3 KEY CONCEPTS OF PRAYER: RELATIONSHIP, INTENTIONALITY, CONSISTENCY
Prayer is relational
From the beginning of time, you and I were created for relationship with God. God wanted a people that would love Him because they wanted to, not because they were obligated to. The word of God says
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I Am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart,Jeremiah 24:7 (NASB).
Our daily prayer to God is our communication with Him. Many of David’s prayers were captured in the book of Psalms, like in Psalm 86:4-5 where he uttered the following to the Almighty,
Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in loving-kindness to all who call upon You.
Intentional Approach To Prayer
Our approach to prayer needs to be intentional. In the natural, when we want to get to know someone, we make time in our schedules to spend time in their presence. We intentionally reach out to them via text, phone call or social media. We want to keep the communication lines open. That should be our approach with God as well.
If we have purposed in our heart to get to know our Creator, we have to be intentional with how much time we spend with Him. I completely understand that time is one of our greatest asset, that there are so many demands for our time. Spouses, family, friends, career social media and the internet all compete for our time. We are often in a fight to find time for ourselves. However, if we ever want to grow in our relationship with God, we must intentionally make time for Him.
When is the best time of your day? For some it’s morning and for others it’s at night. I encourage you to carve out at least 15 minutes of your day for communicating with Our Heavenly Father without distraction. Would you think about it? I know it is easy to spend that 15 minutes on social media feeds looking at images daily, but taking this time to communicate with God will benefit you. Jesus was always intentional to set time aside to spend with our Heavenly Father, God, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed,” Luke 5:16 (NASB). Also see Matthew 14:13 – 23 whereJesus was purposeful to pray after he heard bad news and after he performed miracles.
Consistent Prayer Time
One of the challenging areas of our lives is consistency, especially, when it comes to prayer. For some of us, we can pray consistently for about 5 to 7days, then life gets really busy and we fall “off the wagon,” as one would say and we become inconsistent in our prayer time. I find that most of us will become motivated to be more consistent with our prayer time when we face challenging situation in life. There we understand only God can help us. This is good. But it is God’s plan to build relationship with us during both our valley and our mountain top experiences. He wants to be with us during the Hi and Lows of our life. If you think about it, most of your closest friends and relatives have seen you go through the highs and lows of your life. They still love you the same. God wants to be that for you.
But, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, Proverbs 18:24(NASB).
Daniel for instance set consistent prayer times even when it was not popular and was possible to lose his life over it.
Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God. Even though Daniel heard about the new law, he still went to his house to pray. He went up to the upper room of his house and opened the windows that faced toward Jerusalem. Then Daniel bowed down on his knees and prayed just as he always had done, Daniel 6:10 (NASB).
Now that we have discussed the key concepts of prayer, the question is “How do I start?” First, I recommend you make an intentional choice that you want to deepen your relationship with God. Second, determine a carved out time in your day to pray. Now, that you are focused, here is a simple path of prayer taught to me by dear pastor, years ago. Praise and Thanksgiving, purify, pray, praise. It’s simple and effective. Note, at first you might feel awkward as you are learning this path. However, if you are consistent in the process, you will see your prayer life and your relationship with God grow.
Below is a simple example of how the path of prayer would look like on paper. This is a recommendation to get you going, but take this format and make it your own. The Holly Spirit can teach you how to pray. Let Him lead you to make your prayer personal.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.Romans 8:26
Recommended Steps to Consistency in Prayer
Praise and Thanksgiving: Psalm 34:1-4
Purify:Psalm 51: 5-6
Prayer request:
· Financial:Genesis 22:14, Philippians 4:16, Ephesians 3:20
· Healing:Isaiah 53:5
· Decision Making:James 1:5
Praise and Thanksgiving: Lord, thank you for answered prayer. Job 22:28
Note: as you pray, remember that this is a relationship builder tool with God. You are praying to God and you are also listening to hear God’s voice speaking to you. One of the most frequently asked questions of new believers is “how do I hear God’s Voice” or “How do I know it’s God or it’s my own thoughts?” When you think you have heard from God, always go back to the word of God to confirm what you heard.
Below are link to tools you can use to start a consistent prayer life
10 times prayer changes people lives.
https://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/10-times-in-the-bible-prayer-changed-lives.html
Smith Wigglesworth: On Prayer, Power and Miracles – Compiled by Roberts Liardon
https://annointing.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wigglesworth-prayer-power-and-miracles.pdf