Amazingly, anybody anywhere can pray to God at any time, and even more amazingly God hears the prayer, and if spoken with an attitude of sincerity, God promises to respond.

The Bible records many accounts of people who prayed to God, mostly asking for assistance in some form, often those prayers were enhanced with appreciation of the beautiful and faithful character of God, sometimes prayers were solely praise of the creator of all things (including us) and these are prayers that are good for our soul, as the Bible says, it is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.

During the three and a half years lived by Jesus, from when he was baptised by John the Baptist till his radical death, he often prayed to God and one cannot help but notice that the prayers were either praise or for people other than himself, it is a lovely thing to pray for God to assist others rather than make continual request for self, I like the words spoken (sung) by Bob Dylan on the Slow Train Coming album, where he said, “God is not an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.” Prayer is meant to be generous because that is best for us, as you concern yourself with the need of others (especially Spiritual need) God will care for and bless you.

When a person receives the Holy Spirit they are referred to (in the Bible) as the temple of God, they become God’s dwelling place and as a result should live the way God desires them to, we need some help in this department and God offers as much help as needed and then a lot more…Jesus went to the temple (building) of God and rebuked those who were responsible for turning it into a business base that he said had become a “Den of thieves”, he told them God’s house is meant to be a house of prayer.

We are told from the Bible, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened, is which very encouraging, but even more encouraging is what is written in Ephesians 3:v20 where we are informed that the ever-living God will perform, exceedingly abundant above what we ask oreven think.  How good is that!!!

Some people could have been smarter in how they decided to live their lives and as a result don’t feel worthy to pray to God, and for what it is worth, technically speaking you aren’t worthy, but that is not an issue because God wants to make you worthy, if you ask, and be sincere God will do the rest.  I know it is a cliché and it sometimes can sound even corny, but the fact is God loves you and yearns to be unfailing in your life….Period!!

In Acts 2:v38 Peter was asked by people, “what shall we do to be saved” and what he said then still applies today (have a read) after a person receives the Holy Spirit they will have a new language to pray to God with, which is called speaking or praying in Tongues, it is super-natural and it is life transforming.  The Bible tells us that we can pray in either our own language (or one we understand) or we can pray in the Spirit, which is the language we are given when baptised in the Holy Spirit. Tongues is a pure language given by God to those who hearken to the Book of Acts standard, it is available to everybody as it was then.

In Romans chapter 8 it states that we cannot pray as we ought, basically meaning we are inadequate when compared to the eternal magnificence of God, which obviously is the case, so God gives us this new language and it is divine, New Testament believers are told (Jesus said) they will speak in Tongues (Mark 16) and we are told true worshippers will pray (or worship) in the Spirit, because it is so beneficial for the person praying.  In Jude the Bible informs us that we build up the MOST Holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, so it is reasonable to conclude that this is a great gift to have and one to be sought after with diligence.

In conclusion, there is something else that should accompany the words we pray, and that is a genuine desire to understand God, to understand his nature, his will for man and especially his will for you. There are many occasions in the Bible where people prayed to God where he heard and responded, but there are some prayers where people (like Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus) prayed and they sought things the Lord saw as important, outside their personal need where God responded amazingly.  We should pray for things that God has concerns over, we should break-away from personal wants and pray for others, it is then that prayer delivers at a greater level, when it is not just a one-day wonder for self wants but rather something that can soothe the soul and something that will get the angels in heaven rejoicing over, something that will make you special in God’s sight and something that will disarm pathetic death and replace it with unspeakable joy that is full of glory that has no end, and more to the point, that Jesus willingly allowed himself to die so we become the benefactors.