And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. {Jeremiah 29:13}
Is there really a wrong way to pray? Well, I say yes. If you’re not changing and you’re not growing in your relationship with God, then I say you’re not praying correctly. Even if your prayers get answered sometimes you could still be praying wrong. You could end up praying for things that God doesn’t want you to pray for, but God gives it to you anyway because you asked for it. I remember years ago when I was in high school asking God for a boyfriend. I clearly remember the Holy Spirit saying to me that it wasn’t a good prayer, and that I will regret it. But still I insisted and so I ended up with a boyfriend, and boy do I regret it even now. I wish I had listened to the Lord. I long ago broke up with that boyfriend and God was very merciful to not let me end up with that boy. He was right. I was too young to ask for it and I wasn’t ready. God had someone else that He wanted me to wait for, but I was impatient and insisted on it, and so I got what I asked for. A couple of years later that boyfriend and I broke up but I didn’t heal until few years later. I was so hurt by that relationship. I wish I had listened to the Lord and knew how to pray the prayer that was good in the eyes of God.
The right way to pray is coming with all of our hearts, seeking after God and knowing what He wants us to pray for. The Lord knows what is best for us and knows what is good for us in the end. We should always be talking to Him with all of our hearts, being open and honest with Him and seeking His guidance and His truth. If we’re just mouthing off prayers to Him and not really asking or seeking for His truth, we can end up asking for things that aren’t good in His eyes and for ourselves. We can also end up just wasting our time and not really coming to know who God is. So many people I know, and I was one of them, who prayed with a prayer list. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is good to have a prayer list. But when we’re just caught up with our prayer list and not caring anymore to talk to God with our hearts, we can end up missing God’s dealing with us. We can end up missing what He’s saying to us and what He wants to show to us. Our prayer time with the Lord is not just a one-way street, it’s a two way street. It’s not just us doing the talking all the time. It’s also allowing Him to talk back to us in our hearts and in our spirit. We’re listening for Him as we’re talking to Him. He will deal with us. He will show us what to feel and what to think. This is so important because we could just go on and on and on about our issues or a problem we want to talk to Him about, and already He wants to show us the solution. But often we continue to talk or weep to Him and spend all that energy, and end up worn out and exhausted and feeling spent. Then we’ll get up out of prayer feeling like we accomplished nothing and feel discouraged and unhappy because we didn’t get an answer. Yet all that time God was trying to speak to us in our spirit and in our hearts, but we’re not listening because we’re too caught up just venting to Him. We definitely need to vent out and pour our hearts out to Him, but at the same time we need to also be listening with our spirit for any dealings or any thoughts in our hearts that He is showing to us.
It’s so important to seek the Lord with all of our hearts and soul and mind and wait for Him. The psalmist tells us,
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek His face evermore. {Psalm 105:4}
When thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. {Psalm 27:8}
This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O Jacob. Selah. {Psalm 24:6}
When we’re seeking the Lord for answers or when we’re in prayer talking to Him, it is always important to seek for His face. There is a face of God you will find. He will show Himself. You will see His Spirit in your heart and in your mind you will see His face. This is not just a symbolic scripture of finding God’s face. There is a real face and presence that you will come to see when you seek Him with all of your heart. You will see Him. God did say,
And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. {Jeremiah 29:13}
God rewards those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6} You will find Him if you come to Him always with all of your heart. He will show Himself. You will see His face.
Now this might sound like all a mystery if you don’t know who He is, especially if you haven’t yet experienced seeing His face or had His Spirit deal with you. But keep trying. Keep coming to Him with your heart when you’re talking to Him, and you will come to know what I mean.
We have to spend time with Him in prayer. We can’t get up in the middle of our communion with Him when we’re not done yet. You know it when you’re not done. You will feel it in your heart. You will feel incomplete and unsure. Stay, wait for Him, keep talking to Him and keep loving Him. Sometimes you may want to say, “Jesus, please help me pray. Help me to receive you today. Help me to see you.” It’s really very easy and simple to find God, we just have to be open and honest with Him about our feelings and our thoughts. He knows us and He understands us. There is nothing we can hide from the Lord. He knows everything. He knows what we’re thinking about Him and what we’re feeling about Him. The more honest we are with Him regarding our feelings for Him and about everything in this life, the more we will come to see Him and know Him.
Remember the right way to talk to Jesus is with all of our hearts, allowing Him to deal with us and listening to Him. We need to be seeking for Him and for His face. We have to be truthful and honest with our talks to Him. We can’t pretend and hide things from Him because He knows all things, even the intents in our hearts. There is absolutely nothing we can hide from the Lord – our thoughts about Him, our emotions, our feelings, and our desires. He knows them all. So don’t hide anything. Hiding things from Him is distrusting Him. It is saying we don’t feel confident enough about His love for us. We don’t trust Him enough to accept us and understand us. It is lying to the Lord also because He knows all things about us. But when we are open to Him and have no fears about being ourselves, and talk with all of our hearts to Him, we will grow and we will know who Jesus is. We will come to fall in love with Him and He with us, because He will come to us and show Himself to us. His word will become alive in our hearts and we will come to see His face and know His voice. We will come to know who Jesus is.
Always, always, come with your heart to Him.
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. {Deuteronomy 4:29}
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. {Deuteronomy 6:5}
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your grace and Your love for me. I thank You that there is nothing too hard with You. I thank You that You know all things and understand all things. There is nothing I need to hide from You because You love me until the end of time.
Father, please Lord Jesus, help me to love You with all of my heart today. Help me to seek You and find You and know who You are and see Your face. Help me to know You Jesus, today. Father God I pray in Your wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
