How to Pray

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Five Guidelines to Effective Prayer

When we pray to God we should not only request small things but with a holy boldness we should pray for great things.

If the thought of laboring over a topic in prayer causes you to break out in a cold sweat then simply pray short one sentence, sincere prayers instead. A sentence or two may be all that's needed to exhaust the topic for you for the time being. If this is so, just move on to the next item without feeling guilty for your brevity.

1. Effective prayer should be grounded in scripture. The Bible is our only guide. To put it in a nut shell trust in God through knowledge and conformity to orthodox Christianity. Faith though trust in God, understanding God, one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Sprit. The only path to God is through Jesus Christ.

John 10:7 - Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
John 10:8 - All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
John 10:9 - I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

Romans 10:17 - Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

2. Adoration is the expression of love and our yearning to be close to God. Through our faith we will naturally move toward worship and praise.

Ps. 95:6 - Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

Ps. 100:2 -Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

3. We must confess: and not be self-righteous [that is confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.] We must develop a close relationship with God starting with prayerful confession – we must become intimate with him. To do this when we pray we should confess our wrongdoing, confess to our hurting of others, confess to not behaving as we should [in short our sins]. Just to admit we seek God’s forgiveness and seek his absolution in prayer is to begin to develop a closer relationship with him.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

4. To thank God in all things is a function of prayer. Sometimes it is easier to thank God when things are going well; seldom do we give thanks - if we pray at all - when we feel stressed in life. We should be confident knowing always that God provides for us precisely what we need.
Paul gave us good advise when he told us - "be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Th 5:16-18).

Ps 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

5. Asking in prayer: The Bible encourages us to bring our requests to God in prayer; to be confident when we pray and not to doubt. James 1:6 encourages us to be confident and not to doubt. James adds in 4:2-3 that we do not have because we do not pray. And that if we pray and do not receive it is because we ask with wrong motives. We should not try with our prayers to put pressure on God to do our will. We should put all concerns into his hands and to help us through prayer to conform to God’s will.

1 John 14 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

1 John 15 - And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.

Sometimes prayer is a battle.

These tips are meant to be suggestions to help focus your prayer. Some of these tips will help and any that do not simply reject.

1. Find a nice safe, comfortable place where you can concentrate without distraction.

2. It is good to develop the habit of praying by choosing the same to place to pray each day. This way it becomes routine and rather than making excuses to yourself not to pray you will look forward to your time with God.

3. Many people feel shy to pray out loud preferring to pray in a whisper or in their minds. Many of us that do this end up either falling to sleep or find our thoughts straying onto to less spiritual matters; to pray out loud is better as it keeps you focused

4. Keep a note pad handy so you can jot down different things that come to mind while you're before the Lord. Sometimes you'll get great ideas totally unrelated to what you've been praying about. If you jot them down you can quickly get back to the topic at hand without being too distracted.

5. Make a list to keep track of your prayer needs. This can be done several ways. Prayer needs can be listed by category like "Church," "Family," or "Unsaved friends." Or they may be listed by the days of the week. Each day you pray for a different set of needs.

6. Redeem time for praying out of unused corners of your schedule. Those who have to drive to work can use the time talking with the Lord instead of screaming at traffic. Busy homemakers can combine prayer with housework, especially if the task doesn't require a lot of concentration. Joggers, swimmers and cyclists can use their workout time for prayer.

7. Change the pace during your prayer time. Include praise, thanksgiving and singing as well as petition. Spend some of your time reflecting on the Scripture, meditating on it and digesting its meaning.

8. Keep a prayer journal. Here are two variations of this idea. The first is to keep track of what you prayed for and when you prayed for it. Leave a space to jot down the answer when it comes. This will help you to keep alert to God's answer so you can thank Him promptly. Sometimes prayer answers come in the back door and you don't want them to slip by you. The second variation is to write the entire prayer in your journal. Make it a personal letter to the Lord on a daily basis. Just write "Dear Lord" instead of "Dear Diary."

9. Pray with someone else. Though some prayers can only be said in solitude, there will be times when you'll want to join hearts with another person in prayer. If you commit to meet on a regular basis, the accountability can really help build consistency. Such prayer trysts can become powerful, life-changing events.

10. Pray one-sentence prayers. If the thought of laboring over a topic wears you out, pray short, sincere prayers instead. A sentence or two may be all that's needed to exhaust the topic for you for the time being. If so, just move on to the next item without feeling guilty for your brevity.

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