There are many kinds of prayers. Petitions, of course, in which you ask God to do something. Intercessions (asking God to do something for or through someone else). Confession. Thanks. Praise.<\/p>\n
But did you know you can also pray your questions? Many of the prayers in the Bible\u2014though they are often overlooked as prayers\u2014are questions, from Cain\u2019s \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d (Genesis 4:9) to the martyrs\u2019 \u201cHow long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?\u201d (Revelation 6:10). Praying your questions is clearly a practice with biblical precedent.<\/p>\n
So what are some good questions to pray? Here are seven to get you started:<\/p>\n
1) \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/strong> 2) \u201cWhy do I do that?\u201d<\/strong> 3) \u201cMy God, my God, why have you NOT forsaken me?\u201d<\/strong> 4) \u201cWhat do you want me to pray?\u201d<\/strong> 5) \u201cWhat are you trying to tell me or teach me?\u201d<\/strong> 6) \u201cWhere are you at work?\u201d<\/strong> 7) \u201cWhat are we going to do together today?\u201d<\/strong> These are far from the only questions I pray, and they\u2019re not the only questions you will want to pray. In fact, you probably have others that come quickly to mind. But the above are some of the more frequent among my \u201cquestion prayers,\u201d and I hope they\u2019ll get you started or add to your prayer repertoire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are many kinds of prayers. Petitions, of course, in which you ask God to do something. Intercessions (asking God to do something for or through someone else). Confession. Thanks. Praise. But did you know you can also pray your questions? Many of the prayers in the Bible\u2014though they are often overlooked as prayers\u2014are questions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":30704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[14,72],"ppma_author":[465],"class_list":["post-24129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-pray","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-stories-of-faith"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nProbably the most common question people pray is \u201cWhy?\u201d Especially, \u201cWhy me?\u201d I\u2019ve prayed those myself, many times. But I\u2019ve never received much of an answer to either one. I\u2019ve gotten much better results with the question, \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSometimes I think God is just waiting for me to ask this question, like a loving parent hoping for a child to see the need for change and improvement in an unprofitable, even destructive, habit.<\/p>\n
\nBoth David and Jesus, of course, prayed one of the most famous \u201cquestion prayers\u201d: \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46). Nothing wrong with that. But I more often pray, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you NOT forsaken me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIt has taken me a long time, but I have learned to pray this question often, usually before I pray anything else. It places me in a listening posture, and I am often surprised at the ways it is answered.<\/p>\n
\nThis prayer, too, helps me to listen to God\u2019s voice, which is a huge need I have. I tend to talk way too much. I don\u2019t always ask this question when I am frustrated or stymied; sometimes I remember to ask it as a way of \u201cchecking in\u201d and reflecting both on recent events and future directions.<\/p>\n
\nI tend to try hard to get God enlisted in my agenda and endorsing my actions. These days, while I\u2019m not yet good at it, I am getting better at asking God to show me areas and people in which He seems to be acting and moving, so I can pray for and support those efforts.<\/p>\n
\nI love this prayer. It reminds me not to launch into each day\u2019s challenges and opportunities under my own power, but to place my hand in God\u2019s hand and walk with him.<\/p>\n