How to Pray?

I find praying boring at times, in fact most of the times :-)
And that's mainly due to the fact; my prayer turns out to be a monologue, without any interaction.

However, when I am talking with friends, I usually do less talking, unless the situation calls me to talk more :-) And that's the nature of my personality.
If such conversation with a friend is a monologue, it usually means the other person is speaking and not me -- and I am not interested in it for too long.
If I am the one who is doing the talking, I can't do it for too long anyway .. as some are in the habit of doing [all the time]!

I 'prefer' a dialogue than a monologue - but that doesn't happen too often in prayer.
When it comes to prayer, I am quick to show the 'one-way' traffic sign.

And the moment I am finished with saying what I wanted to, I sign off.

Usually such things happen because I don't follow any particular method in praying. It's ad hoc!

When such prayer times are finished, I feel like I have finished a 'job' for the day, so I can tick on one more task completed!


A while ago, when I preached on Prayer in a local church here, I was asked the question: "Ok, I know that I need to pray and all that; but how do I pray?"
And this question came from an elder in the church, and not a new believer.

Surprising isn't it?

But when I started to think about it - the question which I was faced with was: DID I KNOW HOW TO PRAY? Or did I just assume, I knew, because I had done it for over 2-3 decades now - albeit on & off :-(

So, I started to put some things together on what is prayer and how to pray - which would help us to get into a discipline of praying regularly.
I seriously feel that unless it's done regularly it doesn't form into a habit. We have to inculcate the value of prayer, by doing that often & experiencing the change it brings to our life.

I am not saying that this is the only way to pray, or is the only way to get started with praying - but it certainly helps us have a meaningful time of prayer.

I have used PRAYER as an acrostic and have expanded it to make it easily memorable, for those who don't have it as a 'bookmark' guide.
To view the bookmark, please click on it, to see an enlarged version.

PRAISE HIM - for who He is / use the Names of God to acknowledge His greatness / worship Him

READ THE WORD - have a regular pattern for reading, otherwise it doesn't happen (meditate on the Word / reflect on what you read and how you can apply it)

APPRECIATE HIS WORKS IN YOUR LIFE - thank Him for what He has done for you

YOUR NEEDS / PERSONAL PRAYER - bring your worries and concerns to God

EXTERNAL NEEDS / ENGAGING IN PRAYER FOR OTHERS - INTERCESSION - pray for your family / friends / church / unsaved neighbours / peers / nation - leaders

RE-COMMIT TO GOD / INVITE GOD TO BE WITH YOU - as Him for strength and ask Him to teach you His ways - invite Him to be with you and commit to walking with Him.