You will absolutely love this Bible based study on Effective Christian Prayer Life. It matters not if you have recently become a Christian or if you are a seasoned Christian. We all want our Christian Prayer life to be more effective as to enhance our communication with God.

In this study, you’ll discover that effective Christian Prayer is simple and with just a lil insight from the Bible, you can improve your Christian Prayer life dramatically.

Before we start, there are a few misinterpretations about Christian prayer, and Christian prayer habits that you may have formed that need to be looked at before you can expect positive improvement in your Christian prayers, so let’s talk for a moment about what Christian prayer is NOT.

Please don’t be offended if one or more of these things describe a pattern or habit that you follow in Christian Prayer. But instead, rejoice that after learning more from the Bible about Christian prayer in the next few minutes, you’ll be on your way to a closer relationship with the Lord.

Christian Prayer is not . . . a daily rattling off of your list of complaints to God. Most of the things we complain to God about can be changed by our own choices. Always remember, we are God’s servants, He is not ours.

Christian Prayer is not . . . something we do because we feel obligated. Our Father wants us to spend time with Him because of a sincere desire to, not because we need to have our prayer time card punched.

Christian Prayer is not . . . a one sided conversation, it’s two. You’re not the only one present and participating. This will be elaborated on later in our study.

Christian Prayer is not . . . better because of how long a time you spend doing it.

If any of these things have become your Christian Prayer habits, get ready for a totally new attitude about Christian prayer, you may find your Christian Prayers more an obligation than a Spiritual adventure where you are talking to GOD.

The first thing you need to do is relax. Your Christian prayer life is as YOU-nique as you are. No two people pray alike. No two Christian prayers are exactly alike. Only you can decide how you pray.

Ready?

Let’s get started.

An important thing to know about prayer is understanding WHO you’re praying to.
Get to know who the Lord is.

God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one entity (see the Trinity study), and you’ll find that building relationships in prayer with and THROUGH all three will enhance your Christian prayer life and help you to grow in Faith.

Though the three are ONE ...

It’s important to know the different “personalities” of the three divine persons of God. Just as you have a body, soul and spirit, and are still only one person, and we are created in God’s image - God has three parts as well.

God is your Heavenly Father. He created you. He knows everything about you. Everything! Every need, want, and emotion, every quality and quirk. And He loves you more than any human has the ability to love. Though your sins can never extend further than His GRACE, He is a jealous and peculiar God and wants your complete and unwavering devotion. He will discipline you out of love and you should welcome that discipline with an attitude of yearning to always seek, return and remain in His good graces. God is love. Talk to God as your Father, because He indeed is.
 

Jesus is your Savior. Never forget that He died for you. Because the world saw Him in the flesh, most people find it easiest to relate to Jesus. He is FORGIVENESS. If you feel that the Lord is upset with you, Jesus will intercede to God if you ask Him sincerely. He understands our human nature, having lived in flesh and blood Himself. He understands temptation, disappointment, physical and mental agony, trial and tribulation and every human emotion that exists. Jesus is your friend ...

The Holy Spirit is your Comforter.

He is TRUTH. Jesus sent Him to guide us because He would no longer be here in the flesh, and He understands how tough it is to live a godly life in an ungodly world.

The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He will not enter your heart if He’s not invited by Faith. He’s your Helper. If you don’t know what to do or say about something, the Holy Spirit will lead you if you only ask. He is the Spirit of God. He waits for you to commune with Him. He is your companion, your Spiritual intuition.

The Holy Spirit is the voice inside of you that encourages you to always do the right thing. Talk to the Holy Spirit like He is your mentor. Cuz He is.

As your Christian prayer life expands, you’ll get a better feeling of how we are to pray:

TO God
THRU Jesus
BY way of the Holy Spirit.

Sooooooo, our prayer comes from our Soul and is FELT by our own spirit and the HOLY SPIRIT feels it and makes intercession for us thru Jesus to GOD.

The Holy Spirit INTERPRETS our Christian Prayers.

Pretty cool huh?

Each different circumstance and your relationship will deepen with each of them as time goes on. Just as you want God to love all of you - mind (soul), body, and spirit, He also wants you to love and pray to all of Him.

What is Christian prayer? Prayer is the way that Christians communicate with God. But do you feel like you are at a loss for words when you pray? What on earth are you supposed to talk about when you pray, anyway?

If you’re new to prayer and you’re having trouble getting started, or just feel your prayer is not as effective as you imagined it should be ... Maybe this will help.

Pretend that someone just introduced you to Jesus for the first time, and left you alone together to talk. Get to know Him. How do you do that?

TALK

What would you tell Him? What would you ask? You may feel a bit silly, being that He already knows you better than you do, but tell Him all about you. You may learn things about yourself that you didn’t know, because many times we don’t discover things about ourselves until we talk about them.

BEAR YOUR SOUL

Are there questions that you’ve always wondered about Him?

ASK

Are there things about yourself that you’ve never told anyone?

CONFESS

It will bring you closer to Him and your friendship will begin to flourish.

TRUST HIM

Share your successes, your failures, your dreams, your disappointments, your happiness, your sadness.

He IS your best friend.

If you feel you need guidance, or if you’re lonely, the Holy Spirit is waiting for your invitation.

Sometimes you may just feel like spending time with the Lord, without speaking. Just knowing His presence is with you, is very fulfilling. Sometimes you just can’t put your thoughts into words when you want to pray, but not to worry, because God knows your heart.

REMEMBER ...

There is no designated time to pray.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are available whenever you want or need to talk to them.

They are open 24/7.

You don’t have to make an appointment, call ahead of time or save up your prayers for Sunday morning.

Just invite them into your heart.

And He WILL hear and answer you.

 
When you first wake up, say "Good Morning" to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Hide and watch whether the times you remember to do this, if your day goes better. Put something on your nightstand, or your bathroom mirror that will remind you that He is waiting for you to talk to Him.

Attach a "post it" note to your kitchen cabinet, on the refrigerator, or anywhere and everywhere to remind you to greet Him throughout the day. If your child woke up and didn't say good morning to you, you would be hurt or think he was mad at you. Don't ignore God . . . you are His child.

Jesus taught us that we should pray in private.

Ahhhhhhh, we have just been warned by our Lord.

Let’s say you are in a chat room and someone opens up the floor for prayer for something or someone. Everyone begins to put their petitions up on the board.

THIS is where you must be careful ...

In many cases ... Some souls carefully choose their most eloquent words to post,  and it is clearly for self edification. Some continue adding additional words, trying to outdo the others present.

They’re not speaking TO God ...
They are speaking for the other people in the room to NOTICE THEM.

Now this does NOT apply to those who are praying for others and truly led by the SPIRIT of God. It is not WHAT you do but WHY.

REMEMBER ...

If someone wants to be prayed for, your silent prayer speaks volumes to God, compared to revealing your intimate conversation with Him in an open forum.

PONDER AND PRAY ON THIS

In addition ... If there is godly conversation in the room and you’re Spiritually moved by it, an enthusiastic “Amen” or something similar is quite different and righteous of course.

Nobody wants to quench your passion, but there is a time and a place for everything. In Christian prayer, the time is any time, and the place for personal Christian prayer between you and God, is in the privacy of your mind and heart, with God. 

REMEMBER ...

Oh and speaking of hypocrites and Pharisees ... Here is something shared about being haughty in your prayer.

There are myriads of reasons why one would pray,

But, you may note that most of them fall into about five categories.

Confess your sins

As you learned at the very beginning of this study, everybody prays differently. Sometimes you may pray for hours at a time, and sometimes you may just whisper one word (like Alleluia or Thanks or Amen). How you pray is entirely up to you. Just remember, there are no limitations on prayer, small or large. Your Father judges your heart, and the only thing that He wants from you, is sincerity.

Here is the sample prayer Jesus gave us ...

Remember this is a MANNER of prayer as the Lord said.

He is NOT suggesting you just repeat this as your Christian prayer:

Ask according to God’s will.

Even Jesus did so ...

We need to make sure it is God's will not only in prayer but in our own plans ...

We are told NOT to wish God Speed to one who has false doctrine.

So obviously, we are to PROVE ALL THINGS before we pray for something.

This is especially important when you’re praying for others.

Consider this if you will ...

What if someone asks you to pray for a specific reason for them, or what if you, in the goodness of your heart, take it upon yourself to pray for something that someone didn’t ask for, but you believe it would be a blessing for them.

Innocently, you pray for them, but unbeknownst to you, the prayer is NOT God’s will for them. The prayer is not answered in the way hoped for, and questions arise about believing to receive, and asking in Jesus’ name, and innumerable other doubts.

IN PARTICULAR IF YOU PRAYED OPENLY

WHEN YOU PRAY FOR SOMEONE, BE SURE IT IS GOD'S WILL.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER

There is a little saying that goes like this:

God ALWAYS answers all prayers.
His answers CAN BE ... Yes, No, and Not now.

Remember that praying for God’s will to be done in our lives may be a little hard to grasp at first, because the human creature is naturally a selfish being. We want what we want. But what about what God wants? He is our Creator, after all. He owns the remote control of our lives. He created a plan for us, but sometimes we think we are the ones in control.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

The world and it’s desires pass away, But the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Many things the world offers look exciting, but we don’t see what lies behind or beyond its deceptive promises.

BUT ...  Our Father and protector does.

We often make our own plans and think we’re headed in the right direction, but if we don’t involve God in the planning, we will probably end up on the wrong path. Don’t get this wrong now, God loves you so much that He wants to give you the desire of your heart, and He wants your plans to succeed and your dreams to come true, but when we pray for something that will hurt us or is not His will, He patiently leads us in the right direction.

May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

He finds ways to fulfill our hopes while still conforming to His will.

Oft times ... At first it may seem like your prayer is not answered, but if we follow the direction that He points us in, we’ll find what we were looking for, without disappointment. Many times you’ll realize that what you were praying for, was something you really didn’t want.

Praise God for His infinite wisdom!

So, how do you avoid going in the wrong direction in the first place? Commit (trust) your prayers and plans to Him, and He’ll show you the right thing to do.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

The more you grow in Him by following His plans, the more you become like Him. You will sense His will, because He lives through you, guiding you and conforming you to His image. The more you become like Him, the closer you’ll be to the center of HIS will for you and your life.

Don’t forget to listen when you pray. Listen with your heart. Ask Him what He wants to say from His heart, and then listen. You’re having a conversation with the Lord, so give Him a chance to talk.

Give Him time to answer. Don’t forget that God is a Spirit.

These next passages show the different ways that people EFFECTIVELY prayed in the Bible.

Kneeling before the Lord during prayer reveals reverence for the Lord.

Prayer is all about reverence and getting a leash on our flesh.

The Lord has made it clear that EVERY knee should bow to Him.

Think about when we discussed praying for God’s will a few moments ago, and remember that God’s perspective is eternity. When He answers a prayer, our temporal outlook on our lives, sometimes cause us to limit our perspective and we can’t see the potential of the blessings that He bestows on us.

You may pray for the opportunity to serve God better, and His answer to your prayer may not be the same plan as yours. Keep your heart open to the doors He opens in your life. There may be sacrifices that are necessary in order to fulfill His will. The means by which His will is accomplished may seem extreme to us, but don’t forget,

He IS in control, and He knows what’s best.

Things that seem tragic to us, are sometimes a blessing from our Father.

For example: Sometimes the only way to make time in some peoples lives to serve Him is to remove us from things that we hold most important to us, because we put those things above and before Him.

Remember that little saying about God’s answers to prayer being ...

Yes, No, and Not now?

Let’s talk about when the answer is, Not now.

Sometimes we must be patient in waiting for our prayers to be answered. God’s timing isn’t always our timing. We tend to want things to happen NOW, we don’t want to wait.

But, again, we don’t see the full picture. From eternity, the things we think are important don’t amount to much, but God created us with a specific purpose in mind, and His timing is perfect!

So, when we think things are moving too slow in our life, we need to wait, because God is moving everything into its proper place. Jesus told a parable to His disciples about this, that people should always pray, and not to lose heart.

Don’t lose heart!
WAIT ON THE LORD

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act.
Travel steadily along His path.

Consider Jesus as the bridge between you and God.

This is a good time to talk about something VERY important . . . I won’t mention any names or specific teachings. I’ll let YOU be the judge. Mary (the Mother of Jesus) was a special woman that God chose as a vessel to bear Jesus. She was pure and humble and God blessed her.

Now, I am VERY aware that this topic is a sensitive issue to many, and most would prefer to just close their eyes and ears and repeat "la la la la la la la" as loud as they can.

I don’t seek to divide the body of Christ nor do I seek to judge ANYONE because I believe in Grace. However, I tickle ears poorly and TRUTH must prevail.

This topic was brought before me and I’m not asking that you believe my words ...

But rather ... HIS WORD.

There are a lot of people that pray TO MARY and THROUGH some past Saints. The problem is that not only does the Bible NOT say ANYTHING about praying to her or through any Saint, but says just the opposite. There are a lot of people who were raised, believing that it's proper to ask a dead Saint for intercession for them.

Some people think if you ask St. Christopher to talk to God, you'll be protected when you travel.

Some people think if you bury a statue of St. Joseph in your front yard when your house is for sale, St. Joseph will ask God to make the house sell faster.

Some people believe that if you lose something and you ask St. Jude to have a word with God, you'll find whatever it is you lost.

Some people think that if you say 371 Hail Mary's, your prayer will be answered, and then you have to tell 9 friends about it or all deals are off.

Ponder on this TRUTH ...

Why would anyone have you pray through THEM instead of Jesus, as it is written to do?

Would this not hinder the prayer?

Has Mary or any Prophet of God, Apostle or Christian that you've ever read about in the Bible EVER suggested that you pray to or through THEM to God?

The entire Christian way is based on humility.

If you still have your nose turned up because of the way you were taught, there's always one thing you can do ...

PRAY ABOUT IT

Just make sure you do it in the NAME OF JESUS.

As you can see, whether you hit your knees when you first wake up in the morning, or whether you squeeze your eyes shut, or whether you lace your fingers so tightly that your knuckles turn white, or open your arms and lift your hands toward Heaven, or whether you look up or bow down, or face the east, or light incense, or burn a votive candle in the dark, these things are all up to you.

PRAYER IS PERSONAL AND PRIVATE

As any secret convo you have with your best friend or spouse would be.

 

The important ingredients to effective prayer are ...

OBEDIENT REVERENCE
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
FAITH
PASSION
NO REPETITION
NO HAUGHTY OR VAIN THOUGHTS
FORGIVE ALL
LOVE ALL
GOD'S WILL BE DONE
GIVE THANKS

Follow this recipe and your spirit will feel it and God's Spirit will hear you and God will answer with YES ... NO ... Or NOT NOW

God bless you, and may your prayer life prosper with every passing moment!