To pray, you talk to God honestly in your own words, and a simple pattern to follow is praise Him, thank Him, admit where you have fallen short, and bring Him what you need. You can start with five minutes. Friend, prayer is not a performance you have to get right. It is a conversation with a Father who already loves you and is leaning in to listen. There are no magic words. There is no special voice. Here is how Jesus taught it, a beginner structure you can use today, how to pray the Bible back to God, and what to do on the days you do not feel it. If you want a short guided way to build the habit, our free 5-day journey, Feel Close to God Again, takes about ten minutes a day.
How do you pray?
You pray by speaking to God directly and honestly, out loud or in your mind, the same way you would talk to someone you trust. Prayer at its simplest is four movements: telling God who He is, thanking Him for what He has done, being honest about your sin, and asking Him for what you and others need.
You do not need to sound holy, and you do not need to have it all figured out first. “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). Truth is the only requirement. Start where you actually are, with the words you actually have.
How did Jesus teach us to pray?
Jesus taught prayer by giving His followers a pattern we now call the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). His disciples had watched Him pray and finally asked, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), and this is what He gave them. He did not mean for it to be the only words you ever say. He meant it as a frame you can pray your whole life through. Notice how short it is. The prayer culture around Him rewarded long, public, impressive prayers, and Jesus handed His friends something a child could learn in a minute.
Walk its lines and you have a full prayer:
- “Our Father in heaven.” Start by remembering who you are talking to. Not a distant force. A Father.
- “Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done.” Put God’s honor and plans ahead of your list.
- “Give us today our daily bread.” Ask for what you need, today’s portion, plainly.
- “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Confess, and let go of what someone owes you.
- “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Ask for protection and help to stand.
Pray it slowly, one line at a time, adding your own words to each, and you will never run out of things to say.
Is there a right and wrong way to pray?
There is no required posture, location, or set of words for prayer, but Jesus did give a few cautions about the heart behind it. Right before He taught the Lord’s Prayer, He said not to pray for an audience and not to pile up empty phrases as if length earns an answer (Matthew 6:5-8).
So the “wrong way” is not kneeling versus standing or eyes open versus closed. It is praying to be seen, or treating prayer like a spell where the exact wording matters more than the God you are speaking to. Sincere and simple beats polished and performed every time. God already knows what you need before you ask (Matthew 6:8). You are not informing Him. You are coming to Him.
A simple prayer structure for beginners
A helpful beginner structure is the word ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication, which just means requests. Spend a sentence or two on each.
- Adoration. Tell God something true about who He is. “You are faithful. You are good. You are in control.”
- Confession. Name where you have missed it. “I was impatient today. I worried instead of trusting You.”
- Thanksgiving. Thank Him for specific things. “Thank You for my family, for this roof, for another morning.”
- Supplication. Bring your requests and other people’s. “Be with my friend in the hospital. Give me wisdom for this decision.”
Here is what that sounds like as one flowing five-minute prayer: “Father, You are steady when everything else feels shaky, and You are good even when I cannot see it. I am sorry for the way I snapped at my family today and for worrying instead of trusting You with the bills. Thank You for getting us through this week, for my health, and for people who love me. Please be with my friend who is sick, give me wisdom for the decision on Monday, and help me trust You with how it turns out. In Jesus’ name, amen.” That is the whole thing. You can do it in the car.
| Pattern | The steps | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| ACTS | Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication | A balanced daily prayer |
| The Lord’s Prayer | Father, His name and will, daily bread, forgiveness, protection | Praying line by line with your own words |
| PRAY | Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield | A short version you can remember anywhere |
How do you pray the Bible back to God?
To pray the Bible back to God, you take a verse and turn its words into your own prayer. It gives you language when your own runs out, and it keeps your prayers anchored to what is true.
Take Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Prayed back, it becomes: “Lord, You are my shepherd. Help me believe today that with You, I have everything I actually need. Where I feel like I am lacking, lead me.” The SOAP Bible study method ends every session this way, which makes it a simple habit to build.
What if you do not feel like praying or do not know what to say?
When you do not feel like praying or cannot find words, the Bible says to pray anyway, and that the Holy Spirit fills in the gaps. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).
- Say the honest thing. “God, I do not feel like praying” is a real prayer. Start there.
- Borrow words. Pray a psalm out loud, or the Lord’s Prayer slowly. Written prayers are training wheels, not cheating.
- Keep it short. A ten-second prayer offered every hour adds up to a life of prayer.
- Show up before you feel it. The feeling usually follows the practice, not the other way around.
How often and where should you pray?
The Bible says to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), which means keeping a running conversation with God through the day rather than saving it all for one moment. Most people pair that with a set daily time.
Pick a time, morning if you can, before the noise gets loud, and guard ten to fifteen minutes. If you keep forgetting, tie the habit to something you already do every day. Pray while the coffee brews. Pray in the shower. Pray the moment your feet hit the floor. Then pray short “arrow” prayers as the day goes: in traffic, before a hard conversation, when you hear bad news. Location does not matter. Jesus Himself often “went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35), so a quiet spot helps, but your car or your kitchen counts. Building this habit is also one of the surest ways to draw closer to God.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 7 steps of prayer?
A common list of seven steps in prayer is: come to God with reverence, praise Him, thank Him, confess your sin, pray for others, bring your own requests, and close by trusting Him with the outcome. It is an expanded version of the ACTS pattern. There is no official set of seven, so treat it as a helpful guide rather than a rule.
What is the correct way to pray?
The correct way to pray, according to Jesus in Matthew 6, is sincerely and privately rather than for show, and without piling up empty phrases. Beyond that, there is no required posture, place, or wording. Talk to God honestly, keep Him and His will in view, and bring Him your needs and other people’s.
How did Jesus say to pray?
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer as a model: address God as Father, honor His name, seek His kingdom and will, ask for daily provision, seek and extend forgiveness, and ask for protection from temptation. He also told His followers to pray in private and not to babble on thinking many words force an answer.
What do you say when you pray?
Say true things to God in plain language: who He is, what you are thankful for, where you have fallen short, and what you and others need. If you are stuck, pray a psalm or the Lord’s Prayer slowly and add your own words to each line. A short, honest prayer counts as much as a long one.
Feel close to God again in 5 days
Ten minutes a day. A short passage, a simple prayer, one small step. No pressure and no guilt, just a gentle way back to His presence. I believe that if you give Him those few minutes, you are going to be amazed at what He does with them.