How Jesus Teaches Us to Approach Prayer

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How Jesus Teaches Us to Approach Prayer

The Bible study group chat I belong to dings daily with requests for prayer. There are people bordering our lives dealing with pain every day. How are we supposed to pray, both for our own requests to God and for those on behalf of others? Scripture promises that the Holy Spirit Himself translates and deciphers our prayers as they drift into heaven. He offers a supernatural comfort to those who are in pain and suffering.

As my daughters grow from tweens to teens, I look for other mothers who have gone before me, and how they have prayed for their children. God is faithful to place people in our lives, even in the form of authors and teachers, who will guide and bring us one step closer to Him through the prayers we pray. Sometimes, I don’t know what to pray for my kids, but I am familiar with my worries. Even a search engine can spit out a list of Scriptures which coincide with what we are concerned about.

Praying Scripture is powerful. We do not serve a God of coincidence. There is a reason we are left with a piece of Scripture, Jesus’s words recorded by Luke in this case, to guide us in how to pray. The entirety of the Bible is full of prayer and powerful truth. Whether we need help with anxiety, or a healing of it on behalf of our child, we can pray Psalm 139 on their behalf, that they know who God says they are.

Prayer is powerful. Instead of getting lost in our thoughts, the Bible clearly tells us to take our thoughts captive and hold them accountable to the Truth. Prayer gives us the perspective to know which thoughts are rogue and which are of true concern and conviction from the Holy Spirit Himself. A daily habit of prayer grows our sensitivity to God’s voice as He speaks uniquely to us. As different as we all are on this earth, so are the specific purposes He has providentially set forth for each of us. Let us prayerfully, specifically, and intentionally pursue Him, and His purposes for us, daily.

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Meg BucherMeg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ at megbucher.comShe is the author of “Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ,” “Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity,” “Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise,” “Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ,” and "Sent, Faith in Motion." Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay home and raise her two daughters …which led her to pursue her writing passion. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the editorial team at Salem Web Network. Meg loves being involved in her community and local church, leads Bible study, and serves as a youth leader for teen girls.