Do you ever kneel down to pray because you sincerely want to share your heart with God, but no words seem to form in your mouth? You search your mind for a way to approach God and the only thing you find is a yearning in your heart that you are unable to express with words. Prayer takes practice. Anyone can talk to God and He is faithful to hear, but intercessory prayer that is effective and goes to the heart of yourself probably won't come naturally to most people.
There are myriad ways of praying and learning to pray. In her book, <i>Prayer that Works</i>, Jill Briscoe suggests looking to others who pray well, like the prophet Elijah. We can learn the following from him:
To pray effectively, you need to be forgiven by God.
The Bible tells us that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16). Another way of looking at that word "righteous" is to realize that it means that a person has been forgiven. Are you forgiven? When you pray a simple prayer of repentance and ask the Lord Jesus to enter your life, He will graciously make you ready to pray prayers that are effective.
You have to learn to be passionate in your praying.
Elijah "prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain" (James 5:17). Elijah's heart was in his work. Many times we kneel to pray and we really don't care if God hears and answers us or not. Fervency is a condition of the heart that is developed through our growing relationship with God. As we grow to love Him, we find ourselves caring aobut the things He cares about. Prayer turns our thoughts away from our selfish concerns because we are putting ourselves into the presence of a selfless Being—and a little of that rubs off.
You need to be a persistent pray-er if you are to see your prayers work.
Elijah prayed continually about the work of God. He climbed a mountain and got to work. He set himself to watch and pray until the rain came. (I Kings 18:42-46) Most of us give up far too soon when we are praying. We hit an obstacle such as unanswered prayer and stop dead in our tracks. When Elijah set himself to pray on the top of Mount Carmel, you get the impression that he settled down until the answer came. God likes us to be persistent.
There are myriad ways of praying and learning to pray. In her book, <i>Prayer that Works</i>, Jill Briscoe suggests looking to others who pray well, like the prophet Elijah. We can learn the following from him:
To pray effectively, you need to be forgiven by God.
The Bible tells us that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16). Another way of looking at that word "righteous" is to realize that it means that a person has been forgiven. Are you forgiven? When you pray a simple prayer of repentance and ask the Lord Jesus to enter your life, He will graciously make you ready to pray prayers that are effective.
You have to learn to be passionate in your praying.
Elijah "prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain" (James 5:17). Elijah's heart was in his work. Many times we kneel to pray and we really don't care if God hears and answers us or not. Fervency is a condition of the heart that is developed through our growing relationship with God. As we grow to love Him, we find ourselves caring aobut the things He cares about. Prayer turns our thoughts away from our selfish concerns because we are putting ourselves into the presence of a selfless Being—and a little of that rubs off.
You need to be a persistent pray-er if you are to see your prayers work.
Elijah prayed continually about the work of God. He climbed a mountain and got to work. He set himself to watch and pray until the rain came. (I Kings 18:42-46) Most of us give up far too soon when we are praying. We hit an obstacle such as unanswered prayer and stop dead in our tracks. When Elijah set himself to pray on the top of Mount Carmel, you get the impression that he settled down until the answer came. God likes us to be persistent.
