Spring Towards a Growing Prayer Life
Springing Towards a Growing Prayer Life
This spring, during the evening service, I have begun teaching on prayer. This is a crucial element of living as a triumphant disciple of Jesus so I like to look at it regularly. Even if you already have a strong prayer life, we can always sharpen this spiritual discipline which ultimately helps grow our relationship with God. So, here are some thoughts to help you build this vital discipleship skill.
Pray Daily
Praying daily will help you grow in your prayer life because you are prioritizing God each and every day. You strengthen your relationship with Him when you pray daily.
You can set a reminder on your phone, put a sticky note on your mirror, or set an alarm to go off at a certain time to help you remember to pray. After a while, it will become a habit and a part of your day. Try not to think of praying daily as a chore or something to check off your to-do list. I find I pray first thing in the morning to start my day off and then pray after I get ready for bed.
Regardless of when, pray because you are able and free to do so. Pray with thanksgiving in your heart. Pray because God loved you so much He sent His son to die on a cross for you. Pray out of an overflow of gratitude from your heart. When you don’t feel like praying, pray anyways. Pray and ask God to help your heart. You can make a verbal list (or better yet a written list) of all the blessings you have in your life to help remind your heart that you are grateful.
By praying daily, it helps you to remember that God is the most important part of your life. You are sitting Him on the throne of your heart. We read this in Psalm 116- “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” What a great reminder!
Give Praise
Once you get in the habit of praying daily, what should you pray? How about starting with giving praise? If you’re like me, you’re likely pretty good at petitional prayer (think: asking for stuff), but how about just praising God? During your prayer, take time to give praise to God. He has blessed us greatly and the least we can do is thank and praise Him for who He is. Don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas:
1) Praise Him for Salvation (John 3:16)
2) Praise Him for His Mercy (Psalm 86:5)
3) Praise Him for His Love (2 Chronicles 6:14)
4) Praise Him for Goodness (1 Timothy 4:4)
5) Praise Him for His Kindness (Titus 3:4-6)
Another idea would be to read a Scripture associated with a specific attribute of God. God is deserving of all our praise, and we should be diligent about praising Him during our prayer time. Yes, let’s remember to praise the Lord as we pray to him daily, that will lead to a mature prayer life!
Pray Believing
Jesus instructed us on prayer in Matthew 6, which I am going through in the evening services. He said, ‘when you pray’, not ‘if’. There is an element of expectation. So, when you pray, pray believing. What do I mean? To pray believing means to believe in God and that He will work all things out for good. Even if he didn’t answer your prayers the way you wanted, He knows what’s best and we don’t always understand God’s timing.
We can all learn from the man whose son was possessed with demons when Jesus told him, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” He immediately responded with, ”I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:23-25). We too can ask Jesus to help us with our belief. This is a great example of how we need to be humble and ask Jesus to help our own unbelief. Ask Jesus to help your heart to believe in Him more and more. When you pray, remember who you are praying to and say out loud, “I believe in you, Jesus.” I hope this will help you experience deeper, richer, prayer this spring and beyond.
In His grip,
Pastor Chris
ps….if you’ve not come out to our evening service (6pm Sundays) it would be great to have you join us as we learn together how to pray more effectively.