How do you pray? I’m not asking about kneeling or standing, sitting or reclining, eyes closed or wide open, everyday language or King James speak.

It’s a simple question. How do you pray? Do you believe things will happen when you pray? Do you utter a bunch of words that you’ve memorized? When you pray, are you just yapping for the sake of yapping? Yes, I know the word ‘yapping’ is hardly spiritual, but then a lot of prayer that clutters the air isn’t at all spiritual either.

How do you pray? Do you pray to the God of the Universe? The God who created babies, and grass, and the sand. The God who set the sun and moon in the sky and created the stars and the oceans. Think about it! If you are real in your praying, that is Who you are talking to when you pray. The. God. Of. The. Universe.

Do you pray believing? Believing that God is listening? I had a sweet conversation with a dear friend recently. She told me about selling their house a while back. She and her husband had been in that house for a long time; they’d raised their now-grown children there. That house had been their home. A home where love was the language, and God was in charge.

They prayed about selling their home. They prayed about who would buy it. They prayed for a Christian family to buy the house. They didn’t pray for a quick sale. They prayed for the right sale. They prayed believing. They. Prayed. Believing.

Have you tried that? Have you tried praying believing? Actually prayed and believed that God would answer? Not that gimme, gimme, gimme stuff. Or, “I prayed,” and five minutes later, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Scripture teaches, “You have not because you ask not.” And continues, “You have not because you ask amiss” James 4:2b – 4:3a).

My friends received more than 15 offers in a couple of days. Leaning into what and for whom they prayed, they chose a buyer. They didn’t select the highest offer. Since they had prayed believing, they chose the right buyer.

My dear friend went on to tell me so many wonderful things about the family who now owns and lives in her former home, including how well the neighbors have received them, how these folks have been blessed in their new home, and how the new owners have blessed the neighbors.

In their praying, my friend and her husband asked for the right direction. They didn’t ask amiss.

They prayed believing. How do you pray?

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