Have you ever sit down to pray, or laid down at night and you close your eyes and you are about to go to sleep and you start to pray and then, blankness, nothing comes to mind? In my daily prayers I sometimes struggle with how to pray. I think of a few things a few people that come to mind and then my mind seems to go blank. However this is when I need help. The good thing is Jesus sent us a Helper.
John 14 is a great place to draw inspiration. Because it contains the message of the greatest inspirer, the Holy Spirit! He who indwells in all believers, He who Jesus sent to us from the Father to intercede, provide comfort, to compel and guide us. He is our Helper.
John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—"
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
John 14:18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
John tells us that the Holy Spirit will be our guide.
John 16"13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."
During a recent Bible Study on the Holy Spirit, there was a section on Praying and while reading through it and thinking on the guidance is was providing it hit me that there are a lot of people that struggle with praying, not just when we are sitting around the dinner table, but with their own prayers at night.
The section provided some scriptural references and examples but, the basics of it were to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and help. "If you want to receive the Holy Spirit's help in prayer, all you need to do is ask for it."
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."
I would also add 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."
Charles F. Stanley tells us. "First, the Holy Spirit understands the situations we are facing. Second, the Holy Spirit understands your needs within the situation." And. "Third, the Holy Spirit understands the Plan of God." These words really resonated within me as I studied, they gave me a deep understanding that I do not have to be alone when I pray, and I don't need to know everything that I should say. It also brought to remembrance what Jesus said about praying and what NOT to do while praying.
Matthew 6:7-8 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words."
with all this guidance and scripture to point us in the right direction I think all of this combines into what Charles Stanley said in a lengthy set of instructions. but it comes down to a simplified set of instructions which is; PRAY and LISTEN.
PRAY, pray for the things you remember when you start, pray for the things that are in your mind.
BUT THEN,
LISTEN, stop when you feel you have prayed for all you can think of or remember, Stop, be silent and listen, listen for more, listen for additional things, words thoughts. When you are quiet focused on God, focused on the good that God is, you can hear what he says. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, He will give you more. in the quiet is when GOD WILL SPEAK TO YOU. The Holy Spirit will add to you the things that are of God, God's will God's plan. Those things you remember, those thoughts that you think are from you are not, they are the manifested will of God given to you from the Holy Spirit as guidance to you. The direct words of God, "... freely given to us by God."
PRAY --- LISTEN!
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