Praying

1^st Timothy 2:2-9

                I was just wondering while I read this passage this morning, when you pray, what do you pray for? How do you pray? These two questions surfaced in my thoughts and it is a very interesting question. When you pray, do you pray mainly for yourself or do you pray for the people that you know? Most people will claim that they pray for others but they tend to pray for people that they only know. Don’t worry, I do the same thing. I might be a little worse actually; most of my prayers revolve around my personal life and the people that influence it. Selfish aren’t I?

                In this passage, Paul talks about how to pray. He doesn’t only tell us how but, he tells us what to pray for. He states that we should be praying for EVERYONE. We should pray for our country, our leaders and other leaders of the world. He tells us that we should be praying for everyone we can possible think of. Do you know why? The reason is that God wants everyone saved and when we pray for these things it actually pleases God.  We pray for our leaders because they LEAD us. Most of us reading this live in a country where we are free to worship. There are many countries that do not have that LUXERY. Paul tells us to be thankful for the things that God gives us. Yes, you can thank God to. Are you starting to get the picture? There are so many things that you are able to pray for. You have students in the youth, the poor, the church, your teacher, your family, world events, the president, our enemies, etc. There is a plethora of things.

                When you pray you will see many things begin to happen, not only in your life, but in the lives around you. You will see hearts and lives change. It is so cool to witness that. Now I will be honest, I don’t pray like I should and I am working on it to. So you are not alone. The one thing that I do think I do right though, is I will share my heart with God. If something is troubling me, I will just break out in a convo with God. I know it may sound strange but it is awesome. When I pour out my heart it becomes more personal. It is not those typical “Lord, please bless my family and friends…” It is a lot deeper then that and it is talking intimately with him. It is like talking to your dad about your struggles or telling him how you feel about the flood in Pakistan. It is like telling your dad about how you love this country you are in and that you are thankful. It’s like laying out all of your complaints and frustration to your dad so you can get it off your chest. It is the why you are thankful, why you are hurting, why you care for so and so, why you want this person’s life changed. It’s the why in prayers that are really important. All of this is what prayer should look like.

                I just encourage you after you read this to pray.

“This kind of prayer is good and it pleases God our savior.”

1 Timothy 2:3