In a dream, a man was at a small airport. The scene was like that of a black and white photograph. The airport was a contemporary, two story structure. The man was inside. There were no people. Just the man.
A plane arrived and the passengers appeared. The man saw them as they descended from the upper level. The passengers were a father carrying a child. With them was the child’s mother.
The father asked the man, “Are you the one we are looking for?”
The father suddenly had a small bible in his hand and he was reading a scripture. The man began to recite the same verse. “Trust in the Lord your God.”
There was a need to pray for the child, a son. The man said to the father that faith needed to be more than a ‘four leaf clover’. But faith could be as small as a mustard seed. It would grow in time, to be great.
The dream seems to be making the point of asking in faith, without any doubt, believing God will do it. (James 1)
There was one question by the one who had the dream. “Am I the man or the father?” The answer was, “Yes. You are both.”
There are times when we must pray. To talk with God. To plead our case. Even when we do not know how.
Simply put, prayer is talking to God. Telling Him what is on our heart. Usually prayer is for relief. Something urgent that has us in distress. Sickness, injury to the body or mind. Troubled about events. Loss of someone close. Pending actions that will leave us in want. Needing shelter, food, or a job. Almost anything. And also for the needs of someone else.
But God already knows what we need. He knows everything. He knows our heart, and what’s on our mind. So prayer is having the faith and the confidence to talk to God about what has us concerned, or worried, or something we fear. Or anything else. Asking for Him to help.
The question often becomes then, “How do I pray? What do I say? What does God want me to do?”
There are countless books on the subject. Pastors have been preaching on prayer forever. Still many of us have the question. How?
Pray God’s word. Find a scripture that addresses the need you have and read. Read it out loud if you can. Even if in only a whisper.
There is something about speaking God’s word. It makes a difference. It’s not that God does not hear our silent prayers. God knows our thoughts. But when the prayer is spoken, we hear it. And that’s a good thing.
In the dream above, we don’t know what the need is.
We do however, suspect there is something lacking when it comes to faith, yet somehow, God has directed the father to pray a scripture he is reading.
“Trust the Lord your God.” The man agreed with the father’s prayer. He recited the verse with the father. Two or more praying together is sound doctrine. “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” Mathew 18:20.
There were actually three. The father, the mother, and the man. Reading God’s word is being together in His name. So they agreed in prayer.
In this example we have people praying together, but that does not mean you can’t pray alone. You are after all, not alone. God is with you. He’s listening.
We do not know anymore about the dream. It may have ended, or there could be more that we have not been told.
If we speculate a little, we can imagine the prayer might continue from what the father was reading. It could go something like this. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
“Lord, we trust in you with all our heart. We don’t know what is happening, only that we need you. Your understanding is complete and ours is not.
“We submit to you Oh Lord, in all our ways, we seek your path and ask that you make this right. You are God and all things are possible. Oh God, help this boy. Touch him Lord, that he will be made perfect in every way.”
It’s simple. It does not need to be long and flowery. It only needs to be done in faith, believing that God hears you.
One more thing.
If you need a scripture to pray that will meet your need, just Google the need.
If you’re reading this, you have a computer or phone. An example of finding a need could be to Google, ‘scripture on being a better person.’
I just did it and found 70 million links pertaining to ‘scripture on how to be a better person.’
I clicked on the first one, and then clicked on the first scripture.
Isaiah 1:17 “…learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
A prayer might go like this:
“Oh Lord, help me to do better. I feel that I am missing Your mark in being the best person I can be. Help me to learn to do good, to seek justice for others, to correct oppression where I see it, to bring justice to the fatherless, to children in suffering and to their mothers who are alone. Thank you Lord that you place this burden on my heart and that I can grow in it, serving You, and being obedient to Your ways.”
If you do this, you will find that you will be adding other scriptures to your prayer, and you will grow in your life of prayer.