Prayer Life

How is your prayer life?  Often people call on God on a 911 basis, when their need is great and God is a desperate resource.  Would you like to be turned to only in an emergency?  No, of course not, and neither does God.  God is available to us, 24/7 and 365 days a year, but why is He often a last resource that we go to.  Self reliance and dependency are the main faulty reasons.

What is  prayer and how does it work?  "Prayer is staying in communication with God—talking to Him, spending time in His presence, and drawing near to Him. Through prayer, we express adoration and thanks to God, we make requests known to Him, we intercede for others, and we learn more about His character and His will for our lives."  [gotquestions.org]

Pastor and author Andrew Murray provided a good description of acceptable prayer, writing that “it must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied."

Is sin keeping you from an effective prayer life?  Unconfessed sin in your heart is a main hindrance of one's prayer life.  Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated   you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you,   so that he will not hear."   Psalm 66:18,  "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened"

Other Hindrances to Powerful and Effective Prayer Life:

1. When we are living according to the flesh, rather than in the Spirit 

2.  When our prayers are selfishly motivated

3. A hardness of heart toward others

4. A spirit of unforgiveness toward others

5. Unbelief and doubt

6. Discord in the home

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”, and that the “eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer”, and, again, “the prayer of the upright pleases Him”

Ten biblical instructions concerning prayer :

1. Pray to the Heavenly Father

2. Pray for good things 

3. Pray for needful things

4. Pray from a righteous heart

5. Pray from a grateful heart

6. Pray according to the will of God

7. Pray in the authority of Jesus Christ

8. Pray persistently

9. Pray unselfishly

10. Pray in faith

 Sometimes we pray and pray, but our prayers go unanswered.  This could be God saying 'No' and we are just not listening or accepting of His answer.  Or, sometimes our prayers are made in the wrong way.  

1. We want to help God answer our prayers.   If the answer doesn’t come as soon as we’d like, our faith in Him begins to waver, and we try to fix the situation ourselves. 

2. We focus on our requests rather than on God.  Our thoughts are focused on the needs and not on the One who can meet them

3. We pray without the Word of God  When Scripture fills our hearts and minds, our thoughts and prayer requests align with God’s will, and our faith grows strong. But if we neglect God’s Word, there is no light to guide our path or to give us understanding and assurance 

I hope these thoughts on prayer help to make your prayer life more powerful and effective, as it has mine.  Peace and grace to you all.

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