In this article I would like to describe to you how you can ask God for help – and that as successfully as it is possible for us humans. Keep one thing in mind: God is not a wish-granting machine that blindly gives you everything you ask Him for. (Unfortunately)
In order to ask God for help, some preconditions have to be fulfilled first, in order to then go into the actual request (the prayer). Of course, these are part of those steps. This little guide assumes that you are not yet a Christian and need to find God. If you are already a Christian, you can skip these steps.
It is also possible to ask God for help if you are not a Christian – however, most of the promises in the Bible only apply to people who follow Him. So if you are a follower of Christ, God promises you more. If you are already a Christian, you can jump directly to step 4.
But beware: it will cost you a life! The Bible warns against wanting to belong to Christ and then betraying Him again!
Table of Contents
Step 1: Get acquainted with God
In the first step, you should get acquainted with God. Since He planned you thousands of years ago, He will already know you-but you may still get to know Him! Start by reading his book: The Bible. This book is his message to us and we can get to know him through this book.
This step should take some time. You can also consult external sources, like this blog or good books about God and Jesus.
Step 2: Make sure you understand what it is about
I want to remind you: You can ask God for help even without being a Christian! So be sure that you really understand what it is all about. What is the role of Jesus? What is the role of the Holy Spirit? What does the cross have to do with it?
To use a metaphor: You shouldn’t sign up for a lifetime subscription just to get the goodie for graduating, but never want to read the magazine.
Step 3: Become a Christian
In this step, you should give your life to Jesus and promise to follow Him. What you do after that (e.g., make amends) will be told to you by the Holy Spirit. You become a Christian when you say a life surrender prayer and then get baptized.
Here you will find a guide to the life surrender prayer.
Step 4: Seek a Promise from God
The Bible promises more to followers of God than to anyone else. Since “asking God for help” can be a very large field, you will have to find out for yourself which promise fits you best. Just make sure you really find the promise in the Bible and understand it correctly.
It may sound as if I don’t want to grant you anything – but God is God and not a wishing machine. I claim it will be impossible to receive a million euros as help from God;- but he promises his children “provision”… so what exactly do you want?
Step 5: Ask God for help
By now you will have noticed how you can communicate with God: By praying. In this step, you address your request for help directly to God. There is no magic formula for how to say something; God will understand. By the way, the same applies to prayer postures.
Speak clearly about what you need His help with. The best way to do this is to emphasize a promise that you found in the previous step! Remind God that He has promised and that He never abandons His children.
Yes, that may sound a little extortionate. But God keeps His promises (with God they are called promises) – every promise kept glorifies Him more. Therefore, he will see to it that he keeps his promise.
The result may be different from what you expect – but a promise is a promise and you can ask God for help through it because it is automatically His will.
Step 6: Thank God
The best thing to do is to thank God in the same prayer. Thank Him for hearing your prayer and that you can trust Him. Thank Him that you can ask Him for anything – Thank God for anything that comes to your mind.
Step 7: Repeat your request before God
Does God know that you are really serious about your request for help? He sure does. Does he realize it? Emphasize your request by making it over and over again. You must really “get on God’s nerves.”
This may sound completely silly, but in practice it is unfortunately no different. The Bible also recommends this practice in case of doubt (Luke 18:1-7) It does not hurt to praise God regularly.
Step 8: Expect help from God
It is important and right to repeat step 7 again and again until the help from God has arrived, the reason for the help has disappeared, or you get the feeling in your heart that the matter is settled. No matter how it turns out, thank God for His wisdom and for stepping into the situation with His knowledge.
My favorite thing to write right now is: With this, you can ask God for whatever help you need – however, that would be wrong. In the whole process, there are so many variables with you that can go “wrong” or “not honest” – and then, of course, there is God’s sovereignty.
If a prayer for help from God doesn’t go the way you hope, you can check the Bible to see if the outcome is God-ordained or even better for you or the person who needs help. This should often be the case. If you cannot recognize it, ask God to give you the appropriate wisdom.
