Chapter 7

Learning How to Pray Effectively

Prior - Next Chapter

 

 

If one prays to God on how we want things to be, one's prayer life may be rather silent.  This may be similar to a barking puppy telling his master what needs done despite the puppy's lack of experience and wisdom.

 

Consider how Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42-44 at the Mount of Olives, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus' prayer included:

 

• Expressing a concern to God
• Completely placing it in God's hands without expectation
• Asking for God's will to be done.

 

God's heart must have ached during his beloved Son's pleas prior to man's crucifying Christ. Yet, if God had yielded, the gift of salvation God offers us would not have occurred. The gift required Christ to give himself as ransom for the sin of man. (1Timothy2:5-6)

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Learning how to pray effectively...

 

There was once a young Born Again Christian. He prioritized his life to do things he thought God would want and asked God for direction.  However, he never learned praying with humility.

 

Twenty years passed as he listened to hundreds of sermons on God's will and had prayed the "Lord's prayer" a thousand of times. The man was okay with the concept of God's will prevailing over his own; however, there was still some reluctance.

 

One day, the man shared a conversation with a church youth director who had taken a shortcut in life involving a pregnancy and once struggled with drug addiction. Her approach to prayer was a complete submission before God. She possessed a selfless humility in desiring that God's will be done as she expressed her concern.

 

The concept of herself was non-existent as she laid out her heart before God. The man finally recognized his own unenthusiastic hesitancy toward God when compared to the youth director's free flowing desire to have things done God's way.

 

This man now prays:

"Teach me to listen and possess a heart that is willing hear".

 

 

Some skip directly to this chapter expecting to find a few “secret words.”

 

Consider: “How does God hear our prayers?” Is it by sound waves? Or, by thought?

 

God knows the thoughts that we are not proud of. His goal is to raise us up to be acceptable in his presence.  Humility in prayer is the first step in placing His priorities over our self-interests.

 

The entire booklet (when blended with prayer) is designed to help remove the barriers that each of us has placed between ourselves and God. 

 

Beginning of booklet - Prior Chapter: "Forgiving yourself" - Next Chapter

 

 

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