When you pray, how often do you just list requests and look (usually impatiently) for answers? I’ll admit, there’ve been plenty of times when I treated God like a personal genie. I’d shut Him into a golden lamp and summon Him only when I had a wish that needed to be granted.
This isn’t an uncommon approach to prayer. Sometimes I get caught up in my busy life and forget about God until I’m in crisis. Or I start to pray, but my mind wanders and my words fall short. I end up praying about what I know best — me.
While I do believe God deeply cares for even our smallest needs and invites us to share them with Him, I also know prayer can be so much more than a list of one-way demands or asks. Prayer is an invitation to a relationship with God. A chance to commune with the Creator of the universe. It’s how you truly build friendship with Him and learn to discern His voice and experience His heart.
How would you feel if you had a friend who only came to you when they needed a favor? I’ve been there, and it’s not a life-giving relationship. It’s hardly a friendship at all. So why would we treat God this way? It’s time we level up our prayer time from a wish-granting session to the ultimate friendship get-together.
It can be hard to know what to pray about and how to do it, and that’s OK. Prayer doesn’t always come naturally, but that’s part of what makes it so beautiful. It’s an intentional act to pursue a relationship with God — a deep expression of our love and need for Him.
Here are a few practices I’ve adopted to get out of my wish-granting rut and step into the true intimacy God has for me through prayer.
1. TACOS praying
There are many prayer guides out there, but TACOS is my longtime favorite. TACOS stands for thanksgiving, adoration, confession, others, and self. It’s a prayer method that guides you first to give thanks to God, then to praise Him, to confess and repent of your sins, to intercede for others, and lastly, to give your personal requests to Him. This is a helpful tool to bring depth to my prayers and prevent them from being focused solely on my needs and wants.
When you pray, try spending a minute or so on each letter. As you develop your prayer life, increase the time per letter or even challenge yourself more in specific letters. Over time, you’ll find yourself hitting each letter in your prayers without thinking about it.
2. Be quiet and let God talk
“I’m sorry, God, I’ve been talking all about myself … how are you doing?” I remember praying this for the first time as a little girl. I sure liked to talk about myself, but one night it hit me that I never gave God a chance to speak. I began asking this simple question: “How are you doing, God?” While it may seem silly, I find it to be such a powerful practice. I began listening and waiting on God. My adoration for Him deepened, and it seemed He revealed more of His heart to me in the quiet.
Maybe you’re pursuing God’s opinion on a matter, interceding for others, or seeking an answer to a long-awaited question. Whatever it is, are you truly giving Him space to respond? When you pray, take time to be silent and listen for God’s voice. 1 Kings 19:12 tells us, “After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.” (HCSB) Sometimes He speaks to us in quiet, gentle ways, so still your thoughts and tune in for the whisper.
3. Incorporate prayer into your daily rituals
Maybe you pray only when you need something. Again, it’s not much of a friendship if you only go to someone when you need a favor. That’s why prayer needs to be a daily habit. Making prayer a habit keeps you in constant contact with God.
We see in the Gospels that Jesus prioritized prayer even when life was busy.
“But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” (Luke 5:15-16)
My favorite way to pray consistently is to incorporate prayer into my daily rituals. For instance, I’ve made a habit of praying while I drive. This doesn’t mean I’m always praying when driving, but it gives me another prompt to come to God, plus a space to do it.
Try praying as you get ready in the morning, or while cooking or working out. You can even say a quick prayer of thanksgiving as you brush your teeth each day.
Don’t overthink it
Using daily rituals, listening to God, and praying through the TACOS acronym are easy practices that have helped me turn God from a genie into my best friend. But while these can be great tools, don’t get too caught up in how you pray. Sometimes we’re at our wit’s end and all we can do is cry out. Philippians 4:6 says, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Absolutely bring your needs to God — but throw away your golden lamp. He’s no genie; He’s your friend and King.
Copyright 2025 Lily Combs. All rights reserved.
