January 26th, 2017
❤ Linking Hearts ❤
Prayer is that which causes us to link our hearts to God himself. We talked yesterday of why we pray so today I wanna encourage you on how to pray. We are given 12 scriptural ways to pray.
Praise Him!!!
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray and it began with: "Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name...."
When we begin by praising we are exalting and lifting up our Father, we are telling Him how much we love Him and that we honor Him.
Waiting
Do you ever tell God how much you love Him? Sometimes this can be challenging when we pray. We usually are so ready and eager to make requests from God that we forget to take time to be still and focus on who He is.
Confession
We all know we were born into this world as sinners and our sin nature can also make it difficult to admit we are wrong. We must learn to come before God acknowledging our sin and asking for Him to forgive and cleanse us from it. You never want doors open that can allow the enemy an opportunity to attack.
Scripture Praying
Gods word is the truth for us as Christians. We need to be taking his word and using it as our weapon for spiritual warfare. We know of His promises and God doesn't lie. Need healing? Isaiah 53:5 then claim it! By His stripes we are healed! Need a do over? Lamentations 3:22-23 His mercies are new every morning. Need a Savior? John 3:16 God sent His son that you and I can have everlasting life!
Watching
Learn to be alert to the Spirit of the Lord. Think about what you can or should be praying for. They are many times God will drop certain thoughts in Your spirit. We need to learn to be sensitive to Him and recognize when He is communicating with us.
Intercession
We have got to learn to pray for others. This allows us to emotionally bond with our Father. It also allows us to take the focus off of ourselves and can truly make our mountains of troubles seem more like speed bumps.
Petition
Now we get to bring our needs before God. It gives us an opportunity speak one on one with our Daddy and tell him what we need. Matthew 7:7 tells us to ask and it shall be given.
Thanksgiving
Take the time to love on our Father. Thank Him for all that He has done for you and is yet to do, for we know His nature and goodness. We know the best is yet to come! 1 Thessalonians 5:18 instructs us to give thanks in ALL circumstances. Even things we may not understand or we think are breaking us, God has a purpose.
Singing
Most definitely my love language with God. I find myself most mornings when I arise, that God has put a song in my heart. He loves when we sing to Him! Wouldn't you like to be serenaded?
Meditation
This is spiritual thoughtfulness in prayer. Joshua 1:8 instructs us to meditate on Gods word day and night.
Listening
Take the time to hear God. Being sensitive to His spirit allows for guidance and instruction. So many times I hear others state they just don't know what to do in a situation. Taking time to hear from God allows for the right decisions to be made in all things.
Praise!!!!
We should always end our prayers loving on God. We began our prayers by exalting Him, and we should end in a time of rejoicing in who He is.
I hope that this helps you in developing an intimate and fulfilling prayer life. Feel free to copy this pic to your phone so that you can pull it up when you take time out to pray. My prayer is that it helps you develop a deeper relationship with our Father. The ultimate purpose of prayer is to help gather in the harvest of lost souls. There are great things happening all over the world and you can be a part of it!!!!