What to Do When You Don't Know What to Pray (Easier Than You Think)

If you find yourself getting stuck in prayer or often wondering what to pray, this teaching is going to help you to find that flow in prayer, that rhythm to where prayer becomes like breathing, that natural for the believer. So we have to acknowledge that when we go to pray, there are many different things that can block that flow. Things like distractions. Maybe your mind is cluttered with all of the cares of this world. Maybe something happened at work that wasn't favorable, or you're feeling the pressure from school, or there's this strain in your marriage, or your children aren't serving the Lord. All of that clutter, all of that pressure, all of that tension can cause you to become resistant to the flow in prayer. Also consider things like doubt. You doubt that God hears you. You doubt that God has accepted you. You doubt that your past is forgiven. You doubt that you have access to the throne room of God when you pray. So distraction, doubt, these can prevent that flow in prayer. So how do you go from that to finding that flow where you're communing with the Lord? What do you pray when you don't know what to pray? What do you do when you can't quite find that rhythm of the Spirit in which you see and sense that flow, that river of the Spirit? Now the scripture says, Matthew 26:40-41, then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you men keep watch with me for 1 hour? He asked Peter. Watch and pray, Jesus says, watch this now, watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So what's that part of you that is resistant to prayer? That's the flesh. But you have a helper. Romans 8:26 tells us, and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. So you have a helper, the Holy Spirit. He's praying for you. He's giving you the words. He's already found the flow for you. You just have to learn to surrender. How do you yield? How do you surrender to that move of the Spirit? To where you can approach prayer with confidence, knowing that you're gonna go to higher heights and deeper depths, that you're gonna find that spring in the desert, because that's what it feels like sometimes in life, where everything else is dry, everything else is uncomfortable. And then you come to that place in prayer where it's like finding a spring of life. Well, you do that, number one, here's the first key, you wait. Stop striving. Stop tensing up emotionally and mentally. Stop trying to figure it all out. Stop trying to work the formula or the protocol or the method, and just learn to surrender. You do this by waiting. Psalm 80:18 says, so we'll not go back from thee. Quicken us and we will call upon thy name. Notice here that first in the Spirit, there's this quickening. And you'll notice that as you go to pray, maybe the first 5 minutes, there's a struggle, 10 minutes go by, there's a struggle, 15 minutes, there's still a little bit of that tension. But as you continue to wait, you're gonna notice there's this moment of surrender that comes, where you're clearing your mind of that distraction, you're clearing your mind of the doubt, you're clearing your mind of the fear, and you're just focusing on the Lord Jesus. You're just having faith that he hears you. You're grateful for his presence and something will click. And then suddenly prayer is like breathing. It's so natural. You're not trying to find a script. You're not trying to force yourself to do it. You don't feel that resistance from the flesh, because you will notice that when you pray, your flesh starts to squirm. Maybe your body even tenses up a little bit. You get really impatient. You're looking for anything that'll get you out of the moment. Not that you don't wanna pray, But that other part of you, the flesh, that's what's resisting. But when you wait, there's this quickening that comes. Quiet your soul. Stop tensing up, stop striving. Wait on the Lord. And as you wait on the Lord, there's that moment that arrives where now you are quickened. You see, prayer is like a river. And in the river, there are many streams. Sometimes the Lord wants you to worship. Sometimes the Lord wants you to intercede for your loved ones. Sometimes the Lord wants you to rebuke the enemy and participate in spiritual warfare. Sometimes you need to repent. Other times you just need to wait. And the Holy Spirit will help you to find that rhythm as you wait on Him. You see, we expect to step into the prayer room and just have God do what we want Him to do, but that's not the way it works. Watch what the scripture says. Isaiah 40:31, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Who is waiting on who? You feel weak, you feel weary, you feel like you don't know what to pray. You feel like you can't quite find that flow in the Spirit. Wait on the Lord. And as you wait on him, there's that quickening of the Spirit and supernatural strength comes to you. And in that moment, now you're not trying to force yourself to pray. You're not setting a goal and saying, if I could just pray for 60 minutes, then I know I've done my job. Time just ceases to even be a thing to where now you're so caught up in the presence of the Holy Spirit that there is just this beauty and this majesty and this glory about the moment that is undeniable. But that's not gonna come through tension. That's not going to come through works of the flesh. That's not going to come through doubt or frustration. That will come as you wait. Just yield, surrender, stop striving, stop trying to force something to happen. You know, I talk to many believers who get in their own way. They're so desperate for a very specific kind of encounter with God that they fail to enjoy what God is doing in that moment. In other words, they look at someone who maybe felt the presence of God like electricity, or they remember a moment where they felt the weight of the glory enter the room, or they recall a time at a revival meeting where they were worshiping and the presence of God was felt so richly that they began to weep. Those are wonderful moments. And I think that God still has many of those in store for you. But the problem comes when we try to dictate to God what kind of experience we're going to have in prayer. You know, when you go to pray, you go to read the Word, If you put all sorts of pressure on yourself to have a very specific experience, then that expectation, or I should say that self-imposed standard, that will become a distraction from what God is actually doing. So when we come before the Lord, instead of saying, Lord, I want you to do this and this and this, I want to encounter you in this way and that way, you just need to wait. Again, stop trying to create the moment. And just wait on the Lord. And as you wait on the Lord, we need to learn to come to prayer, quiet the soul, focus on the Lord Jesus, and wait patiently for the Lord to quicken us. Another thing that you can do when you come to that wall, I call it the wall because it feels like hitting a wall in prayer. You have this flow and then suddenly there's this stoppage. But another thing that you can do when you hit that wall in prayer is read the Word. In John 5:14, we read, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And by the way, these are not in particular, any particular order. I'm just giving them to you as principles, and you apply as you're led by the Spirit. So when you read the Word, you're seeing the promises of God. And when you see the promises of God, you're seeing what's available for you to pray. You can pray what he promised. So as you comb through the scriptures, you're seeing the word of God sometimes like a mirror too. And let's say you're going through the teachings of Jesus and he says something that just convicts you to your core. Like you're saying, okay, Jesus tells me this, but I act this way. Or the Bible tells me to have that attitude, but I have this attitude. Or, Here's a biblical mindset, and when I compare it to my mindset, it just doesn't seem to align. In that sense, the Word of God becomes like a mirror. And so you can begin to see all of the things that you need to correct about yourself, or that God needs to help you correct. And so as you read the Word, one of the things you begin to do is see all the things that you can pray about yourself. Lord, give me more patience. Lord, help me to be more kind. Lord, help me to not be so presumptuous when it comes to hearing your voice. Lord, give me the faith where I've had doubt. Lord, give me joy where I've experienced sorrow. Lord, I'm so filled with fear, help me to trust in you. So as you comb through the scriptures, as you comb through the teachings of Jesus, as you look at the epistles of Paul, you're receiving that truth from the word that becomes like a mirror to your heart. It becomes like a mirror to your soul, to your being, and now you can see your reflection. And you say, okay, Lord, this needs to be corrected. And then you begin to pray about what needs to be corrected. You begin to yield more specifically, more intentionally in the areas where you know you lack surrender. And then you begin to see the word of God's promises for your situation. You see what the word of God says in terms of how to pray for your loved ones. You see what the word of God says in how to approach him, in what to say to him. You read the Psalms and you see all of the different ways that the psalmist wrote unto God, and you're inspired by that, and it gives you a model for prayer. You can also pray the scriptures. As I said, you can pray for what God promised. And when you pray the scriptures, you're praying the will of God. And so when you don't know what to do in prayer, go to the word, and very quickly you will start to see, okay, this needs to be corrected in me. I have to fix this part of my character. I have to fix this part of my mindset. Lord, help me. to fix my nature. Help me to adjust that mindset. Lord, I repent of this specific behavior. And again, you begin to see how you pray for your situation, for your loved ones, for the ministry he entrusted to you, for the business that's in your care, concerning your health. You see what you can pray, and it gives you very specific points of prayer. And the word of God in you now ignites the spirit of prayer. The word of God ignites, It becomes like a fire and it stirs up that passion for prayer. And you'll notice, by the way, when you pray the Word, there's more depth to your prayers. There's a richness when you pray. I can tell, not all the time, but often when a believer is in their Word, because when they're in the Word, there's a substance to their prayers. There's a depth to their prayers. They're not just repeating vain repetitions. They're not just repeating some script. But there is substance behind what they're praying because of the richness of the Word. Now I want to give you number 3, and it's very powerful. In fact, number 3, I would say, if you have an hour to pray, do number 3 for 45 minutes. Before I give that to you, if you're enjoying this teaching and you think that this can be an encouragement to other believers, then make sure to leave a like on the video right now. Just by you leaving a like, you're helping to spread the content to more people. Also, I don't want you to miss any of the teachings that I have in regards to prayer. I believe they're gonna help you. I believe that these teachings will help you to cultivate a friendship with the Holy Spirit, will help to equip you for spiritual warfare, will help to give you truth in terms of prayer. If you don't wanna miss any of this, make sure you subscribe to my channel right now and click that notification bell when you subscribe, because when you click that notification bell, you actually get notified. the notifications. Number 3, worship. This is the adoration of the Lord. This is intensity of attention. This is focusing on the face of Jesus. And by the way, the Word works hand in hand with worship, because as I receive revelation from the Word, I capture a glimpse of the face of Jesus. And when I catch a glimpse of the face of Jesus, True worship erupts from deep within my being. True worship is inspired from deep within, and that pours forth sometimes in song, sometimes in praise, sometimes just in tears. But it's this, this awe-stricken mind, this, this, this looking unto the Lord with awe filling the heart. It is giving God glory as you see his glory. That's true worship. Amen. 2 Corinthians 3:18, watch this now. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord who is the Spirit makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. So the veil's been removed. You now have eyes of the Spirit. You can see the image of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. And as you look at that image of Jesus, that glancing at the Lord causes you to be transformed from glory to glory, becoming more and more like him. And so this takes place, of course, all of the time in the Spirit, but as we're conscious of it in moments of prayer, where we're dedicating time to the Lord, this can be especially helpful because you might feel like you're getting stuck. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to pray. I don't know what to think. I don't know where to stand. I don't know what to do in this moment. I don't even know how to fill the time. Okay, here's what you do. You wait on the Lord, you get into the word, and you begin to worship. And as you begin to worship him, there's this sweetness that fills the room. I'm telling you, listen to me. Once you've tasted this, you are ruined for anything else. Nothing else will satisfy once you've tasted of this. Once you've had a true encounter in the presence of the Lord, once you've had a true experience in his Holy Spirit's sweet presence, that manifestation where you can sense him in the room with you, once you've had that, Nothing else will do. Nothing else again will ever fulfill. Nothing else again will ever matter as much as the presence of the Lord. You begin to worship him. And that's the word I've used throughout the years, because it's the only one that I see fitting. There's just this sweetness about the room. There's this sweetness about the atmosphere. And even as I recall right now, moments I've had with the Lord in worship and in prayer, I can tell you, I have nothing else to compare that with. I have nothing else to compare it with. And you'll know it. You'll know that too. You've gotta learn to just worship Him. Stop being so focused on your troubles. And I know that's easier said than done. I know maybe you've even tried that before. But sometimes when you don't have the words to speak, you don't have the so-called script to pray, You don't, you don't even necessarily have the passion and you're just there, maybe even discouraged, frustrated, saying, I don't even know what I'm doing. I don't even know how to pray. Good, because you're like me. I didn't know how to pray without the help of the Holy Spirit either. And so you just pause for that moment. You wait on the Lord, stop striving, stop trying to force something to happen, get into the word, let that fill your mind, and then just begin to worship him. When you don't know what to pray, just worship. And as you begin to worship him, you recognize that the questions, the doubts, the requests, all of that, those are— those can be addressed, those can be acknowledged, and God doesn't mind you bringing those to him. But you can lay all that aside for a moment. And as you look into the face of Jesus with the eyes of your spirit, through the eyes of faith. As you focus on Him, His character, His nature, His power, His mercy, His love, His grace, He becomes like a brilliant light and everything in the room begins to fade. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters in those moments. And you will sense as if you're being taken to higher places, as if, As if your bedroom itself, wherever you're praying, is being lifted into a heavenly realm. And you just begin to worship Him, to love Him. There's a song I like to sing. It's, I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my King, in what You hear. Let it be a sweet sound in Your ear. Simple songs of love to the Lord, simple songs of worship. that are God-centered, not— it's okay to sing a spiritual song of faith about your faith journey, and it's okay to acknowledge the burdens that you carry in song. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with these songs, but we need to also sing songs that are God-centered toward him. And in those moments, when you begin to worship, everything else changes. The clutter in the mind, Goes away. And now you find that flow. And, and there's, there's not this rigidity to it anymore. It's just the rhythm of the Spirit, like breathing in the natural. That's how prayer is in the supernatural for the Christian when they're led by the Spirit to worship. So precious, Lord, I pray for your people now. And I ask you to cause them to find that flow in prayer. Let them find the river of the Spirit as they yield, as they wait, as they focus on your truth, as they worship you. I rebuke all distraction in the name of Jesus. Holy Spirit, even now manifest your presence and power around them. And let them sense you near to them. Let them sense your presence on their very being, I pray. Make yourself known to them. And Lord, help them to be people of prayer. Help them when they pray to have the faith and the surrender and the trust to find that flow of the Spirit. Bless them with the richness of your presence. Bless them with the glory and the manifestation of your power. Let your presence be as a treasure to them, prioritized above all else. Take them to deeper depths and higher heights. And Lord, I pray even now that your healing virtue would flow. If you need a healing in your body, I want you to agree with me right now in prayer. There's a river of healing flowing here. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are causing miracles to happen. I rebuke that sickness and disease in the name of Jesus. And Lord, set your people free from every bondage. Let them sense your peace on them even now. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Type it in the comments if you agree. Type a big amen. Amen. Proverbs 11:23-25 say this, the godly can look forward to a reward while the wicked can expect only judgment. Give freely and become more wealthy. Be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper. Say that out loud. The generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Prosperity is a biblical word, and the Scripture tells us plainly that the generous will prosper. When you practice generosity, especially towards ministry and especially toward the work of the kingdom, you are, you're allowing for the flow, not just of God's provision, but of His prosperity. And so I believe in giving, and I wanna invite you to participate in what God is doing through this ministry, through your giving. We ought to sow where we grow. It's a biblical principle that I pray this generation captures, that when you receive the Word of God from a ministry, if that blesses you, if that helps you, that you are to honor that Word through the support of that ministry. so that that ministry can continue its work. So if you've been blessed by this ministry, the teachings, you've been helped in any way, then I'm asking you to get behind what we're doing. I'm asking you now to do your part, to pay it forward, that someone else might experience what you've experienced through the Holy Spirit's ministry. So again, generosity unleashes that flow. The flesh's default position is to hold, to grip tightly, And that's really fear. But when we operate in faith, there's this freedom, there's this release of resources. So again, if you've been blessed by this ministry, look, I need your help. I'm just gonna be very honest with you. We are growing very rapidly, and the only way we can keep up with the growth is if we continue to add supporters to help us expand the kingdom and really fight for the soul of this generation. So you can help us right now. By going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner, and you can sign up for a monthly partner gift. That is an automated monthly gift. Again, davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Will you consider signing up for a $30 a month gift today, right now? You can also do a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Now, whatever you decide, single or monthly, large or small, Everything counts. Just do it today. Let me know you're standing with me as we continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit, through events, media, and church planting. Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, make sure to also check out my teaching, 7 Prayers You Need to Start Praying Over Your Family Right Now.