The Basics of Prayer

Aug. 8, 2022 | By Creflo Dollar

Life can be a mixed bag of both good and bad things. When things turn ugly, we have a choice about how to handle the situation. We could try to tough it out on our own, cross our fingers, and hope for the best, but we’ll most likely find out the hard way that our own efforts aren’t enough to turn the situation around. True wisdom comes from realizing we need divine help; it leads us to pray and earnestly turn to God.

Adversity can come in the form of a divorce, job loss, health issues, family or marital problems, or a thousand other ways. The Bible tells us that it’s a question of when, not if, trouble will show up in our lives. When it does, a heart-to-heart conversation with God about the situation is in order. Talking with Him can bring new insights into what we’re going through. Thus says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it—the Lord is His name: Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand) (Jeremiah 33:2, 3, AMPC).

Most of us never learned how to pray correctly when we were children. We were given a standard set of verses to memorize and repeat back to the adults, and that was called praying. But true prayer comes from the heart, not from the head. “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns” (Philippians 4:6, MSG). God knows what we’re feeling, and just like a loving father with his children, He delights in hearing from us in prayer.

God is well aware that fear can paralyze us when trouble strikes; His will is for us to trust Him enough to let Him bring us through it unharmed. He promises never to abandon us or let us down. In the Old Testament, this promise worked for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:1-30), and it will still work for us today. 

The God who made all creation loves us so much that when we believe what He says to us and accept His Son as our personal Savior, we become His own children. He enriches our lives and empowers us to defeat any fear, temptation, or negative emotion that arises against us. When we read His Word and meditate on all the promises in it, we can’t help but give thanks, and praise God for who He is. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV). This attitude is what makes true prayer so powerful.

On our own, we can get blindsided by life. Listening to the One who God sent to help us through both the good and bad times keeps us on track. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26, NKJV). Acknowledging that God wants only good for us enables us to feel the peace that He promises us. If our prayer life doesn’t reflect this peace and joy that God wants us to have, maybe it’s time to get back to the biblical basics.  

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