How to pray? Part 2

In the first part on this theme of prayer, I talked to you about our position in Christ and also—and above all—about God’s position, the One who is, from all eternity, who never changes and, most importantly, the One who loves you and wants the very best for you. If you haven’t read it yet, click here. It’s important, before you go any further, that you fully grasp who God is in order to experience victories in prayer.

When you decide to pray, there are no silly or uninteresting topics for God. Everything that concerns us matters to Him. Maturity comes gradually as we grow physically, with age of course, but also through our spiritual walk.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon the journals I had written when I was in sixth and seventh grade. I’ll admit I was embarrassed reading them again because they felt so childish. I had a hard time believing I had written all that, but it was directly tied to my life and circumstances as an eleven- or twelve‑year‑old girl. Then I reread my journals from high school, and later from university. I noticed how my writing had changed over the years, as well as the content of my prayers. I wrote my whole life to God—everything was addressed to Him.

As I told you, while rereading my first notebooks, I felt ashamed of my prayers. I just wanted to destroy them! But God isn’t like that. He doesn’t look at us with judgment when we come to Him. On the contrary, He listens to every single one of our prayers, and He understands the intention behind each one of them, depending on where we are in life.

If you’re twelve years old, you won’t pray like a twenty‑five‑year‑old. Your concerns won’t be the same either, and your way of expressing yourself will certainly be very different. And if you’re praying for the first time, you may have fewer words than someone who has been talking to God for a long time, no matter your age.

What truly matters is simply coming as you are, without pretending, to tell Him everything. Your sorrows, your fears, your frustrations, your joys, your needs, or your questions.

Prayer is also coming to seek help to fight against your difficulties and weaknesses because God understands you. He Himself was tempted and tested in every way, and He can help us. We must ask Him to rescue us, otherwise we risk withdrawing into ourselves or even falling.

I want to share these passages with you from the book of Hebrews in the Bible, which will help you dare to entrust to Him what may bring you shame or what you think is hopeless:

“Having been tempted Himself in what He suffered, He is able to help those who are tempted… Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus, the Son of God—let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses; on the contrary, He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

These verses naturally lead me to talk to you about the authority you have in prayer.

As a child of God, you don’t have to endure situations, temptations, or trials as if you were condemned to live under constant fatalism. You have authority, and you must learn to exercise it. Just as you grow in your way of praying, you must also grow in practicing authority, because Jesus accomplished everything and passed His authority on to us—over circumstances, over demonic powers, over what binds us in our lives or in our behaviors.

We have authority, and we must exercise it to claim outcomes different from what we would otherwise experience.

Sometimes there are battles in our lives that take time. This may be because other people are involved, and God must work in every dimension of your life and theirs for things to be made perfect. It’s important to ask God how He wants you to pray in certain situations. Telling God what’s wrong isn’t enough. And He already knows. But claiming what He promises—that’s your role in prayer, not in opposition to Him but in full agreement with His promises.

So, what do you do when you’re stuck in a situation you can’t get out of, and how do you pray?

Maybe you feel trapped in a problem that’s too big for you. Maybe the circumstances of your life have taken a bad turn. Or maybe you’re caught in the spiral of addiction—with the desire to be free, the torment of what pulls you in, and the shame every time you fall again.

Whatever situation you’re in, you can pray with the authority Jesus has given you and fight in prayer until you see victory. Don’t give up before that!

I’m not writing pretty words or nice promises just to make an article—no. What I’m writing to you, I’ve lived. And I can tell you that when you pray, when you don’t give up in prayer, and when you claim freedom or a change in circumstances, God moves. Sometimes it’s instant. Sometimes it requires perseverance. But I promise you will see victory, because God does everything necessary to rescue you.

The grace God gives us isn’t just forgiveness every time we fall. God’s grace is the power to be truly helped, freed, comforted, and to live in freedom.

I’ll end simply with this beautiful prophetic text found in Isaiah chapter sixty‑one, written centuries before Jesus came. You’ll find the same passage in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus declares that He fulfilled it:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release to the prisoners.”

Yes, God sets people free, He heals broken hearts, and He can remove even the memory of suffering from tragic circumstances… He still does it today.

Don’t stay alone if you feel overwhelmed. You can write to me, even privately, as many already do. Everything is confidential.