SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to the Self-Love Journaling with God podcast. I'm your host, Shonda, and I am so glad you are here with me today. This podcast is about more than just journaling, it's about doing the hard work with God as we heal, grow, and learn to love ourselves the way God does. One page and one prayer at a time. So today we are talking about something many of us have faced, but may not always say out loud. What do I pray when I do not know what to pray? Because let's be honest, sometimes prayer does not feel easy. It doesn't. Sometimes your heart is heavy, sometimes your mind is crowded. Sometimes you sit down with your Bible, your journal, your pen, maybe even your coffee, and still feel like, Lord, I don't even know where to begin. And if that has ever been you, I want you to take a deep breath right here. You are not failing at prayer. You are not less spiritual because you feel stuck. We are human. And God already knew there would be moments when our words would feel small, scattered, or tired. That is why today's episode is so comforting to me because we are going to talk about how scripture can give our prayers language when our own words feel hard to find. This episode is prayer is where the fight begins. And we are anchoring this conversation in Ephesians 6 18, which says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Now, Ephesians 6 is often known for the armor of God. Paul talks about truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And then right after that, he says to pray always. Now that is important because prayer is not just something we add after we have tried everything else. Prayer is part of how we stand, prayer is part of how we fight. Prayer is part of how we stay awake spiritually when life is pulling on our peace, our thoughts, our emotions, and our identity. And this is not about fighting people. We are not talking about arguing, striving, or trying to control everything. This is about the deeper fight, the fight against fear, the fight against lies, against anxiety, against shame, against giving up in your heart before God is done working. So today I want to walk with you through a practical way to pray when you do not know what to say. And the beautiful part is this you do not have to make it complicated. You can start with the word. Now, have you ever had a moment where you knew you needed to pray, but your mind felt like a browser with like 47 tabs open? One tab is worry, one tab is what if? One tab is replaying a conversation from three days ago. One tab is planning something that may not even happen, and one tab is randomly wondering what you are making for dinner. That is real life. Sometimes we come to prayer distracted, sometimes we come tired, sometimes we come emotionally full. Sometimes we come with a deep ache that we cannot even explain. And in those moments, we may think prayer has to sound polished, but prayer is not a performance, prayer is connection. Prayer is bringing your heart before God and allowing his truth to meet you there. Now, Romans 8 26 reminds us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness. That means even when we do not know how to pray as we ought, God is not standing far away, disappointed in us. He is helping us. That alone is comforting. Isn't that comforting to just know that we are not alone, even when we don't know what to pray? So when you do not know what to pray, a simple place to begin is Lord, help me pray. That counts. You can pray, Lord. I do not know what to say, but I am here. Lord, my heart feels heavy. Meet me in this, Lord, help me see clearly. Lord, guide my next step. Lord, strengthen me where I feel weak. Sometimes the first prayer is not long. Sometimes the first prayer is just honest. And honest is a holy place to begin. So I want you to take a pause and think about this. Where have you been putting pressure on yourself to pray perfectly when God is simply inviting you to just come honestly? Now let's talk about why praying scripture is not just a nice idea, but it this is scriptural. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he responded with the word of God. I'm sure we all remember that. He said, It is written. Jesus did not respond from panic, he did not respond from pressure, he responded from truth. And in Ephesians 6, the word of God is called the sword of the Spirit. So when we pray scripture, we are not just repeating words, we are allowing God's truth to shape our thoughts, our requests, our faith, and our response. Praying scripture means we take what God has already said and we bring our heart into agreement with that word. It is not using verses like magic words, it is not trying to force God's hand, it is simply saying, Lord, your word is true. Help me stand in it, help me see myself through it, help me pray from it. For example, Psalm 46, verse 1, it says this God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. You can turn that into prayer like this Lord, you are my refuge and my strength. Help me run to you instead of running in circles in my mind. Remind me that you are present with me right here, even in this trouble. That is praying scripture right there. It is simple, it is honest, it is rooted in truth. And when emotions are loud, scripture gives prayer a steady place to stand. We know that we are praying God's will, his perfect will in the matter. Why? Because this is his word, his truth that we are praying. So I want to give you a simple framework you can use in your journal here. We are going to call this the word prayer method with the word as an acronym. So the W, we're going to write the verse with the O, observe that truth, with the letter R, respond in prayer, and then the letter D. We're going to declare the truth. And this is just an easy way to help you get in that practice of writing out your prayer with scripture. So let's walk through this together. So let's write the verse. Do not rush past this. I want you to write it slowly. Let your hand slow your mind down. Sometimes we got to do that. Say if you are using Psalm 46, verse 1, you can write it like this: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Sometimes writing scripture, it kind of helps us to stop skimming and start receiving. If you slow down on that, because we can read a verse quickly and say, Oh, that's good, but then when we write it, we begin to sit with it. God is my you take this personal when you write it down. God is my refuge and He is my strength, a very present help in trouble. When I'm in trouble, we begin to take it personally, and that matters, especially when you are anxious, when you are overwhelmed or emotionally tired. Writing the verse creates a small pause, it gives your heart a place to land. So here's a journal prompt that we can add here. What verse do I need to slow down with today instead of rushing past it? And this is just kind of being able to find the verse that will meet you where you're at today. Let's go to the letter, the next letter, which is O. Observe the truth. So I want you to ask yourself, what does this verse, Psalm 46.1, show me about God? What does this verse show me about myself? What does this verse show me about this situation? Let's stay with Psalm 46.1. This verse shows us that God is refuge. That means he is a safe place. It also shows us that God is strength. That means we do not have to produce strength all by ourselves. It shows us that God is present, not distant, not unavailable, but present. So your observation could be: God is safe, God is strong, God is near. Simple. You do not need a theology degree to begin praying the word. You just need a willing heart and a quiet moment to notice what God is revealing to you in that word. Let's go to respond in prayer. Now you respond in prayer. This is where you turn the verse into personal prayer. You may pray, Lord, you are my refuge. Help me stop running to fear as my hiding place. You are my strength. Help me stop pretending I have to hold everything together. You are present with me in trouble. Help me remember that I am not alone. Do you hear how personal that becomes? You are not just reading truth, you are bringing your heart into conversation with God through that truth. Let's try another example here. So let's let's try this example with the verse James 1, verse 5, which says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. A prayer from that verse could be or could sound like this Lord, I need wisdom right now. I do not want to move from panic, pride, fear, or pressure. Teach me, Father, what to do next. Help me slow down enough to hear you clearly. That is practical prayer. That is prayer for the woman who has a decision to make. Prayer for the woman who wants to respond and not react. That is a prayer for the woman who is tired of guessing and needs God's guidance. The next one is declare the truth. This is the final step. This is not about pretending you feel strong when you do not, it's about agreeing with God's word even while your feelings are still catching up. So for Psalm 46, verse 1, your declaration might sound like this God is present with me and I am not alone. For James 1:5, it might be, God gives me wisdom, and I can ask him for help. For maybe Isaiah 41, 10, which says, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Your declaration may be, fear is not my leader, God is with me. That is how we begin to renew our minds. One truth, one prayer, one declaration, one page at a time. So one reason I love praying scripture is because it gives our emotions a safe place to go. Because emotions need somewhere to land. When we do not bring them to God, we may carry them in our bodies, we may snap, we may shut down, we may overthink, we may rehearse conversations, we might even try to control things that are not even ours to control. But prayer gives us a holy release. Now, Philippians 4, 6 and 7, it tells us not to be anxious, but in everything by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, to let our requests be made known unto God. And then the peace of God guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I love that image. God's peace guarding your heart and mind. Because sometimes that is exactly where the battle is. It's in the hearts, it's in the mind, in the thoughts you keep replaying, it's in the fears you keep feeding, it's in the words we keep speaking over ourselves. So you may pray Philippians 4 like this. Lord, I bring this worry to you. I do not want to carry it alone. I make this request known to you. I ask your peace to guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. That prayer is not denial. You are not pretending the issue is not real. You are choosing not to let anxiety be the only voice in the room. So take a moment here and pause and reflect on this. What worry do I need to bring to God instead of rehearsing it one more time? Think about that. So let's make this even more practical. When you feel afraid, pray Isaiah 41 10 and say this, Lord, you said you are with me. Help me not let fear convince me I am alone. When you feel weak, you can pray Psalm 46 1. And it could sound like this Lord, you are my strength. Strengthen me for today. When you feel unsure, pray James 1 5. Lord, I need wisdom. Guide me with clarity and peace today. When you feel anxious, pray Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, and it can sound like this. Lord, I give this concern to you. Let your peace guard my heart and mind. When you feel spiritually tired, check out Ephesians 6.18. And you can say, or you can pray, Lord, help me keep praying. Help me stay alert. Help me not give up in the middle of the fight. And when you do not know what to pray at all, you can pray Romans 8.26. Holy Spirit, help me in my weakness. Pray through me where my words fall short. And this is one I use quite often. Oftentimes, when you got a lot kind of going on, sometimes it is just to say, Holy Spirit, help me. And so that is a prayer as well. Sometimes we think prayer has to be long to be powerful, but a short prayer rooted in Scripture can be strong. Lord help me. That's a strong one. Lord lead me. Lord, strengthen me. Lord, I receive your peace. Lord, bring me back to truth. Do not despise the small prayers here. Sometimes the prayer whispered through tears is the one that keeps you standing. So let's come back to this title here. Prayer is where the fight begins. The fight begins when you stop letting fear have the final word. The fight begins when you stop rehearsing the lie and start returning to truth. The fight begins when you open your Bible, open your journal, and say, Lord, I am here. Teach me how to pray from your word. And remember, this is not about striving. This is about standing, standing in truth, in God's presence, with the word as your anchor, standing even when your emotions are still settling. There may be days when your prayer is full of faith, and there may be days when your prayer sounds like, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. That is scriptural right there. Both can be brought to God. He is not intimidated by our weaknesses. He meets us right there. So this week, I want you to practice that word method. Write the verse, observe the truth, respond in prayer, declare the truth. I want you to write that, practice that in your journal. And choose one verse. Maybe the verses that we've talked about: Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 41, 10, Romans 8 26. And so you write the verse out. You write it slowly. You observe that truth. What does the verse show you about God? You respond in prayer. And that's where you turn that verse into your own prayer, and then you declare that truth. You want to write one faith statement. Can carry with you. And if you want to keep it very simple, use this sentence. Lord, your word says, so today I ask you to help me. And an example might sound like, Lord, your word says, You are my refuge and strength. So today I ask you to help me run to you before I run into worry. That is a beautiful prayer. That is heart work. That is self-love rooted in God's truth. Because you are learning to care for your heart by bringing it back to the one who made it. And so today we learned that when we do not know what to pray, scripture can give our heart language, direction, and truth to stand on. And according to 1 John 5, verses 14 and 15, we can have confidence that when we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us. And if He hears us, we know we have the petitions we desired of Him. That is why praying Scripture is so powerful. God's will is revealed through His Word. So when we pray His word, we are not just praying from emotion, fear, or pressure. We are praying in agreement with what He has already spoken. You are not alone in the fight, and your prayers are not small when they are anchored in God's word. So before we go, I just want to pray over you right now. Lord, I just thank you for being near when our words feel hard to find. Teach us to pray your word with honesty, faith, and trust. When fear is loud, bring us back to that truth. When anxiety rises, let your peace guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Strengthen every listener today and remind her that she can come to you just as she is in Jesus' name. And so, my sister, if this episode spoke to your heart, I want to invite you to click that follow button, follow this podcast, and be the first to know all of what's upcoming. I also want you to check out my self-love journal newsletter. It is a gentle space where we continue this kind of hard work through scripture, journaling prompts, and practical reflection. It is for that woman who wants to grow with God slowly, honestly, and with steady support. Thank you for spending this time with me. Remember, every open journal is an invitation for God to move. Until next time, keep rising, keep journaling, and keep becoming who God made you to be.