Power Packed Prayer

11/3/2021

Written By: Margie Davis

There have been times in my life that I have felt as though my prayer life is lacking. I have felt that I am doing it all wrong and many times I KNOW I am just going through the motions and “getting it over with.” I really do have a burden to pray. And if I tell you that I will pray for you I ABSOLUTELY do! But I wonder if God is sometimes just hearing “blah, blah, blah, blah” because I’m just not focused enough. Does that ever happen to you? If so, let’s take a minute and explore how we can truly have a power packed prayer life.

Starting our prayer

What is our goal? We want to feel as though we are in the presence of God, right? Otherwise, we are just saying words to the air. We need God’s attention. What gets God’s attention? WORSHIP! Worshipping God ushers us into His presence! We can start with listening to (or singing) a song, reading a Psalm to God, or just speaking words of adoration and worship to Him with no agenda but to pour out our PERSONAL WORSHIP to Him. Imagine Him sitting on His throne and He hears some adoration that is getting His attention. He leans forward and takes it in and feels the love that’s rising up! He is totally ready to hear from you!

Ok, what’s next?

Confess to God anything you may be “hiding” from Him and ask for His forgiveness. Maybe it’s an ongoing sin. When you don’t confess your sin to Him, you build a wall that keeps you outside the abundant grace He’s offering you. Maybe it’s doubt, anger, confusion, sadness, disappointment, frustration or something else that’s robbing your peace and hindering you from just being still before Him. Pour out your HEART. This place is a safe place.

Now be still

For just a little while be still and let Him bring to your mind how faithful He has been to you. Thank Him for anything He’s brought you through or any abundance in your life, etc. We ALL want to feel appreciated and since we are made in His image, I’m guessing He loves that too! It is way too easy for us to get bogged down in what we WANT and forget what we HAVE. Pour out your THANKSGIVING!

ASK

Ok, this is the part we usually all skip to! The big word for this part of prayer is supplication. The dictionary definition is “the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.” This is the part of prayer where we tell God what we need from Him for ourselves or on behalf of someone else. Here is where I can get really tripped up. I go into prayer asking Him to help me or someone I love, but I also have in mind what I want the answer to be. I can’t seem to help myself. Of course, I wrap up my prayer with “Your will be done” because that’s what I have always been taught to do and not because I totally trust that I’m going to be happy if HIS will is actually what happens as a result of my prayer.

Please don’t misunderstand; we absolutely should be bold in our prayers! I believe Scripture clearly teaches us to be RELENTLESS in asking for what we need! But I want to encourage you today to not give up your robust, relentless prayers just because the answers you want don’t seem to be coming.

Here is the key. We have to trust that God’s desired OUTCOME is greater/better than our desired ANSWER. This part of prayer is a tangible measure of our faith. Trusting all of our prayer outcomes to God takes practice. It takes remembering that your heart beats and your lungs breathe and that is not something that YOU do on your own. It’s remembering all the times He showed up with the exact answer you were hoping for and realizing that His desired OUTCOME and your desired ANSWER were in sync. That’s how you remember that He DOES have good things in mind for you and He’s not a mean God who doesn’t answer your prayers your way just because you didn’t perform up to par yesterday. He is a Father who is strong enough to take it when we throw a fit because we didn’t get our way BECAUSE He can patiently wait for us to realize that His way was better.

One more thing that is just my personal tip for jazzing up your prayer life is the actual posture of prayer. If you are able, try kneeling or even lying face down to pray, or physically go to a closet or room that you can designate as a “No Interruptions Zone.” Your family will get the message that prayer is a big deal in your house and hopefully develop their very own Power Packed Prayer Life!!