How Can I Pray To God For Help?

In Matthew 6:5-13, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. As He taught them, He used the phrase “and when you pray.” Note that Jesus didn’t say, “If you pray.” It was “when.” This shows that it is presumed that a Christian lives a life of dependence on God daily and prays to Him. That means whenever we find ourselves helpless, we run to God in prayer.

Heavenly Father, whenever I need help, may my first response be to run to You, Who is my rock, refuge, and strong tower in times of adversity. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Crying our hearts out

If we are going through difficulties in life, finding ourselves in distress and emotional turmoil, and don’t know what to do, we are to run to God for help. We do so by coming to Him in prayer. We come before His throne of grace in Christ and ask for the grace and mercy that we need (Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.). It is the same response we have also seen with King Jehoshaphat when he faced a coalition army. He didn’t know what to do. He was helpless. Yet, he fixed his eyes on God. He asked for help and turned to God (2 Chronicles 20:12).

 

As we come to God in prayer, we don’t have to put on an act before God as if we have it all together and that we need only a bit of help to get through the day. We can be honest with God and pour our hearts out to Him. In fact, the book of Psalms is filled with such prayers. We see psalmists such as King David crying his heart out to God. For example, in Psalm 142:1-2, we see David crying out to God, asking for His mercy and bringing his concerns before Him.

We too can do the same with God. We can be honest with Him about the struggles, pains, difficulties, and adversities that we need protection against. As we come to God in prayer to ask Him for help, we can rest assured that, in Christ, God hears our prayers of petition. 

We can be assured that no matter the circumstances, everything works together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.). No matter how helpless we may feel as we start to face the day, remember that His mercies are new every morning and that God is faithful (Lamentations 3:23 They are new every morning;     great is your faithfulness.). Wherever you may find yourself, His goodness and mercies indeed follow you even there (Psalm 23:6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.).

 

 

A God Who understands

At times, our situation may be so complex that we have a hard time communicating what we are going through. We sometimes find ourselves in this kind of predicament when we try to make our friends understand what we are going through. It’s not necessarily their fault, since they try their best to understand us. However, it is not so with God. God perfectly understands you when you cry out to Him for help.

In Psalm 139:1-7, it is written that even from afar, God has already discerned our thoughts. Even before a word is on our tongue, He already knows it. God knows everything about us. He knows us more than we know ourselves. So, God is the only One Who perfectly understands us. Since He is all-knowing, it’s not like we have to make God understand as we pray to Him. He already does. That is one of the comforts we can take as we pray and ask Him for help.

How do I ask God for help?

You ask this by simply praying with a humble heart before God and asking Him for help with whatever difficulty you are going through. It does not have to be a long prayer, but as you pour out your heart to God, whether you have many words or few, you can freely pray to Him whatever you feel.

Father in heaven, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to get through these difficulties. I need Your help to get through this. Give me the grace and strength that I need to persevere. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

As we run to God and ask Him for help, not only is God our helper and deliverer, but He is also our comforter. God is the father of mercies Who comforts us in times of affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.).