I know this is a stupid question. But how do you properly pray?

Anthony2019

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The best way to start learning prayer is by using a form of the prayer that Jesus taught us.

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are Yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
 
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Yarddog

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Please understand that I don't mean to sound like a troll on any of these questions. They are all honest and genuine questions from the heart. I honestly have been apart from God for so long that I don't know how to properly pray. Both my wife and I could use help on this. My wife has only prayed a few times in her life when she was Catholic as a kid. But she's always believed in Christ from the moment she was born. I on the other hand, was also raised Catholic but never shared my mother's faith so I didn't bother with praying much. I prayed sometimes but I still feel like as a kid I prayed the wrong way because I used to pray to Mary and to the saints and all of the other Catholic ways which I don't feel comfortable doing now as a protestant.

But yeah, I was an atheist for most of my life so I missed out on the whole "How to pray" thing. I know prayer is just talking to God and telling him about how you feel and thanking/praising him but what's expected of us when we pray? Would God care about the tiniest details of my life? Like say I want to pray about playing Video Games and tell him how happy they make me feel or tell him that I want to get to a certain level or something? Lol An honest question that I'm really embarrassed to ask. Let me explain. I don't want God to not care about what I have to say or if I'm committing a sin against him I don't want him to be angry at me or whatever. Or if I want to share with him that since I never achieved the goals in my life that I'm semi angry with him? I'm mostly angry at my dad but mostly because my dad physically abused me when I was growing up and told me that I would never amount to anything and basically that I was a loser. I've told God multiple times that I want to let this anger go in my life because God probably didn't want me to achieve the goals of my life and I should accept it. God also gave me my father for a reason. Maybe so that I would love my heavenly father more. Who knows.

Should we get in the habit of praying daily to God? I know some Christians would give varying answers to that question so maybe I can't be helped on that one. Does God hear our prayers in our thoughts or do we have to pray out loud? Would God hear my wife and I if we started praying together or is prayer supposed to be done by us individually in private like Jesus seems to command in Matthew 6:6? Do I pray to the Trinity or just to Jesus/God the Father the Holy Spirit alone?

Scripture pretty much says to pray to God the Father only but yet many Christians pray to the Trinity why is that when never in the New Testament do we see examples of Prayer to Jesus or the HS and Jesus never prayed to the HS? It makes sense why he wouldn't pray to himself but there's still another part of him that's fully and equally God and equivalent to himself so why didn't he pray to him to help guide him in his earthly mission?

If I just say "Dear God". Or just simply "God" when I start my prayer does that mean I'm praying to the Trinity or to a random false God? Does God know the desire of our hearts when we pray? Sounds like a stupid question but it's sincere. Like say if I pray "Dear God" does God know that I intend to pray to him or to pray to the Trinity? I really don't want him to think that I'm praying to some false God.

How do you overcome fear of rejection and the awkwardness of prayer? My wife feels extremely guilty and like God will smite her down any second because she's barely prayed to him. Nor do we really live for God and are just Christians on paper (That's changing).

I think that's about it for my questions for now. I'll probably ask more as this thread gets bigger.
Think. You don't have to say anything. Just share your thoughts with God. Like any good father, he wants us to share everything with him.
 
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friend of

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The following is a model of prayer I've found beneficial and satisfying.

A - Acknowledge who God is
C - Confess your recent sins
T - Thanksgiving for everything
S - Supplication for desires

Also we are to pray Persistently, Expectantly and Patiently.

God bless
 
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Matthew Frazier

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Always a good question. Looking at your faith in the relational perspective involves more than the riveting prayers to open and close church services, albeit they can stir one another in faith. One of the most revitalizing ways to connect with Him (at least for me) is talk to God like you would with any person in conversation. How has your day been? What has been brough to the light in terms of sin, conviction or answered prayers? This helps reduce the thoughts of God being a distant authority figure that the man with one talent held against his master. Of course like with many things in life, though, there is no correct or wrong way to pray. Just be careful that one method of following Jesus doesn't become a tired religious practice. Crying aloud in church for Jesus to come back into your heart after a dry spell, sitting quietly reflecting on the Word and letting your faith and emotions flow, the list goes on... as long as it's pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.
 
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Neostarwcc

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It's not really "bad form" to babble on and on, since no such form exists. Scripture also commands us to "pray without ceasing," or to "pray continually". (I Thessalonians 5:17). However, babbling a lot might not be as good for you, because prayer is just as much for you as it is for God.

Also, it is better if prayer is a two-way conversation. Which I know is hard, because usually God doesn't just literally speak to us. Sometimes it can even get downright frustrating, like "Come on, God! Talk back!" Babbling on and on implies some lack of hearing back from God, for some reason. Could be you're not listening. Could be He didn't say anything. I don't like either.




Actually, God would be more pleased with you than you think, because He already knew your heart. But it also says something about your heart because you took your desire to HIM.

Anyway, who's to say when it is God's will to kill somebody? Everybody sins, everybody dies. I lost a close, young family member, she was praying that she couldn't wait to be with Him. She wanted to be in Heaven. Killed instantly in a head-on car crash, that was not her own fault. God answered her prayer, all right. But she did nothing wrong.

What I was afraid of when I was younger and what has kept me from praying to God for long periods of time was my fear of talking so much that God doesn't hear or want to hear from me anymore. Let me give an example. Say I want God to give me a baby. I've in reality prayed for a baby many times and I thought that God knew that desire in my heart. But its been almost five years now and there is no baby. So maybe Gods answer was "no" or maybe his answer was "wait". Either or I've prayed for a baby so many times that God might be sick of hearing about it lol. That or I suck at praying. But my wife is getting really discouraged because other couples around us are conceiving babies. My sister just made one about 10 months ago. She lost the baby when she was like 2 months along and her due date was about 3 weeks ago had the baby survived. But when my sister announced she was pregnant my wife was like "why not me? She wants a baby. I want a baby but I think after 5 years of trying there's something wrong with one of us. I mean I have faith that I will become a Dad someday. My wife has pretty much given up. So we're kinda like Abraham and Sarah lol. Idk... God probably gets sick of the same things being brought up over and over again. Especially on things that he's already given an answer to.

I'm sorry for your loss. She got what she wanted I guess. That's just so sad.
 
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Neostarwcc

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Always a good question. Looking at your faith in the relational perspective involves more than the riveting prayers to open and close church services, albeit they can stir one another in faith. One of the most revitalizing ways to connect with Him (at least for me) is talk to God like you would with any person in conversation. How has your day been? What has been brough to the light in terms of sin, conviction or answered prayers? This helps reduce the thoughts of God being a distant authority figure that the man with one talent held against his master. Of course like with many things in life, though, there is no correct or wrong way to pray. Just be careful that one method of following Jesus doesn't become a tired religious practice. Crying aloud in church for Jesus to come back into your heart after a dry spell, sitting quietly reflecting on the Word and letting your faith and emotions flow, the list goes on... as long as it's pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

I thought God was outside of time and doesn't have any "days" like we do.

Your post was helpful though. Thanks. I think to start praying I'm going to learn the our Father prayer and then just tell God how I feel. I've asked God several times to teach me how to pray so maybe over the course of time he will teach me. I should be more patient.
 
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LoricaLady

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When the apostles asked Messiah how to pray He gave them what we call the Lord's prayer. Notice it says "Give us this day our daily bread". Therefore it seems we should say it every day.

Other things the Bible says about prayer.... "Come into His gate with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise." We are told to praise far more than we are told to pray.

Pray with humility. "Pride goes before a fall....Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord...."

Though none of us is near perfect, and though "the Father of Mercies...delights to show us mercy...." it is still a good thing to be getting sin out of your life more and more. "The prayers of a righteous man avail much." Again, though, He is merciful and certainly is always answering prayers from us faulty humans.

Pray with love. "Faith works by love...." At least, don't pray mechanically, but from the heart.
 
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Vicky gould

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Please understand that I don't mean to sound like a troll on any of these questions. They are all honest and genuine questions from the heart. I honestly have been apart from God for so long that I don't know how to properly pray. Both my wife and I could use help on this. My wife has only prayed a few times in her life when she was Catholic as a kid. But she's always believed in Christ from the moment she was born. I on the other hand, was also raised Catholic but never shared my mother's faith so I didn't bother with praying much. I prayed sometimes but I still feel like as a kid I prayed the wrong way because I used to pray to Mary and to the saints and all of the other Catholic ways which I don't feel comfortable doing now as a protestant.

But yeah, I was an atheist for most of my life so I missed out on the whole "How to pray" thing. I know prayer is just talking to God and telling him about how you feel and thanking/praising him but what's expected of us when we pray? Would God care about the tiniest details of my life? Like say I want to pray about playing Video Games and tell him how happy they make me feel or tell him that I want to get to a certain level or something? Lol An honest question that I'm really embarrassed to ask. Let me explain. I don't want God to not care about what I have to say or if I'm committing a sin against him I don't want him to be angry at me or whatever. Or if I want to share with him that since I never achieved the goals in my life that I'm semi angry with him? I'm mostly angry at my dad but mostly because my dad physically abused me when I was growing up and told me that I would never amount to anything and basically that I was a loser. I've told God multiple times that I want to let this anger go in my life because God probably didn't want me to achieve the goals of my life and I should accept it. God also gave me my father for a reason. Maybe so that I would love my heavenly father more. Who knows.

Should we get in the habit of praying daily to God? I know some Christians would give varying answers to that question so maybe I can't be helped on that one. Does God hear our prayers in our thoughts or do we have to pray out loud? Would God hear my wife and I if we started praying together or is prayer supposed to be done by us individually in private like Jesus seems to command in Matthew 6:6? Do I pray to the Trinity or just to Jesus/God the Father the Holy Spirit alone?

Scripture pretty much says to pray to God the Father only but yet many Christians pray to the Trinity why is that when never in the New Testament do we see examples of Prayer to Jesus or the HS and Jesus never prayed to the HS? It makes sense why he wouldn't pray to himself but there's still another part of him that's fully and equally God and equivalent to himself so why didn't he pray to him to help guide him in his earthly mission?

If I just say "Dear God". Or just simply "God" when I start my prayer does that mean I'm praying to the Trinity or to a random false God? Does God know the desire of our hearts when we pray? Sounds like a stupid question but it's sincere. Like say if I pray "Dear God" does God know that I intend to pray to him or to pray to the Trinity? I really don't want him to think that I'm praying to some false God.

How do you overcome fear of rejection and the awkwardness of prayer? My wife feels extremely guilty and like God will smite her down any second because she's barely prayed to him. Nor do we really live for God and are just Christians on paper (That's changing).

I think that's about it for my questions for now. I'll probably ask more as this thread gets bigger.

the Lord is our husband and we are His Bride. With awe and reverence we should always approach Him but at the same time He desires the intimacy of a Husband and wife. This in my opinion is what scripture pictures. Rachel is a good example with her relationship with Boaz. But more than anything He wants us to be in continual contact hHe is a God of grace and is not judging your or my prayer measures up. The fact that you would seek to be more pleasing to Him is all the proof you need that you have been reborn that you are part of His holy and righteous Son’s Body and with His Son He is well pleased and as part of His Body, through rebirth He is well pleased with your new spiritual man as part of the Son. Satan wants to blind us by keeping our focus on our fleshly OLD Man and as you see he has even caused you to wonder if you are speaking with your Husband properly. Hope this makes sense and helps.
 
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Neostarwcc

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When the apostles asked Messiah how to pray He gave them what we call the Lord's prayer. Notice it says "Give us this day our daily bread". Therefore it seems we should say it every day.

Other things the Bible says about prayer.... "Come into His gate with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise." We are told to praise far more than we are told to pray.

Pray with humility. "Pride goes before a fall....Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord...."

Though none of us is near perfect, and though "the Father of Mercies...delights to show us mercy...." it is still a good thing to be getting sin out of your life more and more. "The prayers of a righteous man avail much." Again, though, He is merciful and certainly is always answering prayers from us faulty humans.

Pray with love. "Faith works by love...." At least, don't pray mechanically, but from the heart.

I know this will sound kind of stupid but I've grown a lot in the seven years since I came to Christ. It sounds stupid because during those seven years I barely prayed and I barely spent any time with God and I was kind of a "heathen" so to speak. Let me explain.

When I came to Jesus I talked to him for what seemed like an eternity. Although it was probably 3-4 hours. And all I did was just talk to him. I told him all of my doubts, all of my fears, all of my concerns, I told him that I was sick of living the life that I lived at that point for the last 26 years. It was 26 years of complete and utter sin and I begged him for forgiveness from that sin. I remember telling him that I could accept him as my savior but I at that point in time couldn't believe in God because there was much evidence that God doesn't exist. I had no clue to that I was talking to the God of Israel himself. I had no clue about... really anything I was pretty lost and confused Atheist who had never picked up a Bible in his life.

Anyway, I pleaded with him to save me and he granted me that salvation and answered my prayer. Then over the course of the last seven years I've seen a lot of progress. I've noticed that I stopped committing certain sins that I used to do chronically everyday. I grew to belief in the Trinity (For the first 4 and a half ish years of my Christian walk I didn't believe in the Trinity evidence of that is still on my account here on CF), I was blessed with a wife and with many online friends when I was so alone and hopeless in the world. I will never be alone again with all of the people God has blessed me with. He has turned me from a completely depressed and very lonely person into the person I am today. He just made me confident over the years that that very night I got saved and that he was listening to and answering to the very little times I was praying to him.

Honestly I should just pray that way. I shouldn't be afraid of how to pray and to pray wrong and I should just pray and beg for forgiveness the same way as I did back then. Several people suggested the "Our Father" so I think I will use that. It will take me a while to remember the prayer again though because I haven't used it regularly since I was a kid. But I think it's a really good idea.
 
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rockytopva

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Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. - Luke 22:69

If E = mc2 then we can divide and conclude that...

Mass (m) = Energy (E/c2)

And there are three varieties...

Natural E/c2 - All mass is basically cooled plasma, the sun is the visible form of E/c2.
Mental E/c2 - Mentally, A mathematical formula, but this has chemical and spiritual properties as well.
Spiritual E/c2 - E (motivation, warmth, love) / c2 (faith, hope, charity, joy)

God can change energy to matter... E/c2 (energy)= m (matter)
God can change matter to energy... m (matter) = E/c2 (energy)

All to his will and liking! And no force can stand against the will in what he intends to do! In my prayers I pray...

My Father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
By kingdom come thy will be done
As in Earth as it is in heaven
Give me today my daily bread
Forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors
For thine is the power and the glory
The Light and the Energy
Father in thee are all things
By thy command the plasma freezes into mass
By thy command the mass disassociates back into plasma
Remember me in thy power and thy light
<And any other prayer requests>
Bless me I pray
In Jesus name I pray.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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Please understand that I don't mean to sound like a troll on any of these questions. They are all honest and genuine questions from the heart. I honestly have been apart from God for so long that I don't know how to properly pray. Both my wife and I could use help on this. My wife has only prayed a few times in her life when she was Catholic as a kid. But she's always believed in Christ from the moment she was born. I on the other hand, was also raised Catholic but never shared my mother's faith so I didn't bother with praying much. I prayed sometimes but I still feel like as a kid I prayed the wrong way because I used to pray to Mary and to the saints and all of the other Catholic ways which I don't feel comfortable doing now as a protestant.

But yeah, I was an atheist for most of my life so I missed out on the whole "How to pray" thing. I know prayer is just talking to God and telling him about how you feel and thanking/praising him but what's expected of us when we pray? Would God care about the tiniest details of my life? Like say I want to pray about playing Video Games and tell him how happy they make me feel or tell him that I want to get to a certain level or something? Lol An honest question that I'm really embarrassed to ask. Let me explain. I don't want God to not care about what I have to say or if I'm committing a sin against him I don't want him to be angry at me or whatever. Or if I want to share with him that since I never achieved the goals in my life that I'm semi angry with him? I'm mostly angry at my dad but mostly because my dad physically abused me when I was growing up and told me that I would never amount to anything and basically that I was a loser. I've told God multiple times that I want to let this anger go in my life because God probably didn't want me to achieve the goals of my life and I should accept it. God also gave me my father for a reason. Maybe so that I would love my heavenly father more. Who knows.

Should we get in the habit of praying daily to God? I know some Christians would give varying answers to that question so maybe I can't be helped on that one. Does God hear our prayers in our thoughts or do we have to pray out loud? Would God hear my wife and I if we started praying together or is prayer supposed to be done by us individually in private like Jesus seems to command in Matthew 6:6? Do I pray to the Trinity or just to Jesus/God the Father the Holy Spirit alone?

Scripture pretty much says to pray to God the Father only but yet many Christians pray to the Trinity why is that when never in the New Testament do we see examples of Prayer to Jesus or the HS and Jesus never prayed to the HS? It makes sense why he wouldn't pray to himself but there's still another part of him that's fully and equally God and equivalent to himself so why didn't he pray to him to help guide him in his earthly mission?

If I just say "Dear God". Or just simply "God" when I start my prayer does that mean I'm praying to the Trinity or to a random false God? Does God know the desire of our hearts when we pray? Sounds like a stupid question but it's sincere. Like say if I pray "Dear God" does God know that I intend to pray to him or to pray to the Trinity? I really don't want him to think that I'm praying to some false God.

How do you overcome fear of rejection and the awkwardness of prayer? My wife feels extremely guilty and like God will smite her down any second because she's barely prayed to him. Nor do we really live for God and are just Christians on paper (That's changing).

I think that's about it for my questions for now. I'll probably ask more as this thread gets bigger.
He knows our heart so it does not matter how you address. Paul said to never cease praying which means, The Father is already in us we just need to seek Him out in our everyday life. I know there are prayer warriors and those who hardly pray. But it is the heart that matters. God knows what we need. When in doubt follow Jesus Christ of Nazareth example.
The Lords Prayer.
Blessings
 
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Matthew Frazier

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I thought God was outside of time and doesn't have any "days" like we do.

Your post was helpful though. Thanks. I think to start praying I'm going to learn the our Father prayer and then just tell God how I feel. I've asked God several times to teach me how to pray so maybe over the course of time he will teach me. I should be more patient.
That is very true. As one of my favorite Bible verses from Hebrews says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever :)

You're so welcome. God will understand what you need and what experiences you are facing even before you make them known verbally, but He loves hearing your voice. It's all in God's timing on how to form an ever closer connection with Him!
 
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joshua 1 9

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I don't know how to properly pray.
This is a lot more simple the you think. Most of what we need to know is in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. This is even more simple than that, because Jesus teaches us exactly how we are to pray:
9“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

10‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

11‘Give us this day our daily bread.

12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
14“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15“But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

First we are to pray to God the Father who is in Heaven. This is explained in the next verse. We are to pray for God's will to be done, here on the Earth as God's will is already done in Heaven. Then we ask God to provide for our needs. Then we ask for forgiveness for our debts, as we need to forgive others. Sometimes we need God to help us to forgive others. This has to be His work in and though us. We ask that He help us to overcome the temptation to do evil. Then we are told that we have to forgive others in order for God to forgive us.

You can do a google search, there are commentaries on this prayer. I really do not think that we need to do any more then this. We do not need to add to what we have received from Jesus.
 
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joshua 1 9

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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever
The problem with this is that if there is a delay in getting our prayers answered we know that God is not going to change. He is the one that is waiting on us.
 
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Please understand that I don't mean to sound like a troll on any of these questions. They are all honest and genuine questions from the heart. I honestly have been apart from God for so long that I don't know how to properly pray. Both my wife and I could use help on this. My wife has only prayed a few times in her life when she was Catholic as a kid. But she's always believed in Christ from the moment she was born. I on the other hand, was also raised Catholic but never shared my mother's faith so I didn't bother with praying much. I prayed sometimes but I still feel like as a kid I prayed the wrong way because I used to pray to Mary and to the saints and all of the other Catholic ways which I don't feel comfortable doing now as a protestant.

But yeah, I was an atheist for most of my life so I missed out on the whole "How to pray" thing. I know prayer is just talking to God and telling him about how you feel and thanking/praising him but what's expected of us when we pray? Would God care about the tiniest details of my life? Like say I want to pray about playing Video Games and tell him how happy they make me feel or tell him that I want to get to a certain level or something? Lol An honest question that I'm really embarrassed to ask. Let me explain. I don't want God to not care about what I have to say or if I'm committing a sin against him I don't want him to be angry at me or whatever. Or if I want to share with him that since I never achieved the goals in my life that I'm semi angry with him? I'm mostly angry at my dad but mostly because my dad physically abused me when I was growing up and told me that I would never amount to anything and basically that I was a loser. I've told God multiple times that I want to let this anger go in my life because God probably didn't want me to achieve the goals of my life and I should accept it. God also gave me my father for a reason. Maybe so that I would love my heavenly father more. Who knows.

Should we get in the habit of praying daily to God? I know some Christians would give varying answers to that question so maybe I can't be helped on that one. Does God hear our prayers in our thoughts or do we have to pray out loud? Would God hear my wife and I if we started praying together or is prayer supposed to be done by us individually in private like Jesus seems to command in Matthew 6:6? Do I pray to the Trinity or just to Jesus/God the Father the Holy Spirit alone?

Scripture pretty much says to pray to God the Father only but yet many Christians pray to the Trinity why is that when never in the New Testament do we see examples of Prayer to Jesus or the HS and Jesus never prayed to the HS? It makes sense why he wouldn't pray to himself but there's still another part of him that's fully and equally God and equivalent to himself so why didn't he pray to him to help guide him in his earthly mission?

If I just say "Dear God". Or just simply "God" when I start my prayer does that mean I'm praying to the Trinity or to a random false God? Does God know the desire of our hearts when we pray? Sounds like a stupid question but it's sincere. Like say if I pray "Dear God" does God know that I intend to pray to him or to pray to the Trinity? I really don't want him to think that I'm praying to some false God.

How do you overcome fear of rejection and the awkwardness of prayer? My wife feels extremely guilty and like God will smite her down any second because she's barely prayed to him. Nor do we really live for God and are just Christians on paper (That's changing).

I think that's about it for my questions for now. I'll probably ask more as this thread gets bigger.

You need to have some sort of understanding of God's will and who God is in order to pray "properly". The desires of our hearts has to be towards what God desires for us. Now that doesn't mean that only well-versed readers of the Word, or church-goers can do it, nor does that ensure that you are praying in the right spirit. It could be as simple as "Lord save me". There's have to be a sense of relationship or desire of a relationship with God as well. There's a respect of God's will and a reverence for God.

Think about it. If we truly believe that all things works together for good to them that love and serve Him according to His purpose (Rom 8:28), then when we approach Him, everything that concerns us whether good or bad have to acknowledge that, and desire for whatever God wills to come to pass. And if we are at a stance that would cause us to have a bad end because of our spirit, for God to step in and help guide our path.
 
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