This page has some hints and tips for successful prayer.
I find them useful, and hope you will too.
Prayer Tips
1. Persistent prayer will be transformed from desire to discipline to delight!
2. Prevailing prayer purposes to war in prayer until the victory is won.
3. You will experience divine preservation as you put on the whole armor of God and pray a wall of protection about yourself and your loved ones.
4. Prayer as duty is just boring, a chore, but prayer as delight becomes an exciting encounter with the living God.
5. Refuse to let discouragement or unbelief rob you of answers to prayer. When you lose one, get mad, declare "I am claiming in the name of Jesus a seven-fold return on everything the devil has stolen." ( Proverbs 6:30-31). Repossess that lost ground!
6. The desire to pray is not something we work up in our flesh. Ask the Holy Spirit to plant the desire in your heart to pray.
7. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.
8. John Wesley said "God does everything by prayer and nothing without it."
Why Prayer Fails
1. Unconfessed sin. Sin is a stumbling block to answered prayer. (Proverbs 66:18 ).
2. Not asking according to God's will. ( James 4:3 ).
3. Asking with faith that doubts. ( James 1:6 ).
4. Improper attitudes toward one's spouse. ( 1 Peter 1:7 ).
5. Pride. ( Psalms 138:6 ).
6. Unforgiving Spirit. ( Matthew 5:23-24 ).
7. Idols in your life. ( An idol being anything you place ahead of God ).
The Nature of Prayer
Four types of prayer are given in 1 Timothy 2:1-2:
1. Prayer of Supplication to God. This type of prayer is that of needs, results, and desires.
2. Prayer of Worship to God. This type of prayer involves worship and devotional adoration, exaltation, and praise unto God.
3. Prayer of Intercession to God. This type of prayer lifts the burdens and needs of others to God in prayer.
4. Prayer of Thanksgiving to God. This type of prayer is the offering of thanks to God because of who He is as well as what He has done.
How to Pray
1. Acknowlege your own weakness to pray and the need of God to establish a faithful prayer ministry.
2. Establish a systematic and structured time for prayer daily and don't let things interrupt or interfere with it.
3. Discipline oneself to faithfully use this time for prayer daily.
4. Ask God for cleansing of any sinful actions and attitudes.
5. Strengthen your faith by reading the Bible, God's Word, so that your prayer is one of strong faith.
6. Pray for God's will and purpose to be fufilled in the circumstances or lives of people involved in these requests.
7. Join with others in prayer to move the hand of God.
