Have In Jesus": What a Friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! Oh, what needs we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer! He is our friend. We can give Him all our problems. We don't have to carry them around. We pray and tell Him what is wrong and what we need. And, like the song says, "Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." We carry so much pain and resentments with us that we don't need to carry. We can give it all to Jesus, and He will heal the hurts. Jesus died not only for our sins, but to heal our every disease. I Peter 2:24 says, "by His stripes we are healed." Now we don't always have to have a problem to pray. We can just talk to Him, or thank Him for something He has done or something He is doing in our lives, or just praise Him. Here are some books that I think would help you. There are "Prayers That Availeth Much" Volumes I, II, III. These are three different books. They are by Word Ministries, Inc. If you are starting in prayer, Volume I would be enough. This has prayers for different subjects. It can show you how to pray using the scriptures. These are good, but you don't want to use it all the time. There will be times when you will just want to talk to God. You can talk or pray any time and any place. Sometimes it may not be out loud. You can pray sitting and talking to the Lord. We need to do this every day--have a special quiet time with the Lord. I like to do this first thing in the morning. Sometimes it would have to be late at night. You need to have that special time with the Lord when you can pray and listen- a quiet time. Then there are the times that you can talk to the Lord and pray while you are doing things. Now this is different from the quiet times with the Lord. When you have the quiet times, this is concentrating only on the Lord. When you are doing things, you are praying but you have to concentrate on what you are doing. I know it gets hectic getting children ready for school. And it is especially hard when a person works and has children. When I had children and worked, I would get the children off to school and then while I drove to work I would pray. Besides the quiet times with the Lord, praying in the car was and is my favorite place. You can get a lot of prayer done there. Besides all the things you have to pray and people to pray for, you will be given opportunities to pray for other things and other people. Examples of this would be the person who suddenly swerves in front of you or quickly changes lanes and then puts on their brakes. You can pray--"Lord, bless them. Help them to drive more carefully." If the weather is bad I plead the blood of Jesus on this car and all the people in it. You know the Lord even cares about the small things in our lives such as a parking place. Some people think that we shouldn't bother the Lord about little things. God loves you and he cares even about the little things. You can pray for favor with your boss at your job. These are must some examples. You can, also, pray all through the day--while vacuuming, doing the dishes, cooking, and ironing. You can do them while working around the house, doing yard work, washing the car, doing hobbies. And sometimes we have to pray in our minds and not out loud, but the Lord hears. To continue on with the series. Click the options list below Home Love Is Prayer Introduction 1 Prayer Introduction 2 Prayer Is - 1 Prayer Is - 2 Prayer Is - 3 Easter Happy Easter Thanksgiving Christmas Cats ThisCircle of Prayer Webring site is owned by Mary Jane . Want to join the Circle of Prayer Webring? [Skip Prev] [Prev] [Next] [Skip Next] [Random] [Next 5] [List Sites] I am not sure where I got these graphics. If anyone knows, please email me at mdannel@cfl.rr.com so that I may give credit where credit is due. The backgrounds on this page were created by me, please do not snag them.
Oh, what needs we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!
Here are some books that I think would help you. There are "Prayers That Availeth Much" Volumes I, II, III. These are three different books. They are by Word Ministries, Inc. If you are starting in prayer, Volume I would be enough. This has prayers for different subjects. It can show you how to pray using the scriptures. These are good, but you don't want to use it all the time. There will be times when you will just want to talk to God. You can talk or pray any time and any place. Sometimes it may not be out loud. You can pray sitting and talking to the Lord. We need to do this every day--have a special quiet time with the Lord. I like to do this first thing in the morning. Sometimes it would have to be late at night. You need to have that special time with the Lord when you can pray and listen- a quiet time. Then there are the times that you can talk to the Lord and pray while you are doing things. Now this is different from the quiet times with the Lord. When you have the quiet times, this is concentrating only on the Lord. When you are doing things, you are praying but you have to concentrate on what you are doing. I know it gets hectic getting children ready for school. And it is especially hard when a person works and has children. When I had children and worked, I would get the children off to school and then while I drove to work I would pray. Besides the quiet times with the Lord, praying in the car was and is my favorite place. You can get a lot of prayer done there. Besides all the things you have to pray and people to pray for, you will be given opportunities to pray for other things and other people. Examples of this would be the person who suddenly swerves in front of you or quickly changes lanes and then puts on their brakes. You can pray--"Lord, bless them. Help them to drive more carefully." If the weather is bad I plead the blood of Jesus on this car and all the people in it. You know the Lord even cares about the small things in our lives such as a parking place. Some people think that we shouldn't bother the Lord about little things. God loves you and he cares even about the little things. You can pray for favor with your boss at your job. These are must some examples. You can, also, pray all through the day--while vacuuming, doing the dishes, cooking, and ironing. You can do them while working around the house, doing yard work, washing the car, doing hobbies. And sometimes we have to pray in our minds and not out loud, but the Lord hears.
The backgrounds on this page were created by me, please do not snag them.