How to Pray? Understanding New Covenant Prayer

Praying from Rest: Understanding New Covenant Prayer

When Prayer Felt Like a Burden

I used to pray with a heart full of questions and doubts:

• Am I doing it correctly?

• Will it work?

• Will God move if I don’t pray long enough, loud enough, or with enough passion?

Because of all of the incorrect teaching I had heard on prayer, it turned into a work — something I had to perform perfectly in order for God to respond. It was difficult and burdensome and I dreaded it. Prayer felt heavy and transactional, like a business deal where I had to hold up my end or God wouldn’t hold up His.

Instead of enjoying fellowship with my Father, I lived under the pressure that revival depended on me. Everything depended on me and if I didn’t put in the deposits or time in prayer then God wouldn’t meet the needs of the people or respond. Simply put, I thought if I didn’t get it right then God wouldn’t come through.

This is not the gospel. This is not the reality of prayer within the New Covenant.

Prayer in the New Covenant: Relationship, Not Transaction

Now I view prayer completely differently. Prayer is not about getting God to move. It’s about fellowship with the Father through Christ.

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Galatians 4:6)

Prayer is not me reaching up to a reluctant God. It’s the natural overflow of my union with Him. I no longer pray from a place of lack, fear, or insecurity. I pray from rest, knowing I already have everything I need in Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Because I am in Christ and He is in me, prayer is not a desperate attempt to get His attention. It is communion with the God who never leaves me and never forsakes me (Hebrews 13:5).

Asking with Confidence

This doesn’t mean we never ask God for things. We absolutely do! But the heart posture has changed. I no longer ask as though He is far away or reluctant. I ask as a beloved child, already confident in His love. I know that He lavishly gives me all all blessings in Christ and that my old job is to believe Him and to receive them.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14–15)

My prayers no longer flow out of fear and striving but out of faith and intimacy. He is a good Father and it is His pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

From 2 Chronicles 7:14 to Ephesians 1

For years, my prayers were shaped by Old Covenant patterns — like 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This verse is often quoted today as though it applies to the church, but it was a promise given to Israel under the Old Covenant. It placed the burden on their performance to secure God’s forgiveness and blessing. But the New Covenant is different. In Christ, the work is finished. Forgiveness has already been secured at the cross. God has already poured out His Spirit. Healing and reconciliation have already been provided. Thank God for the cross because it forever changed the way God relates to man. Humility is important and walking in wickedness is not God’s will for any of us, but our sins have already been forgiven and through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ God isn’t relating to us like He did ancient Israel.

That’s why my prayers now sound more like Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…” (Ephesians 1:17–19)

Notice Paul isn’t begging God to move. He is praying that believers would have their eyes opened to see what they already have in Christ!

The Truth About “God Moving”

Many today pray for “another move of God.” But the truth is, God already moved — 2,000 years ago at the cross.

The world doesn’t need another move. It needs the message of the gospel. People need to hear about what God has already done through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

We don’t need more of God. We can’t get “more” than Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). What we need is revelation — eyes to see what’s already ours.

Many Christians still pray as though God needs to move again or send healing, when in reality He already did move to provide healing through the cross (1 Peter 2:24 & Matthew 8:17). We’re not asking or begging God to maybe heal — we are releasing by faith what Christ has already provided. Our role is to lay hands, speak His Word, and believe. The power and the results come from Him, but the authority has been given to us.

Resting in Our Union with Christ

New Covenant prayer flows from rest, not striving. From union, not distance. From security, not fear. From abundance, not lack. From peace, not begging.

We don’t pray to get something we’re missing. We pray because:

• We already have the Spirit living in us.

• We already have peace with God through Christ.

• We already are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

“And you are complete in Him…” (Colossians 2:10)

“…He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17)

Asking God for Things in the New Covenant

Some people hear the truth about resting in what Christ has already accomplished and wonder: “So do we never ask God for anything anymore?” The answer is — of course we do! Jesus Himself taught us to ask.

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22)

“Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)

The difference is in the heart posture. We don’t ask like beggars, unsure of God’s willingness. We ask as children who know our Father already loves us and has made us heirs with Christ.

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

Our asking isn’t about persuading God to care, He has already shown us that He cares and has freely given us all things in Christ. It flows out of intimacy, trust, and relationship. Praying in the New Covenant is not about following a specific formula or ritual, but rather it is having an open and honest conversation with our Father.

Examples of Asking Under the New Covenant

• We ask for wisdom, confident He gives generously.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

• We ask for boldness and strength in our mission.

“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.” (Acts 4:29)

• We ask for open doors for the gospel.

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word…” (Colossians 4:2-3)

So yes — we still ask! But we ask not from lack or fear, but from faith in a Father who has already made us His own and promised to never withhold His goodness from us. We pray from the heart, knowing we have direct access to God and that our relationship with Him is secure. We can freely express our thoughts, needs and gratitude to Him in prayer and confidently know that He hears us and loves us.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

A Practical Shift in Prayer

Here’s how this changes the way I pray:

• Instead of: “God, please be near.”

I now pray: “Thank You that You will never leave me or forsake me.” (Hebrews 13:5)

• Instead of: “God, please bless me.”

I now pray: “Thank You that You have already blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

• Instead of: “God, please pour out Your Spirit.”

I now pray: “Thank You that You already poured out Your Spirit and that He lives in me.” (John 14:16–17)

• Instead of: “God, please forgive me again.”

I now pray: “Thank You that in Christ I am forgiven once for all.” (Hebrews 10:17–18)

This is not semantics. It’s the difference between praying from lack versus praying from completeness in Christ.

Final Thought

Prayer is no longer something I dread or feel pressure to get right. It is a joy. It is relational fellowship with my Father. It is resting in the finished work of Christ and expressing gratitude, faith, and dependence on Him.

The gospel sets us free to pray with confidence, not fear. To pray from rest, not striving. To pray as children who know their Father is already for them, already with them, and already faithful to every promise He has made.