How To Pray

HOW TO PRAY
MY FAITH
BIBLE FACT: IN BIBLE TIMES, CINNAMON WAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE FRAGRANCE.
Its possible that most of us learned to pray the wrong way. When we were little, lots of us learned that praying was a lot like memorizing a nursery rhyme or rattling off a cute little poem. Some of us grew up only praying before dinner and at bedtime, and they were the same little prayers each time. They may have been something like this:
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep or God is great, God is good, thank you, God, for all this food. Or the condensed version: God is neat, lets eat.
The problem with prayers like these is that they tend to make prayer a meaningless little ritualsomething we do out of habit even though it doesnt mean much to us. Prayer is our chance to communicate with God, our heavenly Father! He would love it if we got to know him betterand one of the best ways to do that is through prayer. But we cant really get to know him better and grow in our relationships with him if we always pray the same way and at the same time every day. Think about your best friend. How weird would your friendship be if the only time you talked to him or her was at bedtime? You give her a call and say, Now I lay me down to sleep, youre a friend I think Ill keep, and then hang up the phone. You dont talk again until the next night: Now I lay me down to sleep Not only would your friend think you were crazy, but shed probably wonder how much her friendship really meant to you.
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Prayer is your chance to talk to God, to share your life with him. Its your chance to connect with the Creator of the universe. God sees himself as your Friend, and he really wants your friendship to get better and better. Whats the right way to pray? Its simple. Just pray in a way that helps your friendship with God continue to growtalk to him naturally, knowing hes right there by your side. The only wrong way to pray is if its a meaningless, childish ritual.
PRAYER
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OTHER WAYS TO PRAY

MY FAITH
Just regular ol talking to God is great. The only problem is that it can become pretty selsh sometimesjust about our big list of stuff we want to get from God. This is pretty normal, though; dont beat yourself up if your prayers are that way. But at some point in your faith walk, youll want to learn some other ways to pray. Here are a few you could try. Keep a prayer journal. It can be really helpful to write your prayers. Its less like a conversation, sure, but it helps you to be more thoughtful. I (Marko) like to type prayers out on my laptop computer sometimesjust seeing the words on my screen really helps me focus on God and what Im trying to say to him. Pray with colors. Get some blank paper and some colored pencils or crayons or whatever. Spend a few minutes in silence, getting yourself quiet and thinking about God. Then express yourself to God through drawing. What you draw doesnt have to be an actual picture. It could be a symbol for something, or it could just be colors and textures that mean something to you (and that God will completely understandremember, God knows everything). Sit in silence. This ones tough. But if you learn how to do it, it can become one of your favorite ways to pray! See, usually our prayers are all about us talking. But God wants to talk to us, too, right? So how bout we give him a chance and just listen? If you do this, its really important to nd a quiet
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place without distractions. Get comfortable, sitting, and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing for a few minutes to get your attention, and ask God to speak to you. You might have a specic subject you want God to speak to you about, or you might leave it open. Then be quiet and wait. You may have a thought or a sense or an idea that you can tell came from God. Pray The Jesus Prayer. This is a simple prayer you can pray when you have no idea what else to pray. Jesus-followers have prayed this prayer for hundreds and hundreds of years! Its simply this: Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The idea is to get quiet and calm and close your eyes (though this can be a cool prayer to do while youre walking, also, and you dont want your eyes closed then!). Make sure youre breathing normally and slowly. Then say (in your mind, not out loud) the rst half of the prayer while taking a breath in, and the second half of the prayer while breathing out. Its the idea of breathing in Jesus, and breathing out our sin.
PRAYER
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How To Pray

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OTHER WAYS TO PRAY

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