A few weeks back, I wrote that I was struggling with anxiety and shared some verses that I try to cling to when I feel anxiousness arising. In addition to meditating on scripture, prayer is another discipline that can bring me peace during times of stress.
Heaviness abounds in my world right now, as I have friends and family shouldering weighty burdens that I feel compelled to help carry. Some of the challenges they’re facing are overwhelming, and I feel helpless to do anything to support them in any way except to pray.
Additionally, as most of our country is surely aware, a school here in northern Georgia suffered a mass shooting last Wednesday. Inexplicably since the tragedy, a slew of threats of similar attacks on schools across Georgia have been made, culminating in the arrests of several people, including some in a nearby community. It’s a challenge to navigate this nonsense with our high school-aged daughter, trying to encourage her to be vigilant but not fearful and to trust that God is sovereign.
In these seasons of internal unrest, I find myself in continuous prayer, lifting up the many burdens weighing down my spirit. The only way I can keep the worry at bay is to adopt an attitude of prayer, stopping fearful thoughts in their tracks by immediately capturing the thoughts and changing them to intercessions.
1 Peter 5:7 encourages us to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Not only can prayer help relieve anxiety and calm us, but it can change our focus from the things of this world toward eternity and bring us closer to God.
Of course, we aren’t to pray only to make requests of God; he’s not a genie in a lamp! Prayer is our main form of communication with God. If you consider how you communicate with those closest in your life, you’re probably sharing the good, bad, and the ugly with them. And so it can be with prayer.
The “good” is praising God. Praise (and worship) is an integral part of prayer, honoring and thanking God for who he is and the blessings in your life. I also think praying for others falls under the “good” category. The “bad” and the “ugly” can be a combination of confession, repentance, and surrender. This is not any kind of official or probably even proper structure for prayer; it’s just my own way of viewing prayer as a way to grow my relationship with the Lord.
Thankfully, there are a few acronyms that offer better outlines for prayer. You can conduct an internet search on any of these to gain a fuller understanding, but below are the basics:
- PRAY: Praise, Repentance, Ask, Yield
- HEART (1): Honesty, Endurance, Awe, Repentance, Trust
- ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication
- HEART (2): Honor God, Examination, Ask for Help, Requests for Others, Thank God
This world is full of uncertainty and suffering. I am far from perfect, and I have nowhere near all the answers, but I know the one who is and does. And while I know that sometimes God doesn’t answer my prayers in the ways I hope or expect, I can trust him. And so, I will continue to follow 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
What about you? What role does prayer play in your life? How do you pray?