Praying

Why do we pray if God already knows everything? In this episode, we look at what the Bible says about how and why we pray and how prayer builds a personal connection with God.

Using James 4:8, Matthew 6:9–13, Luke 5:16, and Mark 1:35, we see how Jesus both taught prayer and lived a life of prayer, often withdrawing to spend time alone with the Father. We also touch on John 13:2 and why prayer matters when facing temptation and spiritual battles.

Prayer isn’t just asking God for things—it’s drawing near to Him and deepening our relationship with Him.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hey guys, you're listening to a Rebel No More podcast with your host Jane Fairstock. In today's episode, I'm going to talk about praying. And I really like this topic because I love to pray. I love to pray all the time. I'm not going to lie, I don't pray 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I can't. But when I remember to pray, I like to do it silently. I like to do it in designated times. It's just something that I've never really struggled with on this walk or prior to coming to Jesus, even before I had the relationship I have now with Jesus. I don't recall ever struggling with um going to God, praying. I've never struggled with how to pray. Things just, this is always been something I've done naturally. And um I enjoy it. Uh in the mornings, my husband and I typically start our days with either walking or working out. And uh if we walk together, we either listen to uh some music or we'll listen to another sermon or something, another pastor online, something. You know, we're always listening or whatnot on our walks, but sometimes, you know, we do just say nothing and just walk in peace. And in those moments, that I catch myself going to prayer or just randomly talking to God and like through my thoughts, because God does know our thoughts, and so I kind of like to think in my head to God more and like have conversations in my head more with him because Satan can't hear my thoughts, so then I can kind of just not give him any ammunition to spin anything for me, I guess. I don't know. Sometimes I think of the weirdest stuff, but for me, um I enjoy praying, I I like it. And you know, when people ask for prayers on Facebook or I mean, I don't like run into people in the street and they ask for random prayers, but should they do that, you know, I try to do it then and there because I don't want to forget later. And um, I know some people do keep prayer books, which I think is such a good idea. And I don't know why I don't do it. It's actually something I should probably do. I think that'd be so much fun just to write down stuff every day or just like go to it and just maybe when it's done, just like go through it and check out all the things you've prayed for. Um, but anyway, so when we pray, it it's personal communication between us and God. And you know, while you have a relationship with someone, you want to spend time with them. And so when we pray, that's that's our time with God, that's our time to be alone with him, that's our time to just let it out, you know, like just sit in silence with God, bring whatever it is that's bugging you to God. God, you know, he wants that time with us, he wants us to go to him, you know. And when we pray, it also, you know, shows submission on our part that we are trusting God with whatever we're turning over to him. You know, we could be asking for someone to get better, or you know, the health of a child or a relationship or, you know, finances, whatever, whatever it is, you know, God already knows what we're gonna pray for. He already knows what we need or whatever it is before we go to him. But I think when we go to God during prayers or prayers, during praying, excuse me, I think that it also shows our willingness to give over control and say, you know, I can't fix my friend or the situation, but I trust in you. So, you know what, God, you know, I'm giving this to you. Talk to him. He always wants to hear. It's like the way I think of my relationship with God is, and I know everybody has their own opinions, but you know what? This is my podcast, and this is my view. So for me, it's like I don't know who it was or where I heard it, but it really made my relationship with God into a whole different perspective because I didn't realize it was all about building a relationship with Him. And you build it the same way you would with someone here, your spouse or friendship. You talk to them, you spend time with them, you ask them questions, you get to know them. And you know, we have the Bible, that's a way that we get to know God through scripture. And so I try to remind myself, God is He's my father, he's my friend, he's there. And so instead of going to my husband for some things, or to my girlfriends, I'll just sit with God and just talk to him and say, Hey, you know what? I know you saw this, but you know, this happened today, and I'm not sure how to process it. What do you think? I like doing that during my time with God because like I'm not going to somebody else and I'm getting like clear advice from God during those moments. Or at least if I'm not getting that advice, I'm going to Him and you know, giving up whatever control that I think I have and just praying through it and praying on it, and you know doing the best that I can to keep my ears open. That that's a big thing, is I will find myself praying for something. For an example, these podcast topics, I don't come up with them. I don't have a list of items I want to discuss or share. I have nothing. Nothing. I pray on it. What do you want me to talk about? What do you want me to share? And for those of you that are Christians, you know it's all about God's timing. Not my timing, God's timing. But it's like in order for a podcast to be successful, you need to be consistent. Holy Spirit, I I need some topics. Like, you know, I I said I'd release them on Monday and Wednesdays, and uh I don't have a topic, and it's you know, Sunday night. Like, are you like what's going on? And I I stopped and thought about it, and I was thinking, and I just was just like, you know, I'm asking God for topics, but I'm not listening. Like, hello, no wonder you're not getting anything. So this time around, I listened the best that I can. For those of you that know me personally, know that that's a uh struggle for me to listen. And so I did this time, like I said, and not only did I get the two topics I needed to record for the upcoming week, I got two additional ones. So I got four episodes that just came in. I want to say they came in the same day. I want to, I'm gonna hold to that. I think they came in all that same day, and so you know, if I would have been maybe doing my part and listening, I probably would have gotten my topics a lot sooner, but I didn't realize I wasn't listening after I prayed for it. So I don't know who needs to hear uh this topic about praying or or what it was, but I guess I needed to put that out there because I sure wasn't listening. And and you know, now I know you gotta be open to what you want. You just can't put it out there, and it, you know, you have to be open to receive it. And I don't think that I was open. And once I realized it, hmm, all right. This is what's going on here. I I'm not listening a lot of the times, though, we do get in situations where you can't necessarily pray out loud, and that's fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with not praying out loud. Because God already, you know, he probably already knows like maybe you're not in a situation that would be okay with that. I just I know some people who aren't Christians or understand this kind of get weird when when you do prayers. I noticed like in restaurants, sometimes when we go to pray, it's at first, I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of wanting to open my eyes and peek up to see who was staring at us, to be like, oh, is that that weird people over there praying over their food? Now I don't really care if you sit there and stare at me. I'm gonna give some thanks to my father over this delicious food he provided before I go chowing down on it. But you know, I know that living in the world and just thinking like that, sometimes I catch myself in those positions. I'm like, I wonder if people are thinking this. And I I know they're thinking that because I was those people that was like, look at those people over there. What are they doing? Oh, I wonder if they're praying. But you know, it's prayer is just this personal, it really is this personal connection that you really do get to dial in with God. And in James 4.8, James tells us and reminds us that when we draw close to God, he does draw near to us. And so when you get that personal time with God during your prayers, that's just like you and the father. That's just you and God, just you guys just like having that intimate, detailed conversation, whether it's in the morning or in the evening or in your head. It's just it's a good place to be. And you know, another good thing about praying and constantly kind of being in prayer is when we are um meditating on God's word, and so we're you know, we're kind of aligning ourselves with that already because you started your day with scripture or maybe worship, whatever. You just you start your day good, everything's going good, your eyes are on the Father. That also kind of deters Satan because remember, he's looking for people, he's roaring like a lion for anyone he can devour. And so if we're in prayer, like in your mind, or just even thinking about God on your mind, you just it it's harder for Satan to get anything from you because the the behavior he's going to observe or pick up on is obviously going to be something that aligns with God. Because when you're in in prayer or in thoughts of God in those moments, you're not gonna reflect um ungodly behavior because you're in that moment, you're with God. So that's another wonderful benefit that you know, keep God in your mind, or you know, just constant communication, just just talk to him, like, you know, just there's there's so many great benefits to it, you know. One of the biggest ones, like I just said, Satan, even though only God knows our thoughts, and Satan cannot read our thoughts, he still watches for behavior. Satan will pick up on like you may not be like, oh, I'm so scared, I'm terrified. You can just cower down somehow, your voice can change, your body language can change. Satan can see that, and he's gonna sneak on in there and he's gonna run with whatever it is that you have in your mind, and he's gonna twist it and he's gonna lie to you. Remember, God doesn't do those things. That comes from Satan. We don't want to give him any other leverage. So, you know, when you're in prayer, you're in prayer, you're with God, which means Satan's not observing anything that's not godly because you're in you're in line with God. So, you know, another wonderful benefit, like I said, is being in the word, having God on the mind, praying. It just another way to keep Satan, you know, just a little further from you. Just keep that guy just as far away as possible. The further away that thing is, the better. But uh one of the things that I didn't uh do until I got to where I'm at now was uh pray privately and like for girls, for women. I didn't write any of that down. I don't know why I didn't. Um we're supposed to like wear a covering over ourselves, over our heads when we go to prayer. And um I'm gonna kind of tell a quick story. So uh my mom had uh been put in hospice, and one of her really decent, close, close, close friends that she uh had brought her this prayer shawl. I didn't know what this was back in 2016, so I didn't know what this was. And I just thought it was really cool that you know this friend of hers brought this, and so um, when she passed, she did have it with her. Well, almost 10 years later, I found out that the prayer shaw that she was gifted was used to it was actually used to cover you as a woman to go into prayer with with God. And um I have tried going, I don't know, I have some friends that are that have been in the Christian faith for their almost their entire upbringing who have never prayed with a prayer shaw or like any head covering. And so I have, and I was a little bit taken back that they haven't because it just seems like for me, like, hey, that's a kind of cool practice to cover yourself, be just so much more intimate with God and just create that that time with him. And I didn't I when I do pray with a prayer shot over me, I want to say I think I feel the difference of it. I definitely feel more connected and I do feel more uh like it's supposed to be that way. I I don't know. That'd be interesting to see your guys' opinions on it. If you guys are uh those of you that do listen that are Christians and you happen to be a female listening, which I'm pretty sure my audience would probably gravitate towards that, but um, if you are a female and you have been a Christian for almost all your life for quite some time, and you have never ever ever tried to a go in your closet by yourself or even a room, just somewhere that's designated just for you to pray, or just, you know, hey, like just withdraw. Just go by yourself, just go wherever you can, just be completely alone with God. Jesus did this often. He would take off, he'd go alone, he'd withdraw himself. Luke 5, 16 tells us he withdrew himself to be alone, to go, to go be with the Father, to go be just to be one, just to hear God, to he took out just all that background noise that just the noise of everybody just living around him. And he'd go in away and just be him and God. In Mark 1, um, 35. He Mark tells us that Jesus often would get up early and go to a deserted place to be quiet and pray with God. So Jesus did this because this allowed his own relationship. This allowed his personal time with his father. And this just just, in my opinion, I think it just amplifies things. If you can disconnect yourself, we're human beings. First and foremost, we are people, we are humans, and we have human things that worldly desires that can manipulate our minds. You know, do you really need to be in a quiet room to pray? I mean, God can hear your thoughts, so why do you have to go quietly and also spend time with Him? Like, so time you just again, your relationship with God is a relationship. You need that quiet time with your spouse, right? You need that time with that friendship to grow it. You need to put time and effort into it. That that's like your same thing with prayer. For me, it's like if I was to explain it to someone who struggled with praying, I would just tell them that this is just your way to just be alone with God, just you and God. You're like on a date, you're by yourselves. Like, ask him whatever you want. Even though God knows everything about you, you can still tell him things about you. I mean, like, why not? Just talk to him. He just wants to be with you, draw to him. He will draw to you. He will. You will feel it. I promise you. I promise you. And uh, I believe in Matthew 6 6, he tells us also to pray to our father who sees us in secret. So he wants us, you know, that private connection is seems to be pretty important. It's and some it's mentioned quite a few times throughout, you know, it sounds like in Mark, Matthew, Luke, I think there's Psalms about it. Um, I don't know if I wrote that down, but um, you know, even God knows in Romans 8, 27, God, God tells us, or the Bible tells us that God knows our unspoken prayers too. He remember, God knows our hearts and he knows our minds. Nobody else does. I mean, you can assume somebody's heart or their mind if they're mad or whatever with you or happy with you based on their actions, but just because they're acting a certain way doesn't necessarily mean that's how they feel. People can hide and mask things from other people, but you're not gonna hide or mask that from God. So, you know, there are times where you can't really go into prayer out loud. That happens, you know, think on it. Pray in your head, pray in your mind. It's just you know the more you I think the I think the greatest benefit for me for prayer is that um I just get that extra time with God. And I do find myself, even though I know he knows already, like how my day went, I still kind of find myself like, hey God, like I know you know how this already went. But it also tells us not to blubber like like blubber blabber like I think it says don't blabber like the Gentiles. And I think that's because um I just read this too when I was doing a little bit of like research for this, just to add some stuff to this. But I think that's referring to you know, long prayers. I think there was a period of time where people thought Thought like God only listened to like these long drawn out word word, you know, long prayers. And you know, that's not necessarily true. God hears our long prayers, he just doesn't want us to babble and just to continue on with unnecessary things. But he does want us to talk to him, God wants us to include him in your day-to-day. God wants you to want to want him. And I think once that all clicked in for me, praying just became so much more fun. Like I I genuinely enjoy praying for people. And I know this might sound a little bit funny, but the coolest thing about praying is especially if someone asks you for a prayer, it doesn't cost you anything but like a few seconds of your time to pray for that person. Like it didn't cost you anything, it cost you a few seconds, you got to communicate with a fellow um image bearer of God, you got to pray for somebody, you got to show somebody something Jesus would do. Jesus would do exactly that. Jesus would stop and pray for someone. I don't know why I haven't. I don't know if I haven't had the desire or if like I haven't felt God say do this, but I would like to at some point be at a restaurant and like the hostess, you know, they drop off your check or whatever when you go to pay. I would like to ask if there's anything that that I could pray for them for, but I don't know if it's fear. I don't know if I haven't gotten the yeah, it's like this person needs a prayer, ask them. So I don't know. I've heard people who do that and they have shared their experiences and they've all been pretty positive. So I don't know why. I'm just like, I just I don't think it's been, I don't think I've been in a situation where holy the Holy Spirit has said, hey, ask them if you can pray for them. Or what can I pray for you? Can I stop and pray with you? Or because you don't know what someone else is going through, maybe they need that. And so I haven't been in that situation, but I have had I have had, I have heard some pretty interesting, but in a good way, stories or um, yeah, personal stories about about when they would do that, and I think that's just so cool because every one of these stories that I've heard people talk about where they're like, yeah, I was wherever, wherever, and I just got the urge to ask them if they needed prayer, and they were like, Oh my gosh, how did you know? And it's like this like crazy story, like, oh, our house just burnt down and we lost everything, and they're just so positive, and you're like, whoa. So I've I have I think those stories are really neat. I have, like I said, I have yet to be in the situation where God or the Holy Spirit's like, hey Jane, you should ask them if you can pray with them. So I think that'd be pretty neat. But right now I'm kind of uh um I don't know what the word would be, maybe hesitant. I don't know if it's I don't know, maybe nervous. Because like if you're like, hey, you know, is there something I can pray for you? And they're not a believer and they're and they're like just really angry with stuff like that, like what if they're like, give you some negative response back? But I guess that's not really I guess that would be Satan trying to put something in there because someone out there really needs help. And if you're out there asking people for prayers and can't have that, you know, can't Satan can't can't give anybody a foothold to go get some help there, huh? He's just gotta make us stay in this horrible place of you know, they're gonna just get mad at you if you ask them if you want to pray for them, Jane. Maybe that's what it is. I'm gonna give that to God. But in the meantime, I hope that if you did have questions about praying, um, if you if you don't pray, try it. Sit down. Even you don't even have to talk out loud. Just think in your head, calmly, just think about God, think about questions, just be quiet, be still with God. And I guarantee you, the more you spend time with God, the more you're gonna want to pray. Because when I'm in prayer with God, I'm telling you right now, that personal connection, just that it's just so cool to feel that. So why wouldn't you want that? Why wouldn't you want to be in prayer all the time? I know we have jobs and like things that we have to do, but you can still be thinking in the back of your mind and praying for people in the back of your mind. Not to be judgy, I'm just I'm probably talking to myself too. But um, anyways, uh, you know, even in Matt, I Matthew 6, 9 through 13, uh, Jesus tells us exactly how to pray. And um, so that's pretty cool if you want to, you know, use that as a guide and structure your prayers off that. But I think that anytime you go to God in a prayer, and you even if you use the prayer Jesus gives as an example on how to pray, or you come up with your own, God's just happy you're there with fellowship with him. He likes that you're talking to him, he likes that you're submitting to him, he likes that you're obeying him, he likes that you're talking scripture with him. And you know, it's a great, great time to be with God during prayer. It's fun, it's exciting, it's just building a whole nother level of your relationship that you didn't know would exist or could exist. And you know, if you haven't, ladies, if you haven't prayed with that a covering, I highly recommend it. Um if you do try it and you have never done it before, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me, uh, you can email me jccrim81 at gmail.com. You can message me on a rebel no more on Facebook, or you can uh if you're on TikTok, you can find me on TikTok, Jane F A Z17. If you want to pray, one in a quiet, I'm talking to people who either are new to Christian life or have been a Christian for some time and you have never prayed these ways. I would love for you to one create a prayer place. It's this could be your closet, this could be in your room, just somewhere quiet that you can just go to and just sit quietly with God. Ladies, do your covering and just be one with the Lord. I would love to hear your experience. I would absolutely love to hear about it. If you try it and you do notice any anything, any any difference, I would love to hear from you. Please reach out. That would be so awesome. And um, if you are new to this, uh, you know, just take your time, enjoy it. You're building a relationship with God. Every day is a new is a new day, a different adventure with God. And it's a fantastic adventure. And I'm just excited that you know that you're here. And if you did have questions on praying, I hope that some of this helped you or guided you, whatever it is that you needed to hear about prayer. Just know this is a personal communication that you have with God during prayer. And he loves to hear from us. When we draw to him, remember you guys, he draws near to us. Thank you everybody for listening. I hope you guys have a wonderful day and God bless you.