Praying is not complicated. It’s talking to God. Since everyone is created in God’s image, we all have permission to speak with Him. Our challenge isn’t permission, it’s understanding our relationship to Him, and what His interests are. Here are several biblical examples of prayer that God engaged with. They don’t comprise the sum of His interests, but they reflect the hearts of those whose prayers He quickly answered. 

Job’s Prayer
When Job lost everyone and everything, here’s what he prayed: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Later on, when he’d worked hard to understand his experience, Job prayed this: “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes have seen You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). God responded to Job by restoring his fortunes when he prayed for his friends. In fact, he restored everything twofold (Job 42:10). 

Moses’ prayer 
One of the uglier moments in Israel’s journey from Egypt to their own land was the jealousy of Moses’ siblings over his role as God’s spokesperson. When they complained to God about it, He rebuked them for their jealousy. Rather than lifting his chin at them, Moses asked God to have mercy on them. God heeded Moses’ prayer and healed his sister (Numbers 12:13).

Stephen’s prayer
Shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, one of His earliest followers, Stephen, set about serving the poor and telling them about Jesus. When Jesus’ opponents heard Stephen’s teaching, they publicly challenged him. Stephen replied by explaining who Jesus was, then declared that he could see Jesus, at that very moment, standing at the right hand of God. The crowd responded by stoning Stephen to death, but before he died, Stephen’s prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:54-60). Since the apostle Paul was there at Stephen’s stoning, we know how emphatically God answered Stephen’s prayer.

The Thief’s prayer
One of the criminals who hung on a cross next to Jesus hurled insults at him. “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he asked, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:39-43). Prayer is one of the most consequential things we can do in any situation. God is always listening.