There’s A Proper Way To Pray

There’s a Proper Way to Pray

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26

When I’m in our little Dallas apartment, I have a favorite chair to read and pray in. At home in Oklahoma, I love to sit on the sunporch and watch the birds during my morning conversations with God. I kneel when the Spirit nudges me to, pray for loved ones when on the highway, and listen for his direction when I walk the White Rock Trail. Some of the songs I sing to God are prayers, even with my eyes wide open.

Having special “prayer chairs” and formats such as ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) are helpful, but the good thing about prayer is that the Holy Spirit helps us when we don’t even know how to pray. There’s no ironclad “right” way or place to pray. Just look at places people prayed in the Bible: on mountaintops, in caves, at sea, in the Temple, on a rooftop (see Exodus 19:23; 1 Kings 19:2-10; Jonah 2:1-9; Luke 1:8-10; Acts 10:9, respectively), and God heard them all. They prayed in different positions, too: with hands raised, kneeling, in bed, while singing, and even without words (see Psalm 28:2; Luke 22:41; Psalm 63:6; Acts 16:25; 1 Samuel 1:12). Wherever you are now is the ideal place to pray. If you’re at your kitchen table reading your Bible, God would be happy if you started right there. Hands raised or folded, eyes open or closed? In a group or alone? What matters is that you pray, for it is the Spirit who will pray through and in you. God wants to hear from you, and he cares more about the condition and openness of your heart than about the place, time, position, or proper format of your prayer. —CHERI

Lord, please give me a heart that pursues you and a deep desire to pray whenever and wherever I find myself!

Get out of the ruts of prayer. Pray sometimes standing up; then pray kneeling, then pray sitting down, then pray lying down on your bed at night.

—W. H. P. FAUNCE (1859–1930), AMERICAN CLERGYMAN AND EDUCATOR