“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15.

Opening passage 1 John 5:13 and verse 15 above are added for context.

Before this starts getting complicated, understand this, all prayer is just talking to God, unless it is a public prayer it is just you and Him in private.

Say what is on your heart, even if you are angry with Him, vent your frustrations, cry out to Him, or just worship Him. But do not make this some sort of lockstep ritual.

There is no need for a prayer rug, beads, monotonous repetition of the Lord’s Prayer, or any other formalized prayer given out by the church or some, how to pray book.

God created us and understands us, so there is no need for flattery, high sounding words, or attempts to manipulate Him. Much less is there need for the same monotonous droning that puts us to sleep.

Nor is there the need for the false humility of saying that God is up there and too busy to bother with my pitiful needs. Or to say that God is so intelligent that we are no more than ants to Him, so what do our mutterings mean to Him.

True, God is the Most High Sovereign Lord of all, and should be respected as such; but to the Christian He is also our loving Father and if we come to Him as His dear children, it is actually possible to sit on His lap and babble on for hours.

Oddly enough He will not get bored and find something else to do. Folks need to get over their prejudices and stereotypes and accept this fact.

“Well, I tried that and it didn’t work.”

Ah, very interesting! Were you living as a child of God, or pretty much doing what you wanted to do whilst giving lip service to Him? What sort of a relationship did you have with your parents?

Did you obey them? Or were you busy out raising hell and ignoring even the smallest of their rules? Did disobedience enhance the harmony in the home? Were you rewarded with an allowance increase? Did they pay to send you to the movies?

Are you a parent, does disobedience enhance harmony in your home? Will you reward your child and take them to the beach or let them have a sleepover with their friends?

Perhaps you had lousy parents and are not married. What about the workplace?

Is there tension due to disobeying the rules, the supervisor, or the nattering of contentious anti-management gossip? Does this anarchy enhance harmony? For that matter does it affect your work evaluations?

Yet people come to God on their own terms and say, “That doesn’t work.”

When I was thirteen, my father died. Shortly thereafter I looked to God and said, “My father is dead, and there is no replacement, I want You to be my Father.”

I do not even think I was a Christian, yet God honored His end of the bargain and saved me from some truly horrendous things and the stupidest of life decisions.

And though life has not been easy (due to my own willful foolishness), I can say that He acted like the greatest of all fathers to this very day. Yet I confess I have not acted like the kind of son any of you would want for their own.

So then, a right relationship is the key to being able to climb up onto God’s lap and just talk to Him like a truly good father.

This does not mean that you have to cross all the “t”s and dot all the “i”s. If you do not have all of the Ten Commandments nailed down, God is not going to ban you from His presence.

This is what the shed blood of Christ has done, cleansed us from all sin. So we have a rule here. A right relationship means that you need to confess all known sin and turn away from the practice of it.

Just as you might expect your parents to come down on you for vandalizing something with graffiti, so God is not going to be pleased with you smearing His reputation or damaging your own health or welfare. This is common sense is it not?

The next question might be when to pray?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Without ceasing means incessantly; so you can pray without ceasing or as often as you want.

There are also quick I need it now prayers, as exampled in the book of Nehemiah.

The background goes like this. The Israelites had been carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar circa 587 B.C. In the year 445 B.C (142 years later), Babylon was now under Persian rule and Nehemiah is cupbearer to its king.

When Nehemiah heard about the ruins of Jerusalem and the destruction of its walls and gates, he began to mourn, fast and pray to God about this.

One day the king noticed how sad he was and asked him what concerned him. Nehemiah told the king of the condition of Jerusalem in his homeland. The reply was this.

“Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 2:4.

“So I prayed to the God of heaven”, think of that, no taking time out, no dropping to the knees, simply a quick prayer spoken in his heart. And the answer came just as quick in the next verse.

“And I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.’” Nehemiah 2:5.

The rest of this book is about how the job got done; chapters one and two are an interesting read and will fill in the gaps here. I might add that those in leadership, whether church, business, or politics can benefit a great deal from the things you will learn from Nehemiah; his focus, determination and wisdom are remarkable.

As to how to pray, Jesus gives an example but remember this is just a framework to work off of and not simply to be rattled off without thinking of what you are saying.

For instance when He says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” it is up to you to plug in the things you are requesting, your needs, not just bread, but a job, help at home, the health of yourself and others, wisdom, strength, whatever legitimate need you have.

When the Lord says, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” He means be specific. What sin or sins are you confessing? At the same time do you need to forgive someone else who has offended you in some manner?

Do not make general prayers, “God, save everyone in my city!” You can generalize in some ways, “God, please have the city council vote to restrict liquor sales near schools.”

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:1-4.

So prayers can be somewhat general in specific situations, “Lord please save that person I just talked to, though I do not know their name, You do.”

“Lord, though I do not know them, I forgive the person who just insulted me.”

Be specific with your needs, like daily bread, and with the sins you are confessing, and those people whom you are forgiving.

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:6-13.

The only comment the Lord makes about the above prayer, is shown below.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15.

This does not mean that by not forgiving you your trespasses, God is going to send you to hell, it means that because of your unforgiving attitude toward others, you have set up a blockage between you and God, thus hindering your prayers.

So from Jesus’ own lips we have another rule; if you want God to forgive you your trespasses, you must forgive others who have wronged you.

Do not beat your brains out trying to remember all of those with whom you hold a grudge, confess the ones that come to mind, and in time God may bring others up, you can at that time forgive them.

Though the act of forgiveness may be difficult, in time you will see that it is just good mental health.

By confessing everything that the Holy Spirit has brought up to us, we gain another benefit.

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:21-22.

A clear conscience gives us confidence.

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16.

Ask Anything, 1 John 5:14 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-28-12, updated on 7-24-18.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.