Dialogue Vs. Monologue

On Prayer: It's not about the words.

There was a time when I found it difficult to pray because I thought that I needed to pray a certain way. Everytime I would hear people pray in public, they sounded the same. My prayers sounded nothing like theirs and I couldn't understand why I didn’t know how to Pray. It bothered me for a long while. My prayers were conversations with God - I would speak in my normal language and tone and have full fledged convos. I started trying to learn how to pray the way I had heard people do it. So, I would read prayers and had learned how to recite Pastor-style. But something was missing - My Heart wasn’t connecting to God. Those prayers were learned, and they didn't flow naturally. I sounded like a public speaker that had rehearsed their speech. 

As my relationship and faith grew stronger, I learned that prayer is about communicating with God in whatever way I can. It's not about the words. If it was primarily about what we speak, then it does it mean that people with speech disorders cannot pray? The Holy Spirit doesn't care about your grammar, or punctuations, or whether you said, "Our Father and our God," one-hundred times in one prayer. 

There is only one qualification for prayer:

"He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Heb 11:6).

Prayer is not about:

"God help me get a job…God please fix my headache…God please sort my Bills out…"

Yes, scripture tells us to Ask and Seek...but prayer is more important than that. It’s about getting close to God and spending time with Him. It's acknowledging Him as your source of power and aligning with Him on His purpose for our lives. 

Many people don't pray because they've learned to pray the wrong way; it becomes a chore when it's a monologue. When you learn to dialogue with God, it becomes a part of your daily life, and you don't need to wait till night time to pray. The more you converse, the better you get to know Him, and the more you know when it is Him speaking to you. Everytime you communicate with God, you are advancing His purpose for you.

As you go into the new week, pray in your own way, at any time and focus on the message, not the verbiage.

xx

Adaora ‘Lumina’ Mbelu

p.s. Dropped a video on my IG this morning - “Am I Praying Wrong?” - check it out!