"How Do You Actually Pray?"

Have you ever felt like everyone else knows how to pray except you?

Maybe you've wondered if you're using the right words, praying long enough, or doing it "the right way." The good news is you're not alone. Even Jesus' own disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray."

In this episode of Bible, Basically, we walk through the Lord's Prayer line by line to discover that prayer isn't about performance, perfect words, or religious formulas. It's about a relationship with your Heavenly Father. Whether you're brand new to faith or you've been praying for years, this conversation will help you approach God with confidence, honesty, and simplicity.

Figuring out faith, together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Welcome back to Bible Basically, where we are figuring out faith together. Last week we talked about grief and the importance of knowing that God meets us in our grief and that grief is okay, that we're expected to grieve. And I'm so touched at some of the responses that I've gotten regarding that episode. You know, it's a if it's it's a difficult subject to talk about. We've all gone through it, and we all will go through it. You know, it's it's and it's a perfectly natural process. This week I want to jump back on the day-to-day train, right? The the topics that really help us with our everyday lives. And one of the things that I want to talk about is prayer. And not only the importance of prayer, because we we should be praying every day, but uh realistically, have you ever been taught how to pray? I mean, you know, you listen to other people, right? I'm sure you've listened to other people pray and thought, man, that's beautiful. I could never pray like that. It's like they seemed to know exactly what to say. Every sentence was deep and profound. Maybe they quoted scripture from memory or prayed for 10 straight minutes without stumbling over a single word, or sometimes even longer. And then it's your turn. And suddenly your mind goes blank. Uh, you start wondering if you're supposed to sound more spiritual, or if you should say, you know, Father God or Heavenly Father, every other sentence, or should you fold your hands or close your eyes, or even kneel? I mean, look, some people even think, and uh when I was younger, I thought this do you need to pray for a certain amount of time before God takes it seriously? So if you've ever wondered, am I doing this right? You are absolutely not alone. In fact, when we start looking at biblical examples of this, the disciples wondered the exact same thing. Now, think about that, okay? These were guys who watched Jesus heal the sick. They watched him calm storms and raise the dead, and yet the one thing they specifically asked him to teach was how to pray. So if they needed help, there's no shame in admitting that we need help too. And today we're going to look at the answer that Jesus gave. Not man's opinion. So, in other words, we're not going to some internet source to find this. We're not looking at church traditions, we're not looking at social media. We are basically looking at the words of the man himself, Jesus. And they it's basically it starts in Luke 11, verse 1. Luke 11, verse 1 says, Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And I want to stop, and I want you to notice something interesting. The disciples didn't ask, teach us how to preach or perform miracles or how to lead. They asked, teach us to pray. Prayer wasn't something that they assumed everyone naturally understood. It had to be learned. And for us, that's encouraging because, like me, maybe no one ever taught you. Maybe you've been a Christian for years, but still feel awkward praying. I know I do. I have the privilege of praying in front of my church congregation every once in a while. And every time I do, I am just nervous as all getting out. And oftentimes I ask the Lord, I'm like, Lord, I hope I'm doing this right. And the nice thing is when the disciples asked him, Jesus wasn't annoyed by this question, and he doesn't get annoyed when we ask it of him now. He just answered it. He gave us a pattern. Jesus responds with the prayer, the Lord's prayer, the prayer that almost everybody knows that we recite in churches that is spoken aloud amongst most denominations across the world. There's nothing wrong with praying those exact words, by the way. They are scripture. But I want you to notice something in the Lord's Prayer. I want you to know what he was doing. He wasn't saying, pray this prayer. He was saying, pray like this. He was giving us a model, a framework, a roadmap. So I want you to think of the Lord's Prayer less like a script that you have to recite, but more like an outline for a real conversation with God. And let's let's walk through it line by line, okay? One line at a time. Matthew 6, 9 through 13. Jesus starts off and says, Pray then like this, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now let's pause here. I want to slow it down. I want to take this line by line. Our Father in heaven, our Father who art in heaven, however you speak it. The first two words, our Father, denote our relationship with him. Everything begins with relationship. And we've talked about this in the past. Jesus could have taught us to begin with Almighty Creator or Sovereign King or Judge, right? All those titles are true, but he chose father. And that word changes everything. Prayer is not about trying to get the attention of some distant God. It's a child speaking to a loving father. Now, it doesn't remove reverence. He's still in heaven, he's still holy. But he's also inviting us near. If we look at other verses in the Bible, uh Hebrews 4 16 reminds us that he's inviting us near. It says, let us then be with confidence. Oh, let us, excuse me, let us then with confidence drive, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let me read that again because my face did not work the way I wanted it to. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I want you to notice the invitation there. There's confidence, not arrogance. Confidence because of Jesus. You don't have to earn an audience with God. We've gone over that over and over and over. Jesus already made a way. So right off the bat, when we look at how to open this prayer before we ask God for anything, all we have to do is remember who we're talking to.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Dear Father.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

It basically means holy or revered or set apart. So part two of this, okay. First part, who are we talking to? We're talking to our Father, our holy father, but our father. We have a relationship with God. Okay. And then Jesus goes right into worship.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Hallowed be your name. But Jesus reminds us to pause first and think about his goodness. Think about his faithfulness.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Jesus wants us to think about his mercy and his patience and his love. In fact, Psalm one o' three captures that beautifully. Psalm one o three, verses one through five. It says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Sometimes the healthiest way to begin prayer is simply by thanking God for who he is.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Not just what he's done. Hallowed be thy name.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

So we go from relationship to praise. Your kingdom come, your will be done. And this might be the hardest sentence in the entire prayer. Because I would rather pray, I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather say, my kingdom come, my plans succeed on my schedule during my timing for my desires, because we are egocentric, right? Everything is about us. We are we're praying to him. Look, let's be real. When we pray to God, a lot of times we are asking for something.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

There's nothing wrong with that. But we need to understand that God's will is what needs to be done.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Jesus teaches us something radically different than focusing on ourselves. Prayer isn't about convincing God to follow our plans, but it's about allowing him to reshape ours. Jesus modeled this in the Garden of Gethsemane, okay? Right before he was captured. Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. That's Luke 22, 42. So Jesus was honest. He expressed his desire. He petitioned God to take the cup of death from him, saying, Hey, look, this is gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Can you give this to anybody else? But if you can't, your will be done.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

And that's what prayer looks like. You can tell God exactly what you want. You don't have to hide it. He knows your heart. But true, mature prayer also says, I trust you more than I trust myself. I trust you, Lord, more than I trust myself. That takes humility, and sometimes that is the hardest prayer to pray. We don't want to surrender. Our nature is not to surrender. Our nature is to fight and try and get what we want.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

But we need to remember that ultimately it is his will. Ultimately, it is his desires for us because he knows best.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

So recapping again, our relationship with God, he is our Father. We praise your name.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Hallowed be your name. And then your kingdom come, your will be done.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

We submit to him. On top of our desires, Lord, this is what I want.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

But I want what you want more.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Now, here's an important part of this prayer coming up next that I really want you to understand. Because I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I can't bother God with the trivial, right? The little things. Oh Lord, I hope I don't stub my toe. It's dark. Okay. But in in the in the prayer, Jesus says, give us this day our daily bread.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

And this part of the prayer is beautifully simple.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

There's nothing deep about this. Jesus doesn't say, give us this year's bread. He doesn't say give us enough for the next 20 years. He says, Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because God wants us to learn daily dependence. He wants to talk to you every day. He wants to hear from you every day. And the Israelites learned this lesson in the wilderness when God provided mana. They weren't allowed to hoard it for tomorrow. They couldn't keep any of it. They had to trust him again with the next day. And God was teaching them that dependence isn't a one-time decision. It's a daily rhythm. Open your eyes, wake up. Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Take care of me today. Not all week. Take care of me today. Lord, I'm going to ask you again tomorrow. Take care of me today. Jesus echoes that principle. Notice he says our daily bread, but our daily bread represents more than just food. Right? It's everything that we need to faithfully live for him today. Strength, wisdom, peace, provision, patience, forgiveness. And sometimes we think that God is too busy for little things, right? Like I said, I don't want to bother him. But Jesus tells us the opposite. Bring me your daily needs. Dennis. Dennis, bring me your daily needs. Talk to me every day. God cares about the ordinary parts of our life. Later on in Matthew 6, he reinforces that. He talks about anxiety. We've read these verses before together. Matthew 6, 31 through 34. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And I want you to notice the pattern there. God doesn't promise to answer next year's questions today. He gives us today's grace for today's needs. And that's why prayer is meant to be continual. We need to hit him up every day. God, give me the strength to live for you. Give me the wisdom to live for you.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Give us this day our daily bread.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Forgive us our debts. This is where prayer becomes deeply personal. Jesus reminds us that prayer is not only about asking, but it's also about honesty. None of us approaches God perfectly. Every single one of us falls short. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Notice what confession is: it's not informing God. God already knows. Okay. God knows what you did. God knows what you wanted. God knows what you looked at. God knows what's in your heart. Confession is admitting it and agreeing with God. It is saying basically, Lord, I was wrong. It's not trying to justify it or make excuses. It's not blaming somebody else or minimizing it. It is just honesty. And first John tells us his response. He is faithful and just. He is forgiving and cleansing.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Think about your own life.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Think about someone you know. Some people spend years carrying guilt that Jesus already paid for. And prayer reminds us that forgiveness isn't something we earn, it is something that Christ already purchased on the cross. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Oof, there's another tough part. It might be the most uncomfortable part of the prayer.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Because it's easy to receive grace. But how hard is it to give it?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Now, Jesus isn't saying forgiveness is easy. He knows it isn't. We've done a whole episode on forgiveness. It is not easy. Some wounds run incredibly deep. Some betrayals change lives forever. Forgiveness doesn't mean pretending something didn't happen. It doesn't mean trust is instantly restored. And it definitely doesn't mean that the abuse should continue, but it does mean refusing to let bitterness become our master. In Ephesians 4, 31 and 32, Paul writes, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. So forgiveness isn't saying what happened was okay. It's saying I'm not going to let this wound become the thing that defines my heart.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

When we pray, it changes us. Not just our circumstances.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Forgive us our debt as we have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Jesus finishes with dependence again. Every one of us is vulnerable. No one is beyond temptation. And that's why prayer isn't something that we do after we've fallen. It's something we do before the battle begins. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

I think this is where we get the notion God can't give you a battle that you can't handle.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

He always gives you a way out, but the important thing is to look for that way out. And prayer trains us to look for that. Prayer trains us to rely on God's strength instead of our own. I can do that. I can do that. But every time I try to do that, I climb up. What if I just don't know what to say? Maybe you sat quietly and you wanted to pray, but your mind went completely blank. Good news. Bible talks about that too. Romans 8, 26 and 27. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Did you catch that? Paul doesn't say if you know what to pray, he says when.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Sometimes there aren't words.

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Sometimes the pain is too much. Sometimes you're exhausted.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Sometimes all you can manage is God help.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

And the scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit meets us right there. Even when our prayers aren't complete. He intercedes on our behalf and he communicates our needs in a way that we could never.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

And the next question a lot of people ask is what if I don't feel anything?

SPEAKER_00 29:39

What if I don't feel closer to God? Everybody thinks that they need to feel close to God when they pray. Not always. Prayer is not measured by emotion. Think about your closest relationships, your closest human relationships. You don't stop talking to your spouse because every conversation isn't emotional. You don't stop talking to your parents because one conversation felt ordinary. Relationships are not built on emotional highs, they're built on faithfulness. Prayer works the same way. Some days you feel God's closeness in a powerful way. And other days, it will simply feel like obedience. Keep praying anyway.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Faithfulness often grows long before feelings catch up. All right, let's recap here.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

If you've never really known how to pray, start here. Praise. God, thank you for being faithful.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Surrender. Help me want what you want. Provision.

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Here's what I need today. Confession. Here's where I messed up. Forgiveness. Help me forgive. Protection. Lead me today. That's it. You don't need impressive words. You don't need a certain posture or perfect vocabulary. You just need honesty. The disciples asked Jesus, teach us to pray. Lord, teach us to pray. And Jesus answered with a relationship. He didn't hand them a formula for getting everything they wanted. He showed them how children speak to a loving father. So if you are out there and you've been waiting until you knew the right words, stop waiting. Start talking. Open the conversation. Some days your prayer may last 30 minutes. Some days it may last 30 seconds. Both can be beautiful if they are genuine. Prayer's not about saying the perfect thing, it's about spending time with the perfect Savior. So this week, I want to challenge you. I want you to open Matthew chapter six and read one line of the Lord's Prayer. Then I want you to pause and I want you to talk to God about that one line. And maybe that's all you pray that day. Maybe that's where your relationship with Him begins to grow in a way it never has before. Because at the end of the day, prayer is not a performance. It's a conversation with a God who already knows your name, but he still wants to hear your voice. Guys, as usual, thank you so much for listening to my podcast, Bible Basically. If this episode encouraged you, I want you to share it with someone who's ever thought, I don't know how to pray. Sometimes the most freeing truth is realizing that Jesus already answered that question.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Till next time, let's keep figuring out faith together.