PRACTICAL HELPS ABOUT PRAYER

If you are serious about improving your prayer life, read the following. At first, these helps may seem to be frank and restrictive. Although our prayers will never be perfect, we should be willing to examine them critically and strive to improve them.

It is important to consider some bad habits to avoid in improving your praying. First, a safe rule is to never use the word “just” when praying. This habit has been passed around by evangelicals for years without any careful evaluation. Believers who will substitute just two synonyms for the word “just,” namely, the words “only” or “merely,” in their spoken sentences will discover how inappropriate its use can be. For example, one may pray, “Father, I just pray (I merely or only
pray . . .”). Is that really what you mean? Prayer is one of our strongest spiritual weapons. Please don̓t “just” pray; go ahead and pray! Another example is “. . . just (merely) bless Jane and just (merely) help her at this time.” Therefore, in order to communicate properly, especially in public prayer, try to avoid using “just.”

Second, avoid using trite and meaningless phrases when speaking to God. Nebulous over used phrases like “Bless the gift and the giver” are almost never said with heartfelt meaning. Moreover, when praying in public, pray to God. Do not use prayers to make announcements or to inform everyone of your position on an issue. For instance, a pastor once prayed something like this: “Please help Ruth recover, and Thou knowest she will be in the hospital at least another week.” He was actually informing his congregation to keep sending her cards and flowers. Congregational announcements and prayers are to separate things. Therefore, it is wise to remember that our Triune God is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit —each a real Person deserving reverence and respect.

Third, do not be afraid to pray with your eyes open, reading from the Scriptures. Our prayers should be full of the words of Scripture, especially the promises of God to His covenant people. Likewise, appropriate the Scripture you read and study. Pray through the commands, promises, attitudes, and truths that you discover in the Scriptures. Understanding truths is never enough; they must be appropriated and applied to your life.

Fourth, think through the parts of a prayer. Start with the address and discover how God is approached in the Scriptures (Dan. 9:4; Matt. 11:25). Likewise, notice how God is worshiped in the Scriptures (Ps. 2:11,12 “worship the Lord with reverence ...;” Heb. 12:28—29; John 4:21-24) and do the same. Therefore, realizing God is both transcendent (above us) and imminent (near us), we can pattern our prayers by Scripture.

Fifth, do not put on a pious voice when praying. Also, do not address the Triune God irreverently. Moreover, do not use the Lord̓s name as a punctuation mark for every sentence. For example, “Father, I pray, Father, that Lord . . . you would . . . Father and Lord . . .  It is not wrong to use the Lord̓s name in a prayer more than once, but don̓t use it to fill up every gap in every sentence. The Scriptures warn us against vain babbling (Matt. 6:7) and using the Lord̓s name without a distinct purpose (Ex. 20:7). Likewise, God the Father is a Person and we do not speak to our friends in that manner “Bill, how are you feeling, Bill, and Bill, will you, Bill. . .     

Sixth, we must realize that spiritual warfare is also part of our praying. Caution must be used when we are involved in this type of praying. We are not to shout at or order around or pray to Satan (Jude , Zech. 3:) [See How to meet the Enemy, by John MacArthur, Jr.] It is not wise to do so. Satan is not omnipresent, he might be in Haiti and never hear your prayer / words to him at all. The Bible never permits us to pray to angelic beings. Men are still lower than the angels and should not be ordering them around. Call out to God when you are confronted with evil spirits.  Ask King Jesus to bind, block, thwart demonic, worldly or fleshly activities and spirits.  The Bible says the Holy Spirit is greater than the enemy, not you in your present state before glorification. A praying Christian should be acknowledging God’s greatness and his own weakness and dependency upon God in his prayers. Ephesians 6 lists the offensive weapon of “all prayer” among our equipment for spiritual battle.  Use this weapon in a way that is God honoring and Scriptural.  Recognize that you are not the sinless God-Man, fully God and fully man, nor are you an Apostle of Christ in the process of writing Scripture. Realize what Martin Luther did, “the prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure, one single word shall fell him . . .We are not the right Man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing, Dost ask who that may be?  Christ Jesus it is He. Lord Sabaoth, His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.” As a general rule, speak to Jesus about the problem, and also the person who is under the power of a demon.

Seventh, the New Testament prayers recorded for us all have one emphasis that is missing in many prayers today. That emphasis is to pray for the spiritual growth of individuals and churches.  Of course it is proper to pray for those not yet converted (Rom 10:1; Col 4:3) for physical needs (Matt 6:11), forgiveness (Matt 6:12), for healing from sicknesses (Jam 5:13-14). However, we should be primarily praying for the spiritual growth, service, usefulness, and protection and steadfastness of other Christians (2 Cor 13:9; Eph 1:18-20, 3:14-21). If most Christians answered the question, “Do you daily pray that the Christians you know would grow spiritually?” The answer to that question would reveal this has become a lost priority among modern Christians. It is true that many believers are ignoring one of the most emphasized areas of praying for the New Covenant Believer in the Word of God. You can change that in your own life and prayers.

Last, never pray a prayer without realizing and stating that it is a prayer in Jesus̓ name (John 14:3). It is on the basis of the finished work of Christ that we can come into God̓s presence. Try cashing a check with the payee signature missing from the front of the check. The privilege of prayer was bought with the blood of Christ on our behalf (Heb. 10:19-22; 9:14). Because of the cross-work of Jesus we have direct access to the Father by prayer in Jesus’ name. We do not have to go to God through a chain of command. Therefore, remember and state that your prayer is in Jesus name (based on His person and redemptive work). It is good to begin the prayer in Jesus name and authority as well as ending with this reminder.

Prayer is vital to our spiritual life. We are commanded to pray, but we are not asked to pray perfectly. Do not be discouraged or compare your prayers to those of others. Learn from your leaders and from the Scriptures how to pray more biblically as you grow in your walk with our Sovereign Lord (Dan 9, Matt 6). But, remember, He is also our gracious Father and He hears our prayers even though they are less than perfect. So pray, and then pray some more. You do not gave because you do not ask in prayer (Jam 4:2). Relationships require communication. Talk to God. You will be glad you did.