Of course, there isn’t a secret to all our prayers being answered because God is sovereign. However, God, in his word, has shown us how to commune with Him in prayer. Many of us find it challenging to pray; I am not sure why that is; perhaps we overthink something God meant to be relatively simple. After all, when we speak to our loved ones, we don’t find it difficult, but we go boldly and converse with them; we do so because we are in a loving relationship with them.
It is the same when it comes to praying to God; we have a loving and special relationship with God; therefore, we should be able to go boldly to the throne of grace – Hebrews 4:16. If this is the case, then it can only be the evil one’s influence that brings the challenges we encounter in prayer.
Here are six secrets for an effective prayer life.
1. Get alone in a private place with God to pray
God dislikes hypocrites who come to him just to be seen by others; to those, there will be no answer to prayer Matt 6:5. However, because of our relationship with God, which is very much a loving, parent-child relationship, He desires us to make a special time to meet with him, to go into our room (closet, secret room, storage), close the door and pray (supplicate, worship) to Him, who is unseen. Then our Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward us. Matt 6:6, just as He does when we give in secret, He publicly rewards Matt 6:4.
Take Jesus, for example; He went alone to pray to His Father, as Matt 26:36 tells us, “At that time, Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
When we make that special time for him with a pure heart, we show our reverence and love for Him; God will meet us there. After all, He said He loves those who love Him, and those who seek Him early (diligently) find me – Proverbs 8:17. Though we may go to God in prayer any time of the day, there is something about meeting him early in the morning. The psalmist said in Psalms 5:3 “My voice shall you hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer to you, and will look up”.
John Bunyan gave this powerful quote “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day”.
2. Persistence in prayer
Persistence is continuing an opinion or course of action despite difficulty or opposition. With that in mind, have you ever had to continue in prayer even though it looked grim? Colossians 4:2 tells us to “continue steadfastly in prayer, watchful in it with thanksgiving”. Persistence is the most challenging and necessary part of praying, challenging in that it requires faith to persist in prayer and necessary because the word tells us to pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
S. D Gordon says the second intense truth is this “the winning quality in prayer is persistence. The final test is here. This is the last ditch. Many who fight well up to this point lose their grip here and so lose all. Many who are well equipped for prayer fail here and doubtless fail because they have not rightly understood. With clear, ringing tones, the Master’s voice sounds in our ears again today, “always to pray, and not to faint.”
Let us not lose hope when praying; keep asking, seeking, and knocking; He will answer you with the wisdom and discernment you need. Luke 11:7-11. Often we fail to persist in prayer because we do not see the answer manifest the way we expect when, in fact, our prayers have been or are being answered. After all, God is Sovereign. He will decide when or if to answer your prayer. We must take our focus off ourselves and focus on Jesus – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matt 6.33
3. Pray Together
When we come together as a church or even one on one to pray according to the will of God, He will surely hear us, just as His word tells us – Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for us 1 John 5:14-15.
It is not only when we want something that we pray together as a unit. James 5:14-15 tells us that when we are sick (weak and weary), we should seek the elders for prayer for healing and forgiveness of sins. Such prayers made in faith will indeed heal. Praying together often increases faith, therefore, is more effective.
4 Confession of sin before prayer
The only group of people required to confess their sins to be forgiven are the followers of Christ Jesus. Why would God want us to confess our sins when Jesus Christ paid the price on the cross, and all our past, present, and future sins have been forgiven? Accurate as that may be. Roman 3:23 tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Therefore, we sin every day, thus, breaking our day-to-day fellowship with our Father. To restore our fellowship, God in his great mercy, has allowed us to confess our sins and when we do, He is righteous and just to forgive us our sins 1 John1:9-10, therefore, bringing us back into fellowship. Another aspect of confessing our sins can be found in James 5:16 when he says we should confess our sins one to another and pray for one another, that our soul may be healed as the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
5. Exercise faith and believe when praying
When we pray, we must activate our faith by believing. Jesus said in Mark 11:24 –Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. I believe what Jesus is saying here is that we must trust in God (and take him at His word) to grant our requests with genuine assurance and confidence – biblical faith. As children of God, we must pray believing prayers that activate the humanly impossible, which means we have already received what we have prayed for even though the answer is yet to be revealed. When we do not believe and doubt, that is not faith. James tells us, “Whatever we ask in prayer, we will receive if we ask in faith – James 1:6. So, when we pray, we must pray according to God’s will – Matthew 6:9-10 through our faith, trusting that God can do the impossible – Hebrews 11:
6. Fasting & Prayer
Ezra 8:21-23 tells us that fasting humbles us in the sight of God. When we become low and submit ourselves, we demonstrate our devotion to Him. We make God bigger in our lives during the duration of our fast. Wayne Grudem gave four benefits of fasting in his Systematic Theology :
- Fasting increases our sense of humility and dependence on the Lord
- Fasting allows us to give more attention to prayer
- A continual reminder that we must continually sacrifice all of ourselves to Him
- Fasting is a good exercise in self-discipline.
There are different reasons why it is a good idea to incorporate fasting into our
Prayer life. I have found 10 reasons on the NIV’s website:
- To strengthen prayer Ezra 8:23
- To seek God’s guidance Judges 20:26
- To express grief 1 Samuel 31:13
- To seek deliverance or protection 2 Chronicles 20:3 – 4
- To express repentance and a return to God 1 Samuel 7:6
- To humble oneself before God 1 Kings 21:27 – 29
- To express concern for the work of God Nehemiah 1:3 – 4
- To minister to the needs of others, see Isaiah 58:3 – 7
- To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God Matthew 4:1 – 11
- To express love and worship for God Luke 2:37
Let us cultivate the habit of fasting; some fast weekly, monthly, or on other schedules, and others wait for the church to call a fast or some will hear from God as to when to fast. Fasting is a spiritual act; we must humble ourselves before God just as Christ sacrificed himself for us, so we must sacrifice nourishment to our bodies as part of prayer and worship.