Serious prayer can be very hard work. Distractions, exhaustion, busy schedules, sin and so much more are barriers to focused, heartfelt, effective God-honoring prayer. Satan greatly desires to wreck your prayer life.
The information below is intended as a resource to help strengthen and protect your prayer time. This is not a prayer checklist and is certainly far from complete. However, the truths from God’s Word gathered here can be one of the tools you use to periodically sharpen your prayer skills.
Learning from the Example of Others
Listed here are a few of the many great prayers in the Bible. Reading and studying these prayers can help develop, strengthen or revive the passion and effectiveness of your prayers.
- Matthew 6:5-15
- Jesus teaches about prayer and gives the model prayer
- John 17
- Christ’s High Priestly Prayer (for Himself, His disciples and future believers)
- Colossians 1:3-14
- Paul prays for the saints in Colosse
- Psalm 51
- David’s prayer after being confronted about his sin with Bathsheba
- Psalm 90
- A prayer of Moses
- 1 Kings 8:22-53
- Solomon’s prayer of dedication at the completion of the Temple
Below are some Fundamental FACTORS for Prayer. The prayers of a prayer warrior are:
Faithful
- Regular
- Often
- In Times of Need, Abundance and Sufficiency
- Increasing in Frequency and Duration
- Genuine
- Sincere
- Transparent
- Trusting
- In His Love, Grace and Mercy
- In His Plan and Purposes
- Depending
- On His Power and Perfection
- On His Protection and Provision
- On His Holiness and Un-changeability
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
- Psalm 143:1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in Your righteousness.
Adoring
- In Awe and Reverence of:
- Who He Is
- Creator God, Lord of the Universe, Father, Friend and Savior
- His Essence and Attributes
- What He has Done, is Doing and Will Do
- Made Us
- Died for Us
- Saves and Sanctifies Us
- Uses Us
- Coming Back for Us
- How He Does All that He Does
- Flawlessly and Effortlessly
- When He Does What He Does
- At Just the Right Time, Every Time
- All His Promises
- That Have Been, Are Being, and Will Be Fulfilled
- Psalm 7:17 I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
- Psalm 103:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
- Psalm 150:2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Confessing
- Basis
- Agreeing with God and What His Word Says About Sin
- Complying with the Conviction of the Holy Spirit
- Admitting that You Have Sinned
- Attitude
- Broken Over Your Sin
- Bold in Your Approach to Him
- Humble in Your Attitude
- Confident in His Faithfulness to Forgive
- Content
- Admitting Your Rebellion and Inadequacy
- Deliberate
- Things that are Forbidden that You Made a Decision to Do
- Things that are Required that You Made a Decision not to Do
- Accidental
- Sin that Results from Lack of Information, Planning, Discipline, Restraint or Safeguards
- Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
- Luke 18:13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
- Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Truthful
- Honest with Yourself
- Spirit Led Self Reflection in the Mirror of God's Word
- Honest with God
- No Lies
- No Secrets
- No Partial Truths
- Honest About Others
- How You See Them – As a Blessing or Burden
- How God Expects Us to See Them – As an Opportunity to Share the Love of Jesus
- James 1:23-24 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
- Job 31:6 Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Obedient
- In How You Pray
- Externally
- For God’s Glory, Not Yours
- Internally
- Spirit Led
- Based on His Word
- In Why You Pray
- For His Will to Be Done
- In How You Live In Relation to Your Prayers
- All of You In Submission to All of Him
- Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly
- Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
- 1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Repentant
- Yielding to the Gravity of Who God Is
- Responding to His Love by Turning from Your Sin
- Purposefully Keeping Him at the Center of Your Life
- Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
- Acts 26:20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
- 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Seeking
- To be Enlightened in the Knowledge of His Will in Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding
- So that You Know
- The Hope of His calling
- The Riches of His Inheritance in You
- The Greatness of His Power
- So You Are
- Walking Worthy of Him
- Pleasing to Him
- Increasing in the Knowledge of Him
- Strengthened According to His Power
- Joyfully Tolerant of Circumstances and People
- Grateful for What He has Done for You and Others
- So that You Align Your Desires with His
- So that You Have a Closer Relationship With Him
- Abiding in Christ
- Walking in the:
- Spirit (Galatians 5:16)
- Light (1 John 1:7)
- Truth (3 John 1:4)
- Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
- Ephesians 1:16-17 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
- Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
- Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
God honoring prayer is not an intellectual exercise. It is all about His Word, His Spirit, His Love, His Plan, His Desires and our relationship and alignment with Him. Pray on warriors!
Prayer
Father, please build strong prayer warriors that diligently, relentlessly and faithfully seek after You and Your Will. May Your Spirit and Your Word guide, empower and enable your prayer warriors. I praise You and thank You for the privilege of prayer. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.
