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How to Talk to God

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Last Updated: June 13, 2019 References Approved

Talking to God involves a very spiritual, personal, often private, relationship. With so many
religions and popular opinions about relating to God, figuring out how you should talk to
God may seem complicated. But it doesn’t have to be. How you choose to connect and talk
to God will simply boil down to what seems right to you. No matter your spiritual preference
or religion, learning how to communicate effectively with God can be achieved with the
following tips.

Method
1 Talk to God as You Believe

Determine how you see God. You’ll need to determine who God is to you
1 in order to confidently talk to God. Who is, and how do you define, God? Do
you know God as a fatherly or motherly figure, a teacher, a distant -- or a close
friend, sticking closer than a sister or brother? Or, is God an abstract spiritual
guide? Is your connection to God rooted in a personal, spiritual relationship you
have with God? Or, do you follow the form and order of your religion to
understand who God is to you? Whichever is true for you will dictate how you
view and talk to God. And, however you see God determines how you will
approach God to talk to Him as you see Him.[1]

Establish a relationship with a caring God. It’s easier to talk to someone

2 when you persist to establish a speaking relationship with a person that
really cares.[2] So, your telling God your burdens and joys helps bond your
relationship with God. Figuring out that God wants to hear from you and to share

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all your joys, pains and thoughts with you is the first step to establishing that
relationship. And you can build on it by reading about how much God cares in
spiritual literature or religious texts, such as the Bible, Quran or Torah.

Talk to God as you would a close, loving but all-powerful friend. Talking
3 to God as a tremendous friend is different from just praying to God as a
need or duty. As with a friend, you expect back-and-forth communication by
noticing how God answers, helps or teaches you.[3] While prayer may be more
of a one-way transaction, talking implies a conversation.
You can talk to God out loud or inside your mind, whichever feels most
effective to you.
It may be best to find a quiet or private space you can occupy in order to
concentrate while you’re talking. If you can’t, it’s okay to talk silently to God
while you’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, sitting in a
waiting room, or while you’re at work or school, etc.

Have a talk with God. Talk to God similarly as you would, if a physical
4 person were standing in front of you. You can talk to God about your daily
troubles, your thoughts at the moment, your hopes and dreams, and even tell
Him (and tell yourself) the things for which you’re thankful. You can tell God
about casual or hard topics just as you would with a concerned friend.
Let’s say for example you were having an ongoing argument with a friend.
You could say, “God, I’m not sure what else to say to Charlie. We’ve been
arguing for almost two weeks now and we still can’t come to an agreement. I
don’t want to think we can’t get through this, but I don’t know what more to
do or say.”
Ever been amazed by a crazy, beautiful day? Talk to God about His gifts to
you. “Wow, God! It’s so beautiful outside. I’d love to spend the day reading in
the park.”
Maybe you have a difficult relationship with a family member: “I hate that my
mom and I don’t get along. She just doesn’t understand me, and she refuses
to listen when I try to tell her how I really feel. I pray that she would try to see
things from my point of view sometimes. And, help me to be patient, listen
and understanding to her.”

Watch for and pay attention to possible feedback. You may not get an
5 audible response like you would, if a friend were physically standing in front
of you. But you can receive a response from God in the written word of God or
from the sermon of a minister. Anticipate it to also come in the form of an
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intuition, an inspiration, a scripture, a situation or an event that directly or

indirectly relates to what you’ve been talking about to God.[4]

Tell God that you know that He has His own reasons for His seemingly
6 hands-off response and His timeline -- and so trust Him in that. You
may not find what you want when you want it, but He does everything for His
reason.

Try to keep following God's path in good faith in the loving concepts of
7 God and expressing God's goodwill. But, realize that whatever happens
may be a result of a "third person(s)" involved in their self-centered, personal
actions/inaction, or their doing the opposite of some of your ideas and needs.
God does not necessarily contravene or interfere with the behavior of
disagreeable parties -- Why? They, having free will as you do, might not follow
love, good morals, the purposes of God, nor stop their misconduct that can
involve you. Events could, thus, depend regrettably on their dangerous/uncaring
intersections with your hopeful and peaceful path. Even in dire events one can
talk to God, in the darkest day or when you pass through the valley of death. You
need not fear, but may cry out to Him while trusting God, come what may.

Method
2 Talk to God Through Your Writing

Write to God as a form of communication. Maybe you feel uncomfortable

1 talking out loud to God, find it difficult to concentrate when talking to God in
your mind, or maybe neither of the two work for you at all. If that’s the case, try
writing to God. This form of communicating will still enable you to express your
thoughts for a connection and create your side of a conversation with God.[5]

Purchase or find a blank writing notebook and pen. Choose something

2 that will feel comfortable to write in every day. A spiral notebook or journal
would be an ideal choice since it will easily lay flat on a desk. Select your
preferred writing tool.
You’ll want to write to God by hand instead of typing on a computer.
Computers have endless distractions, and for some the act of typing
requires more conscious effort than scribbling in a notebook.[6]

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Find a quiet and private space to write. Even though you won’t be
3 speaking aloud, it’s still best to find a quiet spot for maximum concentration.

Write for a specific amount of time. Before you get started set a timer for
4 a length of time that feels comfortable to write for. You may set it for five, ten
or twenty minutes. Keep your pen or pencil moving until the timer goes off.

Write fast and freely. Try not to be self-conscious about what you write.
5 Don’t worry about grammar and punctuation, or about what you’re actually
writing. In writing to God, you want your words to come from the heart. In order
to do that you’ll need to relax enough that you can write freely about whatever
comes to mind.

Write to God as if you’re writing a letter to a friend, or as if you’re

6 writing in a private journal. If you’re not sure what to write about, consider
writing about a current concern that you can’t stop thinking about. Write about
what’s happening in your day to day life. Write down any questions you want
God to answer for you. Or write about your goals or what you’re thankful for. Use
the examples below for inspiration.
“Dear God, I have no idea what I’m doing in my life right now. I can’t seem to
make good choices or meet the right people. I feel like I’m drowning in
drama. When will this end? When will things change for me?”
“I can’t even contain my excitement right now, God. Today I met a woman
who works at my dream job. Our meeting was completely serendipitous. I
mean what are the chances of meeting just the right person randomly on a
busy street? If I didn’t accidentally bump her shoulder and if she didn’t
happen to drop her purse, I never would have gotten a glimpse of her
business card. You’ve truly answered my prayers.”

Method
3 Talking to God through Prayer

Set aside time to pray to God. Prayer can be considered a more formal
1 way to talk to God because it is primarily rooted in religion. However, you
can choose to pray in whatever way feels comfortable to you. While you can
pray at any time and in any place, it helps to set aside specific times of the day
to pray.[7] Choose a time when you are unlikely to be disturbed and you'll be able
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to center yourself and pray effectively. Common times for prayer include: before
meals or bed, after waking, during stressful times or periods of need, and during
solo activities like exercising or a commute.[8]

Find a quiet room or space to pray. Ideally, praying to God should occur in
2 a place where you'll be able to tune out distractions during the few minutes it
takes to pray.
If you can't find a quiet place to pray, don't worry. You can pray on busy city
buses, in the middle of crowded restaurants, and anywhere you can center
yourself. You can pray while you're driving down the highway, as long as you
stay focused on the road while you pray.

Prepare for prayer. As you get ready to pray, some people like to take a
3 few minutes to prepare the space and the self for communicating with
God.[9] The way that you choose to prepare for prayer will largely be up to your
own personal preferences and/or religious traditions.
Some common practices might include: reading a few applicable verses of a
religious text, lighting candles or incense, performing a cleansing ritual,
taking communion, meditating quietly, chanting, or singing.

Decide what you want to pray about. This can be done beforehand, if
4 there is a pressing matter happening in your life. Or it can be determined as
you pray.[10]
You could use prayer as a means to have a casual conversation with God
about daily happenings or current events. Here’s an example, “God, today is
my first day of class. I’m really nervous, but also excited. I pray that
everything goes well today.”
You could use prayer as a way to confess or get something off your chest, or
you could pray for a request or a need. “God, I feel horrible that I gossiped
about a coworker. I’m afraid she’s found out, and I don’t know what to do to
fix it. Please forgive me. Also, please give me the strength to ask her for
forgiveness.”
Let’s say you’ve just interviewed for a job. You could say, “Thank you, God,
for a great interview. Please let the interviewer see how perfect I am for this
position, and decide to hire me.”

Pray in a way that feels natural to you. There's no one right way to pray.
5 Prayer should be unique to the individual believer who is praying. While
praying in a church or worship center is often quite stylized and ritualized, when
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you're praying alone, you don't have to follow any particular rules, other than
opening yourself up to God and speaking from the heart.
Some people like to bow their heads in prayer and close their eyes, while
other religions will practice full prostrations or kneeling. Whatever seems
most respectful and effective for you and your personal relationship with God
is fine. You can pray with your eyes open and your head high just as it's fine
to pray kneeling and silent.
It's common to recite some traditional prayers out loud, but it's also very
common to pray silently to yourself.

Pray with others. It can be a powerful experience to pray with a group of

6 like-minded individuals. This can be an excellent way to hear how others
relate to God, and learn new traditions and rituals that you can integrate into
your own prayer practice. If you don’t currently have a group to pray with, try to
find one.[11]
You can find a group in a local worship center or church you attend. You can
do a search online for people who share your beliefs to see if there are
meetups happening in your area. If you can’t find what you’re looking for,
consider starting your own prayer group.
In some religions, prayer groups practice sending group prayers to friends
and loved ones in need. Prayer lists are often created regularly to pray for
the sick and needy members of a community.

Community Q&A

Question

If I pray to God for something that really isn't worth praying for (like a school
I want to go to) will He make that happen?

Community Answer

I think to God everything matters. If it's something that your heart longs for, it
also matters to Him. Talk to Him about that, as you'd talk to a friend. Do not ask
Him anything, just share your joy and your hope with Him, then leave it to Him.

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Question

Could I ask God to restart my life if I have had a bad one?

Community Answer

You can ask God anything you want, but that doesn't mean He's going to do it.
A better prayer might be to pray that God would use the bad things you have
experienced for His glory and bring good out of them. God is in the business of
making "beauty from ashes" -- that is, good from bad -- and He can do that in
your life.

Question

Does God communicate with us as we communicate with God?

Community Answer

If you believe that you are able to communicate with God, there is no doubt that
you have the answer in you. God communicates in many ways. For example,
God answers you by creating what to do and what not to do in your mind.
Sometimes He speaks to you by showing examples that you can relate to and
that help to build your expectations. God also gives you the best thinking power
before you take a decision, because whenever you feel positive, you can do
something bigger, meaning that God is inside you, giving a positive impression.

Question

Is it right to ask God for material things?

Community Answer

Of course, God made you a physical creature living in a material world. Asking
for material things you need -- and even simply want -- is always okay. But God
is not obligated to give you what you ask for. He may decide that it's better you
don't have something because perhaps it would be an idol or a distraction from
more important things.

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Question

What if I pray and God doesn't answer?

Community Answer

Then it means keep praying. He won't always give you an immediate answer,
and He's fine if you keep "bugging" Him about it.

Question

How do I get an answer to my letter to God?

Community Answer

He will provide the answer through people, books, nature etc.

Question

How do I come up with an acceptable prayer to God regarding something

that I am struggling with, such as an addiction?

Community Answer

There is no specific or acceptable way to pray. Simply tell God what's on your
mind, and he will listen to you.

Question

I think I am not with God any more because I did not pray for a day or read
the holy bible. I did so many mistakes and now praying is like climbing
mountain for me. What should I do?

Catgirl503
Community Answer

He is always with you. Even if you forgot to pray or read the bible, He is always
there for you, no matter what.
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Question

How can I tell when He is speaking to me? I have had sudden thoughts and
ideas at spontaneous times. Is that a sign?

Gigi King
Community Answer

Absolutely, yes. God speaks to us, God moves in mysterious ways, He allow
certain circumstances to cross our paths in order for us to gain awareness of
Him and His presence, especially if we prayed for a sign.

Question

Why has God never talked to me?

Community Answer

God responds to prayers in many ways. He may speak to you not through
words, but through thoughts in your mind or experiences.

Tips

When talking to God make sure you do so in a way that feels most comfortable
to you. Don’t try to emulate someone because you think they’re doing it right. Do
so because you think it might work for you.

When writing to God, make sure to use pen and paper. Although it is more labor
intensive, it is less distracting.

It’s ideal to find a quiet space to talk to God. But don’t worry if you can’t. Just try
to find a way to make the moment sacred for you, despite distractions.

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Read your religious scripture if that is your source of faith. God's word is how
God communicates with us and shows us how to live better lives. It is the one
book that has gone through trials where people have doubtlessly tried to destroy
it but yet to this day is the most popular book in the world. Call it a best seller.

To talk to God, open up your heart. You need to listen for a response. If you
aren’t listening, you won’t hear him. Trust that what he tells you is the best thing
for you.

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Warnings

Don’t let others bully you into talking to God a certain way. No one way is the
only way to talk to God. Choose the method that feels most natural and soothing
to you.

References

1. https://radicalmentoring.com/so-how-do-you-see-god/
2. http://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/prayer-fasting-and-meditation/how-to-pray/how-to-
talk-to-god/
3. https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/prayer-fasting-and-meditation/how-to-pray/how-
to-talk-to-god/
4. https://www.everystudent.com/wires/prayers.html
5. http://faith-filled.com/3-ways-to-communicate-with-god/
6. http://www.dailyword.com/articles/2010/03/how-have-conversation-god
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7. https://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/becoming-a-christian/developing-a-life-of-
prayer/how-to-pray-every-day
8. https://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Making%20time%20for%20Prayer.html
9. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-steps-to-strengthen-prayer
10. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-should-we-pray-for
11. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/nine-profits-of-praying-with-company

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