7 keys To Effective Prayer-We tend to oversimplify prayer to mean only talking to God. That’s accurate, but prayer entails much more than talking to God. It goes beyond just growing closer to God. It goes beyond the outcomes we hope for when we pray.
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The path to a connection with God is by prayer. When we seek Him, He not only says He will listen when we call, but He also says, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” You will find me when you search for me with all of your heart (Jeremiah 29:12,13).
Your heart and intellect are engines that run on prayer. It’s prayer, not your triple shot almond milk latte coffee in the morning, not your K.F.C. lunch, not the high you get on social media when you see the likes rolling in. More than anything else, prayer is how you connect with God. Without God, we could never do anything worthwhile; without prayer, we could accomplish nothing useful.
There is a real God, actual communication, honest labor, and accurate responses when someone prays. It also comes in an infinite variety of shapes and forms. Conscious and intimate connection with the universe’s God is what prayer is all about. Not simply a checkbox to be ticked, not just a little cry for assistance, not just a hazy, abstract concept hanging over your head and existence.
And how is your life of prayer? Here are seven strategies to improve your time spent alone with God.
7 keys To Effective Prayer (practical steps to a powerful prayer life)
1. Decide on A Time & Location
We should rely on something other than chance if prayer fuels our existence; we wouldn’t do the same with motor gasoline. Decide on a regular time and place to spend alone, then be sure to keep to it. It may happen in the morning at home, over your lunch break, on a long journey, or at a handy hour in the evening.
It should remain constant even if various people experience different periods and places (which is one of the fantastic blessings Jesus purchased). According to Jesus, it should be done consistently alone (Matthew 6:6), not solely.
2. Pay Attention Before You Talk
Setting aside time for prayer and meditation with God might be scary. I need help to spend half. No, thank you: no friends, no T.V., no phones. However, we are talking here about the All-Powerful Almighty God. Everything is already known to Him; He anticipates our words before we do.
And so, really, what can we say? There is someone on the other side of our prayers, just as God does talk to us via His word and listens to us when we pray. “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and it shall be found; knock, and it shall be opened to you,” says Jesus. According to Matthew 7:7–8, “For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and whoever knocks, will have their door opened.”
An authentic Provider, Mentor, and Host. Thus, when you pray, give God the first word. Give Him the upper hand. Allow Him to speak to you in your heart and via your ears, and allow it to mould and inspire the words you return to Him.
3. Give The Spiritual Greater Weight Than the Empirical
Though vital, physical demands pale in contrast to our eternal, spiritual, and emotional needs. We do not fight against flesh and blood. Still, somewhat against the powers that govern, against the cosmic powers over this current darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the high realms, according to Paul (Ephesians 6:12).
This does not absolve us from worrying about or devoting effort to meeting our basic needs”Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Our ultimate provider is God. Therefore, we shouldn’t worry too much about him.
This implies that life is mostly about invisible reality. Ultimately, what matters are the spiritual and emotional developments, not the material and incidental ones. These things should drive our prayers, not something we should throw in at the end. Our most fundamental and persistent demands are spiritual.
4. Say a simple prayer
Though we might believe that for God to hear us, we need to pray forcefully and convincingly, God will nevertheless answer even our little “SS.O.S. petitions. Martin Luther once stated, “The fewer words, the better the prayer.” Isn’t that comforting?
We can pray for a little while. A simple expression of gratitude like “Lord, I love you” brings God great joy. He cherishes a mother’s heartbreaking plea as she begs him to “heal my child.” The most straightforward plea is met with his response, “Lord, give me strength for today.”
5. Request That God’s will be Your own
Jesus demonstrated a heart of obedience and surrender to God’s will above His wants and desires in other contexts outside the Lord’s Prayer. Just a few hours before He was crucified, Jesus would repeat the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but Yours be done.”
Knowing how to pray or what to ask for might be challenging when trying situations emerge in a society where right and wrong are constantly mixed and the future is so unknown. However, there is one thing we can be confident of: God has a beautiful plan for those who love Him, and being in the centre of His divine purpose is the safest place for us to be.
6. Feel free To Ask For Anything At All
A lot of us struggle with imagination and bravery in our prayer lives. We ask God for a small list of regular things that we are willing to ask for, and we handle all other issues, including queries, complaints, and nightmares.
Do we have the bravery to ask God to deliver the 136 million men and women that make up the Shaikh population in Bangladesh? 0% of people are Christians. Is it greater than God? “Is there anything the LORD cannot handle?” (See Genesis 18:14).
Do we have enough faith to believe God is interested in spending another Monday morning with the kids or at work? God is concerned about everything, even the tiniest details of your life and emotions. “Do not be anxious about anything,” advises Paul (Philippians 4:6).
“But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” This includes your casual chat with that buddy, your sleep tonight, and your monthly budget. Every day, everything and anything. Pray both large and little prayers without fear.
7. Have the willingness To Ask Again
Jesus anticipated our heartlessness in prayer. In particular, we would pray for so long that we began to wonder if God was paying attention or if He would ever respond. However, He did not want us to give up or lose hope.
He wished for us never to stop requesting, begging, and praying. He tells his pupils a tale of a widow who went to a judge “who neither feared God nor respected man” to get justice. She begged him over and over. Luke says.
He resisted for a long, but then he told himself, “Even though I don’t respect or fear God, I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me so she won’t beat me down by coming back.” “Hear what the unrighteous judge says,” said the Lord. And when his elect cry out to him day and night, will God not grant them justice?
Will he put them off for a long time? Luke 18:4–8 An unjust judge commended the widow for her perseverance. How much longer before God gives in to the persistent requests of his beloved sons and daughters? How much more would our heavenly Father hear us if the unjust judge could not ignore her? And do not despair—His timing is impeccable.
Final Words
More than anything else, prayer is how you connect with God. Without God, we could never do anything worthwhile; without prayer, we could accomplish nothing useful. Let’s all aspire to have a burning prayer altar with the most high.