Prayer Techniques: How to Speak to God
Imagine you are sitting at home. It’s a day off and you and your entire family are enjoying the moment. Then you see one of the electrical sockets begin to smoke. Half the lights in the house go out and you get your family outside to safety and immediately call 911. That emergency call was the only lifeline that you had available to ensure your home and your family were taken care of. There are many scenarios that we can envision where 911 is our only lifeline for safety.
Hands with Fingers Interlocked praying.
Now let’s look at another scenario. Let’s look at daily life; a world where we don’t have all the answers; a world where most things feel enigmatic and convoluted. This life can feel very overwhelming and cause many difficulties.
However, there is an emergency lifeline for this setting as well. This emergency lifeline is open 24 hours a day to the most powerful force in existence. This force is so powerful that the very creation of our universe was built by His own hand. This emergency lifeline is called PRAYER.
“Prayer is man's greatest power!”
-W Clement Stone
Now, Prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening to him. I want to focus on Prayer for this article. Prayer is most definitely an emergency line to God, but it is much more than that. Prayer can be a giving of thanks, it can be a request, it can even be a moment of candid discussion that you want God to hear. Regardless of the reason for the prayer, knowing how to pray is paramount. God doesn’t want us to tell him what we think he wants to hear, he wants us to be complete frank with him. God favors honesty, he favors straight-up talk and he wants us to pray from our hearts, not from a script.
The depth of the prayer is what matters most. It matters more than the wording you choose to use, it matters more than the duration that you pray, and it matters more than the physical position you are in when you pray. Remember, pray from the heart and God will surely hear you. His answer might be yes, it might be no, or it might be waiting.
You might be thinking, “yeah, but I’ve never been taught how to pray.” I want to teach you a couple of techniques that were taught to me and they are incredible.
Silhouette of a person praying.
Technique One: ACTS Method
Technique one is the ACTS method. This simple system can cover a plethora of areas in your life. Use ACTS as a mnemonic device to help you remember this order. Adoration(Praise and Love), Confession (openly admitting your sins to God), Thanks (being grateful), and Supplication (requests)
Below, I want to write a few examples of what each of these can be in the form of an actual prayer:
Adoration Example - “Dear Lord, you are the light of my life. I trust in you with all my heart. I love you so very much God and I make you the center of my life.”
Wow! It feels great writing that. I truly hope your prayer life develops to an incredible degree.
Next is the Confession Example - “God, I know that I am a sinner. Lord I was wrong to have hate in my heart against my fellow co-worker and what I said to them was not at all righteous in any way”
Thanks example - “Lord, you have been so good to me. I wake up every day in a state of thankfulness. You have blessed my health, my finances, my career, and you have restored my relationship with my family. I am truly thankful for everything that you have done for me Lord, and Lord, I am so grateful for you sending your only Son to die on the cross for me and all the world.”
Supplication example - "Dear Heavenly Father, I cannot face this world alone. I am not perfect. I don’t have the wisdom to lead my organization and I fear that I will not be able to overcome the recent challenges that we face. Dear Lord, please give me the wisdom and the strength to overcome this adversity. I trust in you will all my heart Lord and I accept your will."
The above examples are only brief ideas about certain areas that you can pray for. In life, we face many more situations and the ACTS method can be a great tool for you to enhance your prayer life. If you make prayer a habit and more importantly a priority, it can change your entire life for the better.
Prayer Silhouette
Technique Two: Hand Method
The next prayer technique that I want to share with you using your hand as a guide. This was taught to me recently by an incredibleChaplain and I have begun to apply it in my prayer life and it has been incredible. We are going to use each finger on the hand to represent each category. We will use the thumb all the way to the pinky.
Thumb- When you clasp your hands together as in a form of prayer, the thumb is closest to your Heart
Index- We use the index finger to point. This is the Direction
Middle Finger- This is the tallest finger on the hand. This represents Influence
Ring Finger- This finger is where we place a ring to symbolize marriage. This represents Relationships
Pinky- The smallest finger, a humble person doesn’t see themselves as bigger or better than everyone else, but we must not forget that we need prayer also. This represents Ourselves
Below I am going to give you some examples of how to pray for each area. I hope you enjoy them.
Thumb example -“Dear Lord, I pray that you come into my heart. Allow me to show love to people all over the world. Put my heart in a pure condition so that I may hear your every word and strive to follow and obey you.”
Index example -“Dear God, I pray that you direct my path. Allow my steps to be straight and firm. Please, God, don’t let me deviate from the path that you have laid before me. Keep my entire being in line with your purpose for my life.”
Middle Example -“Dear Heavenly Father, I humbly request that you place positive influences in my life. People that serve as good role models can mentor me and direct me so I can learn your ways better. God, I also pray that I can be a positive influence on others. I pray that I am a reflection of your light and that I can represent the Christian Faith so that others can see the joy that you have in store for them.”
Ring Example -“Dear God, I pray for the relationships in my life. I pray that I exude your love to all those that I interact with. I pray for my family Lord. I pray that we keep you in the center of our lives and our relationships are built on your foundation and not the foundation of this world.”
Pinky example - "Dear God, I want you in my life. I don’t want you to be a part of my life; I want you in the center of it. God, I pray for my life. I pray that you mold me and cultivate my Spiritual life so that I can be more like your Son and honor your name.”
Again, the above are some brief examples of things you can pray for. Your prayers should come from within you and each prayer is personal between God and yourself. Make God your best friend and make prayer a priority and you will see amazing things happen in not only your earthly life but in your Spiritual Life as well.
Fire burning
Conclusion
When we say Amen at the closing of a prayer that is like saying I affirm. God says Amen with you when you close your prayer. He hears every prayer that is said and remembers them all. God takes prayer very seriously and so should we. I want to leave you with a couple of final remarks. “Families that pray together stay together.”
Humility is a sign of strength. God disapproves of pride more than anything else. Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven because of his pride. It is important to humble yourself before God. Your Salvation and your eternity can be settled through prayer. Come to God, accept his Son as your Lord inSavior, and repent of your sins. If you do this, then we will definitely see each other in Heaven. God Bless you and I truly hope that this article helped you.