How Nehemiah Started His Prayer

Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Nehemiah 1:5

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Most of us begin every prayer we pray the same way, “Dear God”; but I have no idea where we get that from. It’s not from the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible will you find someone start a prayer with the words “Dear God.” 

Frankly, I don’t think it's a very helpful way to begin a prayer. It's so formal and distant. It sounds like we are writing a letter to God, not having a conversation with Him. And most of the time when we say those two words, we don't mean anything by them. We aren’t really saying anything about how dear God is to us. It's just a meaningless way to get our prayer off and running. 

Notice that Nehemiah doesn’t start his prayer that way though. He shows us a better way. He starts his prayer with: 

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

That's so much better than "Dear God!" I want to encourage you to think about how you start your prayers. It's not necessarily bad to start your prayers with “Dear God,” but it may be a rut that is holding your prayer life back. 

So, when you pray, think about who you are praying to and address Him as such. Try starting your prayers off with “Heavenly Father" or "Lord God in Heaven” or “Lord God Almighty” or “My God, My Rock, My Savior” or “O Great Friend of Sinners.” Try anything to break yourself out of the rut of “Dear God.” 

I freely admit that it has proven more difficult than I thought it would be to break the habit. But ‌I have found that my prayers are much more meaningful when I start them off by really thinking about who God is. Why not give it a try?