Confessions of a Teenage Christian (A Devotional Book for Teen Girls)

April 6, 2014 [Prayer]

"Devote yourselves to prayer." -Colossians 4:2

Prayer-

Today at church, we talked about prayer. My Sunday school teacher told us that if we are a Christian, we are automatically good at prayer, that it is something God gives us when we become a Christian. Then we looked at the Lord's Prayer, and looked at what we should touch in a prayer. You don't have to pray for every single one of these every single time you pray. Praying means talking to God. You don't have to have a specific "outline" to pray; just say what you feel like say, what comes out naturally. I wrote them down because I thought it would be a good thing to remember. It was:

Pray to God-Jesus

Pray for God to work

Pray for needs

Pray for forgiveness

Pray for strength

Then, we split up into small groups, and we each prayed for the person on our right. Before we started, we told the person who was praying for us a few things we would like them to pray for. Then we each prayed for each other one by one. Not only being prayed for, but also praying for someone else, really helped me. When someone prayed for me, I really felt like God was right there listening and telling me everything would be fine. I felt it in my heart. But also when I was praying for someone else (I was praying to an extremely close friend), I got this tingly feeling inside me, like I was really doing something good, that I was really connected with God, and he would take care of my best friend.

I know at the end in bold I have a prayer you can recite. I'm going to do something a little different today. I'm going to say a prayer for every single person reading this. :) It makes me feel like I've really helped a person, and you may just need a prayer for a little encouragement.

Dear God, I pray that every single one of these beautiful girls reading this connects with You today. I pray that You work in their hearts, and if they are a Christian, make Your ties with them stronger, and if not, You show them that they need You. I pray that You work in their lives, that You make a big impact on them. I pray that You tell them that they don't need to worry or stress out, that You have it all under control, and that You are right there with them. I know it can be really tough for teenage girls, and so do You. I pray that You help them get through whatever pit they are in right now. Every single one of these girls sins, including me. We are old enough now that we don't need the sugar-coating: We sin. I pray that these girls remember to ask for forgiveness and repent when they've done something wrong. A lot of times we sin, and we don't even realize it, and sometimes we sin and completely forget about it. I pray that You bring it to our attentions, and that You help us from doing it again. I pray that You help them through whatever they are going through. I pray for a girl out there being bullied. I pray for a girl out there that hasn't found You yet. I pray for a girl that isn't in the place where she needs to be, Lord. I pray for a girl out there having problems at home. We are all either in a storm, just gotten out of a storm, or have a storm coming. I pray that You help us through every storm in our lives, and remind us that You are with us. Amen. <3