Prayer is one of the most important and most powerful spiritual tools in the Christian life. Yet if you ask most Christians about their prayer lives, you will find that most do not regularly pray and most can’t give a clear definition how to pray effectively. What does it take to develop an active prayer life? I want to share some of the principles that have helped my prayer life that may be helpful to you.

We have all heard people say things like, "I have tried everything, now all I can do is pray". I recently heard someone explain a similar situation and they had not prayed because they felt they could handle the situation but now it had grown beyond their control. It reminded me of the story of a lady who was listening to Dwight L. Moody and told him, "I only pray to God about big problems and don’t bother God with the little things". To which Dwight replied, "To God, every problem is little". How true that is. We struggle needlessly simply because we do not ask.

There are many, many aspects to prayer. I want to focus on five principle areas in this message: requests, thanksgiving, supplication and communion. Before I address these five principles, I want to talk about how we should approach prayer. Don’t role play with God. God is not impressed with religious terms and jargon. Be yourself and be natural. God already knows your emotions and He knows who you are. Putting up a front only hinders you and limits your benefit to your prayer time. Your goal is to get with God and to listen to God, not to complete a redundant routine.

Let’s start with thanksgiving. In Psalm 95:2 and 100:2 we are told to come before God’s presence with thanksgiving, singing, making a joyful noise with psalms. Twice the apostle Paul tells us to make melody in our hearts to God with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It is so easy to only see the problems but it is also important to acknowledge God’s hand in our lives. The Bible even tells us to rejoice in trouble and tribulations because if we trust God, He will shape us and work these to our good. An interesting test when we feel burdened is to take a paper and write down everything that troubles us on one side and everything that is considered a blessing on the other. You will find that your troubles are only one or two burdens and a small handful of annoyances. The blessings will not go on one side. There are spiritual gifts and blessings, health, food, shelter, clothing, family and the list goes on and on. Everyone has troubles. The world has trouble and the Christian has trouble. Only the Christian has the hope of God that allows them to rejoice in struggles. We are constantly climbing the mountain of life and godliness. Each struggle is a major climb but quickly becomes small once we have climbed it. Problems always seem giant when we are at the bottom of the incline.

Sometimes it is hard to be thankful when you are struggling. It helps if you first praise Him. Praise is acknowledging God for who He is. If you praise Him for being God and then acknowledge Him as creator; the one who holds the future in His hand; the one who directs your steps; the savior who loves you and reaches for you, then you will begin to move into a thankful spirit.

Take time out everyday to be thankful to God for our blessings and for how He is shaping us and helping us to overcome our struggles. Don’t fall in the trap of allowing troubles to absorb you. Our mission is to overcome our problems not become one with the problem. Those who get self-absorbed with their woes, become their own enemy. Get outside of the problem and begin to climb. As you seek God’s face and rejoice in Him, you will find problems begin to become small in the presence of God. God won’t exempt you. He will challenge you. I believe the purpose of big problems is to teach us to depend on Him. Sometimes we have a hard time learning this lesson and some would rather suffer defeat than to let go of the controls and turn to God.

Thanksgiving and praise are a very important aspect of prayer. Thank God for answering prayers. Thank Him for your blessings. Journal your prayers so you can see the answers and your growth. As the Bible teaches, take time to sing spiritual songs from your heart. One good praise technique is to take a hymn that is meaningful and pray the hymn back to God.

Next I want to look at requests. Just as I mentioned earlier, all problems are little ones to God. God said that he owns more cattle than could fill a thousand hills. God said that the earth belongs to Him and everything in it. God can meet your needs. I believe in praying about the little things as well as the big things. In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus warns us not to be anxious about tomorrow, not to worry about our food, clothing or shelter. Look at verse 32b-33, "For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Your needs are met by God. Jesus said the world searches after these things anxiously, but we have the promise that God will meet these needs if we seek Him and His righteousness. It is important to ask, but not in fear. We should ask in faith, knowing that we have these promises because we seek Him.

Look at 1 John 5:14, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him". Ask in faith. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. If we are outside of His will and out of touch with God’s word, we will not have faith or confidence. God doesn’t promise His blessings and confidence in our prayers to those who refuse to seek Him and refuse to allow God to be a part of their lifestyle. Promises of God are fulfilled through our obedience. I believe in claiming the promises of God, but I can’t claim those promises if I don’t know them nor can I claim them if I am not keeping the word.

When you pray, be specific. Pray and claim a promise and stand on the faith that God is true to His word. If you hold to His word, it is a surety that God will fulfill the promise He has given. Jeremiah 17 tells us that the one who trusts in the Lord and makes his hope in the Lord will not be defeated by troubles, will be fruitful and will prosper even when troubles hit. Many Christians get discouraged because they don’t feel this way. When you dig behind the pretense, you find that they are just like the man described in Jeremiah 17:5, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord". The result, "he shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes". We often come to God in prayer, but we can’t seem to put our trust and hope in God. Out of fear and the desire to be in control, we can only trust in flesh – what we can see and touch or we depend on another person to meet our need. Then we wonder why we don’t see God working. If we put our trust in flesh, God is out of the picture. Our natural tendency is to put our trust in our own flesh and take control to ourselves. Or we may compromise our principles because we are afraid God’s ways won’t work. Maybe we sacrifice our quiet time or family time because there is too much to do or we need the overtime money. Sometimes we can justify a little dishonesty because it is easier than looking to God and His word.

One important principle is to get outside of ourselves. I recently had a difficult decision to make and I struggled with the questions, "how do I know I am asking in God’s will?" I wanted confidence in the decision I was making so I could ask in faith. In my search, I compiled these verses that I felt helped me to confirm my decision.

Matthew 21:21-22, Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

John 15:7, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.

James 4:2b-3, Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your pleasures.

Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

I felt these 4 verses summed up a complete picture of asking in faith. I saw the promise of asking anything in Jesus’ name and it shall be done. The gospels repeatedly tell us that if we ask in faith, we shall receive. Then when we look at James, we see that if we ask with the wrong motives we won’t receive because of our selfishness. So how do we know if we are asking with the right motives? I think the answer lies in John 15:7. If we abide in Christ and his words abide in us, then we will have the right motives and what we ask will be done. Evidence of this is found in Psalm 37:4, when the Lord becomes our primary focus and the object of our affection, we delight ourselves in the Lord. When we delight in Him and our desire is to delight Him, our desires will be led by this relationship and we will asked based on our desire to please God.

After examining these principles taught on prayer, I was able to confidently pray in faith knowing that I was abiding in Him and not visiting God only when I had a need or concern. His word is in me as I have made a daily commitment to seek God through His word. I delight in Him and delight in His word. Psalm 1 says that what I do will be blessed because I delight in the law of the Lord, meditate on it and make it a part of my lifestyle, then what I do will prosper. This agrees with Psalm 37:4. This delight only comes from a consistent walk with God as He becomes the center of my life. Because I have done these things, I can be confident that I am not guilty of James 4:3 and therefore I can pray in faith knowing God hears and will answer.

Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". This verse is often misused. To come boldly is to come confidently knowing that we are welcomed and wanted in God’s presence. It does not mean that we stomp in and make our demands. Our motives should always be God-centered and not self-centered. Demanding from God isn’t spiritual strength, it is spiritual immaturity. Our perspective should not be to ask God to bless what we are doing, but to ask Him to guide us into what He is blessing. God has a plan for each of our lives that far exceed anything we could want or ask. The greatest blessings are received when we are walking in the path where God is leading us.

Supplication is the next prayer principle I want to look at. Samuel 12:23 says, "…far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you…". Praying for others is a command. Like any command, it is sin to neglect obedience, yet I believe that supplication is the most neglected part of prayer. Far too often we neglect to remember those needs that overwhelm those around us. Just read through the New Testament and count the number of times we are reminded to pray for others. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies, for fellow laborers to come to the harvest; Luke 21 warns us to watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape tribulation.

In Ephesians 6:18 we are commanded to pray always with perseverance, making supplications for all saints. We have been sheltered so far and don’t grasp the suffering of the saints around the world. I read a news report this past week that described what the Russian Christians are facing today. Religion is no longer illegal there, but churches and denominations must be licensed by the state. Some of the evangelical denominations are having trouble renewing their licenses and since they have lapsed, the government has made motions to confiscate their buildings and properties. One woman was so intimidated by a judge that she offered to deny her faith if that was what the court desired. Of course we would hope that we would be strong enough not to say the same things, but we don’t have these struggles. We should be praying for these churches and Christians. In the past week I have also read stories of foreign pastors being planted with drugs, put on death row for blasphemy against Allah and many more persecutions that exist against Christians in hostile governments. We should be consistently lifting these up to the Lord in prayer. The Bible also tells us to pray for the freedom of the gospel to be preached.

I am a firm believer in supplication. I organize prayer lists with index cards and a holder. One thing that helps me is to divide my prayer requests into 3 sections. The first section is urgent daily prayer needs. Second is important needs that I want to pray for at least once a week. The third section is for people that don’t have specific needs but I still want to remember in prayer. I try to make habit of praying everyday for the urgent needs and each day I take 3 or 4 cards from the third section. I set a specific time once a week to pray over my weekly needs.

Everyday it is important to pray over your family. To do this, you must set a specific time and find a quiet place to be alone. Job was a godly example of this as he lifted his family everyday. I believe in especially praying for my kids. This secular world values everything that opposes God and challenges God on every level. I pray for my kids relationship with God and for their relationships outside of the family. God has the power to direct their lives. I can only point them to God. I pray for their friends, future friends, future dates and future spouses. I want my kids to have godly families and I pray for God to shape those who will one day come into my children’s lives. May God sever the relationships that cannot glorify Him or benefit my kids. Looking back, some of the most positive things that happened in my life was lost friendships that would have been a negative influence on me. As I look back at the challenges I faced in my childhood and see how God lead me to where I am today, I wonder why was I delivered from my sins when others similar to me had their lives destroyed. I can only come up with one answer. I had a grandmother and grandfather who loved God and prayed for me. Without those prayers, my life would have surely descended instead of ascended. I did not want God and did not care about His ways, yet now He is the most important part of my life.

Each one of us should seek a minimum of 5 people who will commit to consistent prayer for us on a weekly basis. Each of us are commanded to consistently pray for each of our church leaders, political leaders, ministries we see serving God, families and any need that comes to our attention. James 5:16 encourages us with the words, "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much". Job was blessed and restored when he prayed for his enemies. God deals with us based on how we respond to the needs of others. You will begin to grow when you learn how to pray for others. All five of these prayer principles are critical to a healthy prayer life and a healthy prayer life is critical to a healthy spiritual life.

Before I go on, I want to mention a word about relationships. If we are not right with God, our prayers can’t be effective. If we are not right with others, we can’t be right with God. 1 Peter 3 tells wives and husbands to give to one another. These are commands and your obedience is not dependent on your spouse’s obedience. If you have bitterness against your spouse or your spouse against you, your prayers will be hindered. This doesn’t only apply to spouses, but others as well. Matthew 5:23 warns that if we come before God and someone has something against us, we are to reconcile first. Who is at fault isn’t the issue. We are commanded to love our neighbor as God loved us. God loved us even when we didn’t care and many mockers of God are now strong believers. The point of this command is that we didn’t deserve God’s grace and He extended reconciliation to us, even though we were the ones in the wrong. God’s love isn’t bound by who deserves it and who doesn’t. This could be a lesson in itself, but time doesn’t permit me to elaborate. The Bible clearly teaches that God deals with us based on our obedience to Him – especially how we treat others, even when they wrong us.

Communion is the last prayer principle I want to discuss. This is that time in our lives when we renew our strength and mount up with wings like eagles. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God". We all need to recharge our spiritual batteries. Most of us have seen a hard working, on fire for God Christian who fell as they experienced burn out. If you get so busy in extending yourself that you never take time to renew, you will grow weary. I heard a report recently that examined the great ministers dating back to when Billy Graham began his ministry. Only a small fraction of these men remained faithful to the call. I think we can see this even more in local churches. Over the years I have known countless Christians that said they were called into the ministry but very few ever fulfilled this calling. I believe the reason is that people have the tendency to put the ministry above their relationship with God. If we have to sacrifice time with God, we have the wrong motives and the wrong perspective. It doesn’t matter what we are doing, we must put everything aside into priorities with God at the very top. Communing with God is a critical part of renewal.

Psalm 119:37-38 says, "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in Your way. Establish Your word to Your servant who is devoted to fearing You". Being established in the word of God is essential to being revived. Psalm 18:30 tells us that the word of God is proven and is a buckler to those who trust in Him. You cannot trust in God and doubt His word at the same time. I read a lot of atheist writings and each time I am amazed that these so called ‘free thinkers’ can convince some Christians to doubt the Bible. I have read writings of Voltaire, Mikhail Bakunin, Bertrand Russell and several other renowned atheist leaders. Each of these men base their logic on ignorance at best and often times out of complete refusal to look at reality. If you can’t trust in the Bible, you have no foundation. This lack of foundation overthrows the faith of many – especially in this modern age.

Communing with God is taking time out specifically to worship God in prayer. One benefit that I have found is to take memory verses and pray them back to God. Some of these verses stand in awe of God, others instruct me. For example, Lamentations 3:22-24 says, "Through the Lords mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness! The Lord is my portion says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!"

This is a good worshipful prayer. I pray thanking God that through his mercies I am not consumed and how in awe I am that His compassions never fail. I thank God that His mercies are new every morning and thank Him for His faithfulness. I pray that I do and ask that I would always look to Him to be my portion and that I hope in Him and depend on Him to provide my portion. Psalm 119:37-38 is a good prayer verse. I pray that God would turn my eyes from worthless things and ask for Him to revive me in His way. Meaningful scriptures become more apart of my life by adding them to my prayer life. The Psalms are good renewal prayers. Habakkuk 3:17-19 is a great worship verse. The epistles in the New Testament are great for praying.

Confession is a very important principle. Confession is a three-part process. First you must let God love you; second, let God search you; third confess your sins to God. If you don’t let God love you, you will put up walls and not allow God to search you. When you let God love you, then you will trust God to search you believing that He has your best interest at heart. Read through the Psalms and you will get a picture of the love of God. Get beyond that ‘righteous judge’ mentality. Most Christians think of God as a judge who is ready to quickly punish each time we make a mistake. This is especially true to those who have had negative experiences with their own parents. God desires to bring you into a close relationship with Him. Mistakes on our part do not change that. God knows long before you act that you are going to mess up yet He still reaches out to you. Let God love you and approach Him as you would someone who cares deeply for you unconditionally.

Let God search you. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." You cannot know your heart. You have a one-sided perspective and you measure everything against your own desires – even without consciously choosing to do so. When you pray for others, your motives are usually pure, and unbiased, but when you pray for yourself this is not the case. We need God to search our heart and reveal what we cannot see. God will always tell us when we are wrong and with the pure motives with our good in mind.

As God reveals our sins, we should confess them. Confession should be quickly. The only right time to get right with God is right now. Neglected sin always increases. Once we become tolerant to sin, it will spread with the desire to consume us. Don’t let titles stand in the way. God doesn’t care if you are a pastor, a parishioner or the vice-president of your company. God doesn’t respect titles. Keep short accounts with God. I have a flower garden in my front yard. Each day I walk by and see weeds springing up and I pick them out. It takes moments to do. Earlier this spring it was quite different. I saw the weeds springing up but I was too busy to take the time to pick them out. After a month or so, the weeds took over the garden and it was a major task cleaning out the weeds. The flowers were choked and weak and the weeds were strong and unsightly. This is exactly how sin does our lives. If we immediately act when sin is revealed to us, it is not a big problem. When we tolerate it, it quickly takes over and sometimes gets so deep-rooted that we can’t pull it out without God’s help.

Once we confess a sin, it is equally important to let go of it. If you confess your sins, repent, and don’t return to your sin, don’t allow it to haunt you. If it comes to mind, it is not God revealing it but the accuser. Satan’s only goal is to discourage you so you leave the battle and give up. With God, you are forgiven and it is no longer remembered once we confess and repent. We have besetting sins that we allow to ensnare us over and over again. God never gives up on us but is patient to help us to overcome and truly repent. Once we learn to let go of the desires that draw us into our pet sins, we can leave this behind also. Let God search your heart and reveal the desires that draw you to the point where you are willing to sin habitually. Identify those areas of compromise, confess and turn away. God is patient, but we sometimes give up or are not willing to deny ourselves temporary pleasure.

I hope you may benefit from this study on prayer. We serve a living God who gives us a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Matthew 6:7 teaches that we should not use vain repetitions. The reason is that we have a personal relationship with God and He is not summonsed by mantras or chants, but He is touched by our prayers and His earn listens for our cry. Pray fervently and consistently in the spirit and in faith. Jeremiah 33:3 says, "call to me and I will answer and will show you great and mighty things which you do not know." Isaiah 65:24 says that God will answer before we call and will hear before we finish speaking. Through Christ we have a personal relationship with God. He is not somewhere beyond the clouds, but He walks with us when we choose to make Him our lifestyle.

If you discipline yourself and make these five principles a consistent part of your daily walk, I am absolutely convinced that your life will be transformed.