WFUMC Youth- 1/28/2024

Why do we pray? What are some types of prayer?

More than anything, prayer connects us to God by telling God about things in our life , giving him our concerns and cares and worries, and makes us closer to him. But if y’all are like me, you may relate to the fact that prayer is hard. I have a hard time focusing about God when I’m praying, remembering to pray for people, and even remembering to pray in general.

What is prayer about?

as Christians, we are one of the few religions of the world that emphasizes a relationship with God. Because of this, our prayers don’t always have to be the exact same. We can tell God how we really feel, and come to Gid with our concerns even when we can’t really put them into words. This week, we are going to talk about some barriers and things that may keep us from being open in prayer and how we can go about making habits that can make us more connected in prayer.

Be honest with God

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.”

The thing about prayer is that sometimes we come to God scared of what he will think of us if we tell him how we really feel or the ways that we’ve messed up. But the thing about God is that he already knows what we need before we ask and understands all of what we are going through. This doesn’t mean that God is watching over our shoulders and judging our every move, but instead, he’s always there to receive us with open arms and welcome us to him no matter how long it’s been since we prayed. Has anyone ever been scared to tell anyone anything? Why do you think this is the case? How is our relationship with God different than our relationships on Earth?

Be open to being guided

Psalm 139:23–24 NRSV

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

For me, sometimes I feel like prayer is just a thing I need to do to check it off my list and move on with my day. But when we have a conversation with God, we have to be open to him speaking back to us right- that’s what a conversation is! When we converse with God, we speak to him but he also speaks to us. When we communicate with God, different than when we communicate with other people, we have to be conscious of the ways he can guide us. Sometimes God opens or closes doors in our life to guide us, sometimes we get a feeling in our gut, and sometimes God can even speak through our friends. God is pretty creative to how he can guide us, but we have to be open to the idea that maybe what we think is right may not be what is actually right for our lives. This is called humility- when we don’t necessarily think less of ourselves, we just think of ourselves less, we can best be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Be patient

Psalm 37:7 NRSV

Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.

A lot of times, we pray for certain things to happen in our lives or in the world. What are some examples? When we pray, even though it’s hard, we have to be patient and let God work in our lives. God is already working in the world, even before we pray. But when we ask God for things, we have to recognize that God is all-wise and all-knowing and that sometimes the thing we ask for are not going to happen or be solved in the way we think they should be. And sometimes this can result in bad things happening- like us getting hurt, people not being healed, and just bad things happening in the world. People will always wonder why there is evil in the world, and that’s a perfectly okay thing to ask and think about! As Christians, we have faith. Faith isn’t faith if we can see the reason behind everything. Then we wouldn’t have to trust God. But because we trust God, we believe that he is still good even when bad things happen in the world. And that prayer is good even when it’s not answered in the ways we want it to be.