Bible verses about talking to God
Many people say that they feel unsure about how to talk to God, or that they are hesitant to because they feel shy. Many people wonder what they would even say or if He is listening. Let’s take a look at Scripture and see what it says about talking to God.
Quotes
“God is always ready to listen anytime you are ready to talk to him. Prayer is simply talking with God.”
“Talk with God, no breath is lost. Walk with God, no strength is lost. Wait for God, no time is lost. Trust in God, you will never be lost.”
“Can’t sleep? Talk to me.” – God
“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men.” Edward McKendree Bounds
“If we would pray aright, the first thing we should do is to see to it that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is listening and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him.” R. A. Torrey
“Prayer is talking with God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart.” — Josh McDowell
“Prayer is the most important conversation of the day. Take it to God before you take it to anyone else.”
God desires a personal relationship with us
First and foremost, we know through Scripture that God desires a personal relationship with us. This is not because God is lonely – because He has eternally existed with the Triune Godhead. Nor is this because we are special – for we are merely specks of dirt. But God, the Creator of the Universe desires a personal relationship with us because He chooses to love us even when we are the most unloveable towards Him.
God sent His Perfect Son to atone for sin. Now there is nothing that is hindering us from knowing and enjoying Him. God desires an intimate relationship with us. I encourage you to get alone with the Lord daily and spend time with Him.
1. 2 Corinthians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
2. 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
3. Psalm 56:8 “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
4. Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
Talking to God through prayer
Talking to God is called prayer. Prayer is a means of grace. It is one of the methods that God imparts His benevolent grace upon us. We are commanded to be in prayer continually as well as rejoicing continually.
We are also commanded to give thanks regardless of our circumstances. God assures us repeatedly that He will hear us. Take a moment to take in what was just said. The God of the universe hears your prayers. The realization of this statement is nothing short of awesome!
5. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
6. 1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
7. Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
8. Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
9. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Learn to pray with the Lord’s prayer
Many people have wondered how to pray – even the disciples. Jesus gave them an outline for prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer we can see the different aspects that we should include in praying to God. We learn in this segment that prayer is not for show – it is a conversation between you and God. Prayer should be conducted in private. We pray to God – not Mary or the Saints.
10. Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”
11. Luke 11:1 “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
12. Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
13. Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Hearing God’s voice in the Bible
One great way of praying is to pray the Scriptures. We can see that Scripture is full of great examples of prayer – even great prayers pouring through difficult emotions. We shouldn’t be emotionless when we pray – rather we should pour our hearts out to God. This helps us to keep our focus on God’s truth, and not just make our prayers a Dear Santa list or a vain repetition.
Also, we should pray before reading Scripture and allow God to speak to us in His Word. God speaks, but we have to be willing to open our Bible and listen. “Personally, when I have been in trouble, I have read the Bible until a text has seemed to stand out of the Book, and salute me, saying, “I was written specially for.” Charles Spurgeon
14. Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”
15. Psalm 42:1-4 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.”
16. Proverbs 30:8 “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
17. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
18. Psalms 42:3-5 “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
19. Jeremiah 33:3 3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
20. Psalm 4:1 “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!”
21. Psalm 42:11 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God.”
22. Psalm 32:8–9 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.”
Come to God with a genuine heart
The condition of our heart matters to God tremendously. God does not want us to pray “fake” prayers – or, prayers that do not stem from a genuine heart. Let’s examine our heart in prayer. It can be so easy to mindlessly prayer to God for hours. However, are you focusing on the Lord and being genuine with your words? Are you coming to God in humility? Are you being open and honest before Him because He already knows.
23. Hebrews 10:22 “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
24. Psalm 51:6 “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”
25. Matthew 6:7-8 “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
26. Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
27. James 4:2 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask”
28. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
29. Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
30. Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
31. Psalm 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”
32. Proverbs 28:9 “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”
33. Psalm 31:9 “Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.”
Making prayer a habit
Praying is often difficult – it is a joy as well as a discipline. It is a spiritual as well as a physical discipline. Over and over God tells us that we need to be in constant prayer. We must be faithful. Faithful to pray for others, faithful to pray for our enemies, faithful to pray for our loved ones and the brethren around the world. I encourage you to set a time and have a familiar place to seek the Lord daily. For more information, check out the daily prayer in the Bible article.
34. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
35. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
36. Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
37. James 1:6 “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”
38. Luke 6:27-28 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
39. Ephesians 6:18 “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”
40. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 “Pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
41. Luke 21:36 “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
42. Luke 5:16 “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Confessing sin daily
One aspect of praying faithfully daily is the aspect of confession. It is through daily prayer that we have the opportunity of confessing our sins to the Lord daily. This does not mean that we need to be saved each day, but that we are living in a continual state of repentance. We are to want to have a heart tender to the sins that God hates – we need to hate them too. This is done by not letting the sins fester and dig root in our hearts but digging them out by daily confession.
43. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
44. 2 Chronicles 7:14 “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
45. James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
46. Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
What we know about God should encourage us to pray
The more we learn about God the more we will want to pray. If God is perfectly sovereign over all of His creation, we should feel more confident knowing that He knows exactly what will happen – and He is safe to trust our hearts with. The more we learn about how loving God is the more we will want to share our burdens with Him. The more faithful we learn that God is, the more we will want to spend in communion with Him.
47. Psalm 145:18-19 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.”
48. Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
49. Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
50. Psalm 43:4 “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.”
Be honest with God about your struggles to pray as you should
Praying doesn’t mean that we repeat the same emotionless prayer each time. We should pour out our souls to God. David does this in the Psalms repeatedly. Each time he does he not only expresses the difficult emotions like anger and depression, but he ends each prayer with reminders of God’s promises as revealed through Scripture. Promises of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and sovereignty. When we bring our troubles to the Lord and learn more and more about His character through those scriptural promises, the more peace we feel.
Also, I encourage you to share your struggles to pray with the Lord. Be honest with Him on how you get tired in prayer and how you lose focus in prayer. Be honest with God and allow the Lord to move in those struggles.
51. Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
52. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
53. Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
54. Acts 17:25 “Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
55. Jeremiah 17:10 “But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Listening to God
God speaks, but the question is are you listening to God? God’s primary way of speaking to us is through His Word. However, He also speaks in prayer. Don’t take over the conversation. Be still and allow Him to speak through the Spirit. Allow Him to lead you in prayer and remind you of His love.
56. Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
57. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
58. Luke 6:12 “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”
59. Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
60. 1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.”
Conclusion
We can see clearly that God wants us to pray. He wants us to not be ignorant on how to pray and He wants to have a personal relationship with Him. God desires that we approach Him faithfully and in humility. We are to pray reverently and honestly. This is one of the ways that we learn to trust God and to know that He will always do what is best.
