When someone asks me to help them learn how to pray, I am surprised by some of my answers. How would you respond?

In Solomon’s prayer he asks for God’s eyes to be open and ears listening when the people came to pray. God did respond in a dynamic way – their sincere worship caused Him to fill the temple with His presence as a sign that He accepted their praise and their prayers.

Lord my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer and grant the requests I make to you. Watch over this Temple day and night. You have promised that this is where you will be worshiped, so hear me when I face this Temple and pray. – 2 Chronicles 6:19-20 GNT

He is praying for favour, he was asking God to continue to hear his prayers and the prayers of the people, especially as they prayed towards His presence in the temple.

Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people Israel when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. – 2 Chronicles 6:21 GNT

Solomon figured out that prayer was the way we communicate with God. So in the praying to be heard he added another powerful addition – to be forgiven.

Is this not a confidence booster – when God begins to answer prayer then people will see that a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God is at work.

This particular new Christian was learning to fly an airplane, and flying around one day he found himself all locked in in clouds. He did not know enough about flying yet to go down through the clouds by instruments, so he was in trouble, and he prayed, “Lord, open a hole for me.” Almost immediately a hole opened in the clouds, and he went down through it and there was the airport right below.

Later, when he was with some of his non-Christian friends on a duck-hunting trip in Mexico, he told them about this, but they all scoffed and said, “That was just coincidence.” He said, “No, it was not. God works that way.” So they said, “Well, all right, if your God works that way he ought to be able to control what we have for dinner tonight.” He said, “That sounds reasonable. What do you want for dinner?” One of them said, “I’d like Swiss steak.” So the man went over to the Mexican cook and asked what he was serving for dinner that night. “Swiss steak!” said the cook.

The next morning they were out in the duck blind and some ducks flew by. It looked like they were coming within range, but just as they did so, they turned around and flew off. One of the men said, “If your God is so good, turn the ducks around.” This man went, “Quack, quack!” and the ducks turned around and flew right back and the men got their shots!

As they were leaving to fly home, the Christian man, who had not brushed his teeth that morning, said, “Oh my, I wish I had a tooth brush.” One of the fellows said, “Well, your God is so good he ought to provide a toothbrush.” The Christian said, “Yes, that’s right.” As they were about to board the plane he looked down on the ground, and lying there, probably having fallen off of a previous flight, was a new toothbrush in its box.

On the way home one of the men said, “You know, this God is rather impressive. I have been giving some thought to becoming a Christian.” – Bob Rae

Welcome to the world of a brand new follower of Jesus who needs Him to step in like this. Those kinds of answers to prayer may not always show up the same way. However, Solomon prayed this way – he wanted a consciousness of the reality of prayer – that God answers the prayers of His people.

I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have eternal life—you that believe in the Son of God. We have courage in God’s presence, because we are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will. He hears us whenever we ask him; and since we know this is true, we know also that he gives us what we ask from him. – 1 John 5:13-15 GNT

Here is a basic thread – I know that I have eternal life because I believe in Jesus. With this belief, I have courage to pray in God’s presence. If I have prayed that I should be saved from my sins, why not carry on the courage and know that God will continue to answer my prayer? If I knew that salvation was the will of God, I will also begin to understand other matters of life that are His will as well.

“How many people think that prayer is persuading God to do our will or trying to make God change his mind! But that is not what prayer is. Prayer means asking God to do his will which we have embraced. In other words, when we make God’s will to be our will, our will be done because it is his will, and his will is done always. If we can understand this truth, we can avoid much confusion and begin to pray aright. Prayer is saying to our heavenly Father, ‘Thy will be done’ (Matthew 6:10).  Prayer is saying to God, ‘Not my will but thine be done’ (Luke 22:42). True prayer promotes God’s glory.” –P.G. Mathew, gracevalley.org

It does not seem to be that easy all the time.

This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

O Lord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence. Habakkuk 1:1-2 GNT

I love the intensity of his prayer.

“The best thermometer of your spiritual temperature is the intensity of your prayer.” – Spurgeon

I know there are God-given burdens that I must carry and they, from time to time have made me question His way and His will.

Then the Lord said to his people, “Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. – Habakkuk 1:5-6 GNT

Habakkuk thought he knew what was needed, but God had a different plan. How often have I prayerd for God’s will or to know His will? How do I handle the idea of the suffering that so often precedes the glory?

The Pharisees were guilty of such actions – lengthy prayers were their downfall.

As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples, “Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!” – Luke 20:45-47 GNT

May I humbly admit that I do not know God’s will and may I never be found to abuse that transparency by trying to act otherwise.

Very much of so-called prayer, both public and private, is not unto God. In order that a prayer should be really unto God, there must be a definite and conscious approach to God when we pray; we must have a definite and vivid realization that God is bending over us and listening as we pray. In very much of our prayer there is really but little thought of God. Our mind is taken up with the thought of what we need, and is not occupied with the thought of the mighty and loving Father of whom we are seeking it. Oftentimes it is the case that we are occupied neither with the need nor with the One to whom we are praying, but our mind is wandering here and there throughout the world. There is no power in that sort of prayer. But when we really come into God’s presence, really meet Him face to face in the place of prayer, really seek the things that we desire FROM HIM, then there is power. – R.A. Torrey