If you’ve ever wanted an example of how to pray effectively, here is a great one:
In Genesis 32, Jacob is returning home after twenty years in a foreign country. He had fled because his parents wanted him to find a wife from among their people and because his brother, Esau wanted to kill him. As he neared home he learned that Esau is coming to meet him with a force of four hundred men. Jacob is, of course very apprehensive and calls out to God in prayer.
It’s instructive to notice throughout how candid Jacob was as he spoke to God:
And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ (Genesis 32:9–12
Here are the key ingredients of Jacob’s prayer:
- Acknowledges God for his faithfulness
- Acknowledges the assignment he had given him.
- Thanked God for his undeserved blessings to you.
- Made his request specifically and reverently
- Acknowledged his fears (he was honest with God)
Try it; you’ll like it.