How to Develop a Personal Prayer Life

How to Develop a Personal Prayer Life

 

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He began with principles

found in Matthew 6:5-15.

 

As we begin, remember that we do not pray to gain the attention

of others.

·    When you pray, focus on your heavenly Father – talk to Him.

     We cannot see Him, but He sees and hears us.

·    Don’t try to impress God with words and meaningless repetition.

     When we come into God’s presence, we must approach Him

     with genuineness and sincerity.

 

Jesus then gave His disciples a model of prayer that we call

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). From this model we are

going to learn exciting insights that will teach us to pray.

 

The Lord’s Prayer as Our Model

 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

1.  When we pray, we are approaching a good and loving heavenly

     Father. God is holy, but He is tender and He is near. Prayer is

     intimacy with God, but we cannot be personal and intimate

     until we understand how good our Father really is, and how much

     He wants to fellowship with us. Psalm 107:1 says,

     "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."

 

Begin your prayer with thanks and praise.

               

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

2. Pray for others, that Christ will rule in their hearts, and that

     He will soon return. Our first priority is to pray for others. This

     is called intercession. God loves the world so intensely that it is

     His will that people everywhere, on our campuses and around

     the world, would come to Him. He is building His kingdom

     on earth in the hearts of men and women.

 

After we pray for others, we must also pray that God will strengthen

His rule in our own hearts.

 

Give us today our daily bread.

3. Pray, believing that God will meet all your needs. God is so good

     to us, He delights in meeting those needs that will enable us to

     live and serve in His will.

 

He cares about the intimate details in the lives of His children.

 

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

4. Confess your sins in response to God’s holiness and grace.

     Confession is agreeing with God that we have failed Him;

     we have not lived up to His holy standard. Confession is also

     accepting God’s grace - His continual forgiveness because of

     Christ’s sacrifice. Then we are to forgive others. Forgiveness

     is the overflow of a life that has been forgiven.

 

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

5. Pray for God’s protection and power. We are in a war! We are

     battling for the lives of fellow students, moms and dads, brothers

     and sisters. We must have God’s protection and power over the

     enemy. Our prayers are a response to God’s power. We are

     tapping into His protection and His victory over the enemy.

 

The enemy must flee when a young disciple seeks God in prayer.

 

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory

forever, Amen.

6. Prayer is worshipping God because of His power and protection.

     Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer with thanksgiving for our

     Father’s goodness, and then to conclude by worshipping Him

     for His protection and power.

 

Prayer is intimacy that impacts the world!

 

Concepts in this section were inspired by the book The Prayer Factor

by Sammy Tippit (Moody Press).