When I think about prayer, I think about my Evangelist Nelson who raised me spiritually and who I miss dearly. She would always say “prayer changes things.” This was the name of her radio show and a staple by which she lived every day of her life.
Prayer is simply talking to God. This can be done at any time of day or night. Personally, I love to start my day in prayer on most mornings. The foundation of prayer starts with “The Our Father Prayer” located in the Hebrew Bible in Matthew 6:9 (and other places in the Bible as well). As you grow in God your prayers will change (becoming more personal), but this is a really great place to start. If you don’t do anything else just recite this prayer and that is good enough to start with.
The main benefit of prayer is that it helps you connect with God. It is important to maintain a line of communication with God if he is your chosen Higher Power – just like you would maintain communication with any other important relationship in your life. One thing to note about prayer is that you do not need a priest or religious leader to pray on your behalf or for you – you have total access to God on your own through Jesus Christ. So when I pray I may start with “The Our Father Prayer” then transition into speaking to God about the things I am thankful for – starting with Him. I usually pray internally rather than to vocalize my words as this seems more sincere to me but either way is fine. After expressing my gratitude I will get into talking about life, the things I want, the things that are pissing me off etc. You can talk to God about literally and absolutely ANYTHING. This conversation with God can be super casual. I know there are lots of preachers who holler and yell and make prayer look like it has to be very dramatic and that seems to work for them. But that doesn’t apply to everyone. Feel free to work with prayer and your personal style will develop as you go along.
The entire book of Psalms can be utilized as prayers as well. What I basically do with the Psalms is instead of beginning prayer with “The Our Father Prayer,” I will select a psalm or two to read and then commence in prayer.
The entire book of Proverbs can be used in much the same way. A special thing about the book of Proverbs is that it has 31 chapters – the same amount of days as many months have. So an interesting thing which can be done in this instance is to read the Proverb which corresponds with whatever day of the month it is.
Whenever I get confused I pray and it brings me clarity. When I feel overwhelmed I pray and it makes me feel better. When I begin to feel distant from God and I need to feel close to Him I pray and it reconnects us. When my enemies and haters are working against me I pray and the Lord handles them. What each of us gets out of prayer will be special to each of us. I recommend sometimes to just close your eyes, get real quiet and see if you can feel God – without saying anything. This is another way to connect with Him. Prayer is useful and As Evangelist Nelson would say – “prayer changes things.”
James 5: 16 – “The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.”
De’Vannon Seráphino, Show Host & Author
