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Have you ever wished you knew how to pray?

Maybe you’ve been a Christian for years, but prayer still feels awkward.

You know you’re supposed to pray. You know prayer is important. You may even have a list of people and things you’re praying for.

But sometimes you sit down to pray, and suddenly your mind goes blank.

What am I supposed to say?

Am I praying the right way?

Why does prayer feel so difficult?.

I’ve been walking with Jesus for more than 40 years, and I understand that struggle because I struggled with prayer for many years myself.

I desperately wanted to pray effectively, but I didn’t really know how.

There were times when I became frustrated and avoided prayer, followed by times of deep conviction when I tried again—only to wonder if I was actually doing it right.

Then something changed the way I looked at prayer.

I realized that when Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, Jesus actually taught them how to pray.

And that changed everything for me.

Jesus Didn’t Just Give Us a Prayer—He Gave Us a Pattern

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He gave them what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer.

But I think it’s easy for us to miss something incredibly important.

Jesus wasn’t simply giving His disciples a collection of words they were supposed to repeat.

He was showing them what their prayer life could look like.

He began with:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Then He moved toward God’s kingdom and God’s will.

Then He taught them to bring their daily needs to their Father.

He addressed forgiveness.

He taught them to pray for protection from temptation and evil.

And He brought them back to worship and the greatness of God.

When you slow down and look at the prayer this way, you begin to see something beautiful.

Jesus gave us a pattern for prayer.

And that means you don’t have to sit down every morning and wonder what you’re supposed to say.

You can learn to pray by following the pattern Jesus gave us.

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So, How Do We Pray Like Jesus?

I want to give you a simple overview of what this can look like.

1. Begin With Worship

Jesus begins by directing our attention toward the Father and His holiness.

Before we start handing God our list of needs, we can stop and remember who He is.

Who is God in your life today?

Maybe you need to remember that He is your Provider.

Your Shepherd.

Your Healer.

Your Protector.

Your Father.

One of the practices I use in prayer is to intentionally think about the names and attributes of God that speak to my present circumstances.

Sometimes worship changes the atmosphere of our prayer because it changes where we are looking.

Instead of beginning with everything that’s wrong, we begin by looking at the One who is greater than everything we’re facing.

In my Praying Like Jesus study, the first day is devoted entirely to this idea of worship and intentionally focusing our hearts on God.

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2. Pray for God’s Kingdom and His Will

Jesus then teaches us to pray:

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

This is where prayer moves beyond simply asking God to make our lives easier.

We’re asking Him to accomplish His purposes.

That changes the way we pray.

Instead of:

“God, please make everything happen the way I want.”

we begin asking:

“Lord, what do You want to accomplish here?”

This doesn’t mean our personal needs don’t matter.

They do.

But prayer teaches us to place our lives, our families, our churches, our ministries, and our circumstances under God’s authority.

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3. Bring Your Needs to God

Then Jesus teaches us to ask for our daily bread.

I love this because it reminds us that bringing our needs to God isn’t selfish.

God cares about the practical things happening in our lives.

Our finances.

Our families.

Our work.

Our health.

Our responsibilities.

The decisions we have to make.

The things we don’t know how to handle.

We don’t have to pretend that we’re self-sufficient when we come before God.

We can simply say:

“Father, I need You.”

The third day of Praying Like Jesus focuses on bringing our prayer needs before God and intentionally asking Him to meet us in the places where we need Him.

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4. Deal Honestly With Forgiveness

Jesus also teaches us to pray about forgiveness.

And this is where prayer can become uncomfortable.

Because sometimes the things we need to bring to God aren’t just our circumstances.

They’re our hearts.

Someone has hurt us.

We’re angry.

We’re bitter.

We haven’t forgiven someone.

Or perhaps we’ve sinned and need to acknowledge it before God.

Jesus doesn’t tell us to avoid these things.

He brings them right into the conversation.

The fourth day of the study focuses on forgiveness, including taking time to identify people who have offended us and areas where we have offended God.

Prayer becomes a place where we can be honest before God.

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5. Pray for Protection

Jesus teaches His disciples to pray about temptation and deliverance from evil.

That’s important because we aren’t simply living in a physical world.

We have a spiritual enemy who wants to discourage, tempt, deceive, and destroy.

We need God’s help.

We need His strength.

We need His protection.

And we need to develop the habit of bringing those things before Him.

The fifth day of Praying Like Jesus focuses specifically on protection and praying about temptation and the evil one.

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6. End With Worship and Surrender

There’s something beautiful about where Jesus brings us at the end.

We started by focusing on God.

And we end by focusing on God.

His kingdom.

His power.

His glory.

Forever.

Prayer isn’t ultimately about getting God to do everything we want.

It’s about knowing Him.

Trusting Him.

Surrendering ourselves to Him.

And remembering that He is God.

The sixth day of the study returns to worship and encourages us to end this time of prayer by exalting God rather than making the prayer entirely about ourselves.

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7. Keep a Record of God’s Faithfulness

There’s one more practice I want to encourage you to develop:

Write down your answers to prayer.

This has become incredibly important in my own prayer life.

There have been seasons when I’ve felt discouraged or wondered what God was doing.

But when I go back through my prayer journal and read the things I’ve written down, I’m reminded:

God answered that prayer.

He provided.

He opened that door.

He protected us.

He changed that situation.

He came through.

The seventh day of Praying Like Jesus is devoted to recording answers to prayer, with space to write down what God has done and when He answered.

And those answered prayers become reminders of God’s faithfulness for the next difficult season.

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Prayer Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

One of the biggest things I hope women take away from this study is that prayer doesn’t have to be intimidating.

You don’t need impressive words.

You don’t need to pray for an hour.

You don’t need to know everything there is to know about prayer before you begin.

You simply need to come to your Father.

The goal isn’t to perform prayer correctly.

The goal is to know God more deeply through prayer.

And prayer is something we learn.

I’ve been walking with Jesus for more than 40 years, and I’m still learning.

That’s why I created Praying Like Jesus.

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Want to Learn to Pray Like Jesus?

If you’re ready to move beyond simply knowing that you should pray and begin developing a more intentional prayer life, I’ve created a 7-day Bible study and prayer journal to walk you through the Lord’s Prayer.

Praying Like Jesus

A 7-Day Journey Through the Lord’s Prayer

Over seven days, we’ll slow down and work through Jesus’ pattern for prayer.

You’ll receive:

• A complete 7-day printable Bible study
• Seven video lessons
• Guided prayer exercises
• Scripture study
• Reflection questions
• Prayer journal pages
• Space to record your prayer needs
• Space to record answered prayers

The goal isn’t simply to finish seven days of Bible study.

It’s to develop a prayer life you can continue long after the seven days are over.

Begin the Praying Like Jesus 7-Day Journey →

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You Don’t Have to Know How to Pray Before You Begin

Maybe you’ve been struggling with prayer for years.

Maybe you’re a new Christian and prayer still feels completely unfamiliar.

Or maybe you’ve been praying for decades but know there’s a deeper place God is calling you into.

Wherever you are, start there.

Jesus’ disciples once said:

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

That’s a prayer I think all of us can pray.

Lord, teach me to pray.

And then let’s sit down with Jesus and learn.