pray\ˈprā\
verb
: to speak to God especially in order to give thanks or to ask for something
: to hope or wish very much for something to happen
: to seriously ask (someone) to do something
When I was little I prayed every night for a dollhouse. I never did get the dollhouse of my dreams, but I did get a dollhouse eventually. I always think of those childish prayers.
For years I did not know how to pray. I was also afraid to pray out loud or in front of others. I was repetitive in my prayers and I really sounded life I was begging. If I tried to pray out loud I got tongue tied trying to copy someone else’s words I had heard.
I read a few books on prayer and tried a few prayer formulas, but none really seemed to stick.
I believe practice and the Holy Spirit are what have developed my prayer style.
I can pray in my car, as I am walking around, while cooking, cleaning, and even sometimes I wake myself up in the middle of the night praying. It comes easy and naturally to me now. I don’t use fancy words at all. I just speak from my heart and sometimes when words won’t do or fail, I pray from my spirit.
I wrote this out in my journal the other day as a way to help my children began to develop a practice on how to pray:
PRAY. P-Praise
R-Repent
A- Ask for other’s needs / Ask for your needs
Y- Yield (Be Still & Listen)
I start my prayers with Praise. Thanking God for who He is, for the sacrifice He made, for what He has done, is doing, and has yet to do. I praise Him for answered prayers, as well as, the unanswered prayers.
I then Repent. I ask God to forgive me of all my sins and shortcomings. To search my heart for anything that grieves Him. I ask Him to reveal to me areas I may not even be aware of where I did not bring Him glory.
I then move into Asking. I ask for the needs of my friends and family or whomever God places on my heart. Sometimes it is strangers on the news or someone I may have come in contact with, or something I saw or read or people that have asked for me to pray for them.
I then ask for my own needs and desires. I ask for God’s direction and God’s desires to be made known to me.
Lastly, I Yield. I pause and wait to see what God speaks to my heart or where He leads me. I have learned to get comfortable with the silence. That is what brings me the peace and knowing in my knower what and how I should pray. Many times I just begin to pray in my spirit God’s perfect prayers.
I also review the following list to make sure nothing is hindering my prayers.
*Here are some things that can hinder our prayers according to thebestlife.net :
1) Unforgiveness
If we do not forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. (Matthew 6:15)
2) An Unthankful Heart
Give God thanks in all things, because in all trials, painful situations, He is always with us. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
3) Unbelief
Pray with confidence, believing God to do what He said He will do. James 1:6-7 says “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”
4) Selfishness
Ask for the things in God’s will, the outcome of which is to honour and glorify God. James 4:3 says “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
5) Failure to ask God to supply our needs
James 4:2 says “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”
6) Disobedience
Pray and ask God with confidence, obeying His commandments. 1 John 3:22 says “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.”
7) Praying Alone
Pray with others and agree in faith. Matthew 18:19 says “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”
8) Disharmony in family or with others
Be at peace with one another. 1 Peter 3:7 says “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”
9) Idols
– Not putting God first in our lives. Ezekiel 14:2-5 says “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of by them? Therefore speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols. ‘”
10 Forgetting the Poor
– Ignoring and not having compassion. Proverbs 21:13 says “Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.”
11) Lack of reconciliation
– Bearing malice, hate, grudge etc. Matthew 5:23,24 says “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
12) Not wanting to wait on God
Matthew 7:7,8 says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
The Blessed Holy Spirit can lead us, teach us and guide us to overcome these hindrances, if we ask Him to help us in our daily Christian walk with Jesus Christ.
You can also do an Internet search for many more resources on prayer.
If you seek God with your whole heart, He will reveal to you what you need to know.
All people of all ages can pray.
It is never too late or too early to develop your own style or practice of praying.
~ XXOO Michelle Bollom
© RestoredMinistries
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