What would you say if I told you there’s ONE THING (prayer) that can help you with all this:
- Eliminate worry and anxiety
- Build your confidence
- Increase your energy
- Opens doors of opportunity
- Make you feel more peace
This “ONE THING” is not a YouTube video you have to watch and then pay to sign up for a program or get some kind of health supplement.
For real, all of those things (and more) are within our reach if we simply invest time in ONE THING:
Prayer.
Before you stop me and say, Coppelia, that sounds GREAT, but I don’t even know how to pray. I understand that.
I think that sometimes, what holds us back from praying is that it seems like a complicated, over-spiritual thing that makes us nervous.
What if we could keep it simple and see God at work, answering our prayers?
The best place to start is with God’s own word, The Bible. When one of Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray”, His answer was what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” You might even know it by heart!
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us each day the food we need,
4 and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.”
Luke 11: 2-4 NLT
A few Bible verses later, Jesus gave his disciples another tip about prayer: “keep on asking.”
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Luke 11:9-10 NLT
If we break all that down (because I did want to keep it simple), here’s what we got (can you tell I like bullet points? lol!):
- Start your prayer, praising God for who He is! (Hallowed be thy name).
- Ask for God’s will to be done. (Your Kingdom come).
- Ask for what you need (Our daily bread).
- Ask for forgiveness (forgive us)
- Forgive others (as we forgive others)
- Ask for help with temptation (lead us not)
- Keep on asking, seeking and knocking!
But, you might ask, do I need to pray with bullet points? (No, you don't, by the way...lol!)
And how does praying
those things help me with the
other things mentioned above? Check this out:
- Eliminate worry and anxiety
When we pray and praise God for who He is, we recognize that He is strong enough to help us in our weakness.
- Build your confidence
When we pray and ask God for forgiveness, we give him all the guilt and shame we struggle with and can live confident in His new identity for us (as His sons, daughters, loved, forgiven, freed!)
- Increase your energy
When we pray and ask God for “our daily bread”, He is more than able to give us what we need not just physically, but also mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
- Opens doors of opportunity
When we pray and ask for God’s will to be done, for His kingdom to come, we are asking Him to make things right in the world and in our lives. As we pray, He can lead us away from the things that are not accomplishing His purpose, and lead us toward those doors opportunities that only He can open!
- Make you feel more peace
When we pray and forgive others, we can finally let go of bitterness, anger and resentment that, if it builds over time, ends up stealing our peace. Praying and forgiving can help us experience peace.
Honestly, there’s so much more that we can learn about prayer. But with the National Day of Prayer happening this week on the first Thursday in May, we can start with a simple prayer to our Father who is in Heaven, who loves you so much.
Father, you are so amazing! I may not know how to say fancy prayers, but I could definitely use your help with worrying less about stuff. I'd love more peace. I'd love for you to open doors of opportunity and to give me the confidence to walk through them. Please forgive me for all my mess ups, and help me forgive (fill in the blank). Father, thank you for loving me the way you do. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Coppelia
NGEN Midday Show host
P.S. Want to learn more about prayer? Here ya go!
