Prayer
is communication with God. It’s talking
with and hearing from Him. We can learn
a lot about prayer from Jesus. Just look
at Jesus’ prayer life. In Luke 5:16, “Jesus
often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” He prayed often prayed and in solitude. He thought it was important. If Jesus felt the need to pray then how much
more should we?
Jesus
had a special place to pray. In Matt. 26 He went to the Garden of
Gethsemane to pray. We need to find time
and a place to pray. Do you have a
special place where you go to pray? Go to
your bedroom or outside on your porch or under a tree. Go any place where you can be alone and away
from the phone and any interruptions.
That doesn’t mean we can’t pray while we’re in our car or at the
grocery. The idea is to pray wherever you
are.
Jesus
was effective in prayer, because He prayed.
When Jesus prayed in the Garden, He could have asked God to send angels
to come and save Him from the horrible death He knew He was about to
experience, but He didn’t. Jesus always
prayed in God’s will. Maybe there’s
something you are praying for that is not in God’s will. If so, maybe you shouldn’t be praying for
that. The more you pray according to His
will the more blessings He will give you. Also God
heard Jesus’ prayers because of His reverent submission. (Heb. 5:7b).
Are you in referent
submission to God?
How
willing are you to live with His answer to your prayer?
Principle: Jesus was successful in prayer, because He
prayed and because of His reference submission.
Why is
prayer so hard?
I will
be the first to admit that prayer is hard.
It’s hard because it takes focus, time, discipline and obedience. It requires waiting on an answer from
God. It’s hard because we think we can
get more done and done quicker by ourselves.
Prayer is misunderstood. We’re
not sure just how to pray. We think our
requests are too small for God. We’re
not sure they will even make a difference.
We think we have to pray long prayers or pray like we hear others pray.
The
purpose of prayer if to align our hearts with God’s not for Him to give us what
we want. We should not pray only when
things aren’t going the way we want.
Jesus prayed when things were going well and when they weren’t. You don’t have to have years in the church or
in Bible study to pray successful. Jesus
prayed in the good times, the bad times and in average times. You can know a lot about prayer, but if you
don’t practice prayer it does you no good.
Principle: Pray
in the good times, the bad times and in the average times.
Are you
practicing prayer on all occasions?
How often
should we pray?
1 Thess. 5:17 says “pray continually”.
We should all pray more. That’s
simply enough. We can’t be successful in
prayer if we don’t pray. As I said
before, Jesus was successful in prayer because He prayed.
Pray
throughout the day and remember God is always with you. It’s like being with a friend. If your friend is with you, you have
conversations with your friend don’t you?
You share what you’re thinking and you listen to what your friend
says. It’s like that with God. He is always with you so just pray through
your day whatever the situation. Just
talk with Him. Then take time a listen
so He can speak to you.
There
is private prayer and there is public prayer.
In private we are to be persistent, thankful and can pray anywhere and
at any time. In public we are to be wise
in our conduct and in our words so we can be effective witnesses of Christ as
others hear our prayers. Don’t worry
about what others think, just open your heart to God.
Principle: Pray continually.
Do you
worry what others think when you pray?
How
should we pray?
Col. 4:2 – “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an
attitude of thanksgiving.” We are
to pray persistently, watchfully, and thankfully.
Pray
persistently. “Pray without ceasing”. – 1 Thess. 5:17. Without
ceasing doesn’t mean nonstop prayer every minute of the day. That would be impossible. It means coming back to prayer again and
again and over and over.
Pray watchfully. This is
how we stay alert against the unseen enemy.
Prayer is the energy and power in which we wage war. We must live in prayer at all times so we can
win the spiritual battle. It’s how we
are strengthened in the power of God.
It’s how we put on the full armor of God. It’s also expecting Him to answer.
Pray
thankfully. That is
to pray in faith in all circumstances.
Don’t forget to thank God in advance for what He’s going to do.
Principle: Pray persistently, watchfully, and
thankfully.
Do you
thank God in advance for how He will answer your prayer?
Has your
prayer life become routine and boring?
Jesus
said to His disciples in Matt. 26:41
when they fell asleep instead of praying, “the spirit
is willing, but the body is weak”.
We are like the disciples and easily distracted and tempted. It’s all too common to start to pray and then
we start thinking of all we have to do and let our focus wonder from prayer or
even fall asleep. We want to pray, but
our flesh is weak. We need to stick to
it and not give up and eventually it will become something we look forward to
doing.
To get
out of your routine prayers, pray for your inter-self. Don’t just pray for material things. Pray for strength and power through His
Spirit to be within you. Pray that
Christ would dwell in your heart through faith and that you will be rooted and
grounder in love. Pray that you will be
able to extent the love of Christ to others.
Pray that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God. Pray for God to do far more that what you
ask.
When
Paul was in prison, he didn’t pray for God to set him free or give him more
food to eat. He didn’t pray for his
physical or material needs. He prayed
for more spiritual growth. Pray with the
right attitude and with reverence and in submission to God’s sovereign
authority. Don’t pray small safe
prayers. Pray BIG prayers. God can handle them. There are no prayer too big for God.
Sometimes
God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we had hoped. There is a mystery about prayer and we can’t
always understand God’s ways, but know that He wants the best for us.
Principle: Pray in reverence and submission to God’s
sovereign authority.
Has
your prayer life become dry or lazy?
Are you
discouraged and don’t know what to say?
Do you
doubt that God is listening to you?
Ways to
help your prayer life.
Choose
a specific place to pray away from distractions.
Pray at
the same time every day making it part of your routine so it will become a
habit.
Pray
out loud - even though you pray often under your breath.
Keep a
note pad to jot down things that come to mind.
Make a
list keeping track of your prayer needs and leave space for when God’s answers.
Include
praise, thanksgiving and even singing.
Spend
some of your time reflecting on Scripture.
Have a
prayer partner for accountability.
Pray
one sentence prayers praying short sincere prayers.
Use
ACTS when praying –
A - Adoration, praising God for who He is.
C - Confession, telling Him what you’ve done
wrong and asking Him for forgiveness.
T - Thanksgiving, thank Him for what He’s
doing in your life or prayers He’s answered.
S - Supplication, asking God for daily needs
for yourself and others.
Don’t
over think your prayers.
In closing,
don’t over think your prayers. Prayer is
merely directing your mind and heart in the direction of God and just talking
with Him. Talk to God about everything
that matters to you. Pray until
something happens. Don’t give up. Keep on praying. God cares and listens to you. He wants us to come to Him. He is waiting for us to fellowship with Him.
Principle: Prayer is simply talking with God.
Have a
blessed day and thanks for visiting my site.
Hope to see you here again.
-- I encourage you to trust in
Jesus and pray often.
__________________________________________
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