People ask me many questions about how to pray. They are not quite sure that they know how, what words to use, or if God will hear them. One of the most significant pieces of advice that I can give a person, is to “be yourself.”
Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “Abba, Father.” The Hebrew term “Abba” is an intensely personal title for a father. Many have given it the connotation of our English word, “daddy.” The point of Jesus using this terminology to refer to his heavenly father is to remind us that God is intensely personal. He longs for an intimate relationship with us. He longs to hear our voice. He runs to us to embrace our feelings and our emotions. Our God is a personal God. There are two reminders that I would have for you here.
Pray in your own language. So many people begin their prayers using their best King James language and try to emulate the great “prayers” that they have heard in the past. God doesn’t want us to use all the flowery language that we can imagine. He wants us to come to him as we are our own dialect and all. Use the words and phrases that you would use to talk to a friend at the table as you share a cup of coffee. God wants to talk to you, not your childhood pastor.
Pray using your own emotions. The key to a relationship with God is to be real. If the Psalms teach us anything, it is that God is big enough to handle our feelings. David didn’t sugar-coat anything. He told God exactly what he felt. He shared with God his inmost joy as well as his bitterest disappointment. There is a release and a blessing that comes when we come clean with God. It is as we admit our feelings to him that we can hear his voice speaking to the deepest place in our lives.
As you pray, my encouragement to you is, “Keep it real…” then, know the deep love of God, right where you are now.
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