5 Keys To An Effective Prayer Life

Here are 5 keys to what I believe is an effective prayer life.

Praying for God’s Will

We can clearly know what God’s will is by reading the Bible so we don’t have to guess what it is. We are told to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2). Also, our prayers should be rich in thanksgiving to God because that is His will as we read Paul’s writing “pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess 5:17-18). Jesus said that we should pray that God’s will is done on earth as it is already being done in heaven (Luke 6:10). Jesus said this “is how you should pray” (Matt 6:9a). Is our will lined up with God’s will? It should be in our prayers like we know that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). Our will should be that of God’s will and we too should not wish that any should perish apart from Christ and that the unsaved “should reach repentance.” Pray for that and you’ll know that your prayer life will be effective.

Keeping Short Accounts of Sin

If we have unconfessed this, this will make us less likely to pray because we won’t feel worthy to communicate with God. That’s why the Apostle John writes “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1st John 1:9) and “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1st John 1:8) so it’s not a matter of if we sin, but when we sin. We are actually commanded to “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). Taken as a whole, if we first purify our hands, that is if we lead clean lives, then purify our hearts, God will draw near to us. How can we purify our hearts? John already said in 1st John 1:9…confess your sins. Confession is good for the soul but also for the conscience. Getting right with God is keeping short accounts with God and confessing sins when we sin. James nails the association between confession of sin and a powerfully effective prayer life in James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Pray Back Adoration to God

God loves it when we praise Him because He is absolutely worthy to receive praise. We also know this is His will. Jesus told the woman at the well that “the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23b). You can “praise the LORD God with a song and a thankful heart” (Psalm 69:30), you can praise God and “celebrate and shout, singing praises to you with all my heart” (Psalm 71:23). You can consistently “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth” (Psalm 149:6). To God, praise is a pleasing sacrifice as the psalmist writes “therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”(Heb 13:15). If you open the Book of Psalms, you will find at least 137 places where you can praise Him.

Having Confidence in Access to God

If we feel like God may or may not be listening to our prayers or if we believe that our prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, then we are not reading our Bible enough because the Bible says that we have access to the throne of God. The author of Hebrews wrote about having confidence in approaching God’s throne writing “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:19-22a). Jesus ended the separation that our sins had created (Isaiah 59:2) so we can have full assurance that God will hear us. If you have a very close friend, don’t you have confidence in approaching him or her and having access to them? Sure you do, so how is it that different knowing that we can approach God in prayer because of Jesus’ work at Calvary so “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).

Find a Prayer Closet and a Time

If you do not make time to pray you will not take time to pray. Just like reading the Bible, you must discipline yourself daily to be in prayer. To me, prayer is hard work. I don’t know about you but sometimes I just don’t seem to make time to pray. If you have a consistent time of day and a particular place to pray that is secluded then you are more likely to pray. I am not saying that you can’t pray during the day in bits and pieces or when you drive, shower, before you eat or drive to work but the focus is so much better when you have a specific time and a particular place to pray and you can do it in private. You can clear your mind a bit easier when you do and you’ll have far less distractions.

Conclusion

I think having a prayer journal is good, writing down prayer requests helps you to remember who and what to pray for, and reading back the prayers of the Bible can be a great tool in learning how to pray the way the saints of old did. I pray right now that this can help you have a more effective prayer life.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.