Open Up With a Prayer

When I was younger I didn’t really understand what it meant to pray. I knew that prayer was talking to God, but the true meaning of that didn’t really hit me until I learned to pray myself. At first, it seemed embarrassing and strange; I felt like I wasn’t really talking to God, but just saying my thoughts out loud, and having no one acknowledge them. I also felt the need to use fancy words, in order for my prayers to sound like prayers. But as I got older and started to develop my relationship with God, my prayers changed more into a conversation. I felt like I could say anything to God and He would listen and still love me no matter what I said. Then, eventually, talking to God became like talking to my best friend.

Prayer is an integral part of being a Christian. It’s how we communicate with God. Oftentimes we forget that God wants us to have a relationship with Him, and a key part of sustaining a relationship is communication. We can’t expect to learn about God without spending time with Him, whether it’s by reading the Bible or praying. If we want to keep our relationship with God strong, we need to talk to Him as much as we need to listen too.

Maybe the reason why prayer can feel like a conversation is that the Bible admonishes us to pray in every circumstance. Whether in celebration or mourning, or struggles or prosperity.We should pray in order to give thanks, to cry out for help, to resist temptation, and everything else that we can possibly think of, as said in these verses:

“Rejoice always,  pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

Prayer truly is a powerful thing. A prayer can make all the difference in turning a hopeless situation to a hopeful one. Sometimes prayer is used as a last resort when people are desperate for a miracle, but God doesn’t want us to pray just when we need to. He wants us to pray in every circumstance. God wants to be our best friend. He doesn’t just want to talk during the bad times; He wants to be our best friend.

This week of communal fasting and prayer, start to turn your prayers into a conversation and make talking to God a daily habit.

– Cali Mendoza