The overhead bible reading talks about the kind of prayer that really packs a punch and produces results. In this kind of prayer you have to involve your emotions and literally catapult yourself into your prayer. It’s not a casual exercise but a serious-minded endeavor, intense, with a singleness of purpose, such that you aren’t distracted by anything that’s unrelated to your goal.

Learning to pray earnestly means that during this kind of prayer you have to turn off all distractions so that you can pray effectively.

This was the kind of prayer Elijah prayed when he prayed that it shouldn’t rain on the earth for three and a half years (James 5:17). 1 Kings 18 throws more light on how he prayed earnestly: “And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees” (1 Kings 18:42). Elijah put off every distraction and that is why he got such great results.

So if ever you are encountered with a difficult situation, learn to pray earnestly.Look for a quiet place where you can shut yourself away from all distractions and focus all your energies on the Lord. You have to learn to pray earnestly and refuse to allow your mind to daydream.

Cast your entire self and emotions into that prayer, for the earnest, heartfelt prayer of a righteous man produces results; it makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. The results your want are based on your ability in learning to pray earnestly.

Confession

Dear Lord, I thank you for showing me how to pray effectively..I put your Word to work today, as I kneel in prayer, declaring words of faith and power, with intent and singleness of purpose, and I have great results that are transparent so that all can witness as I learn to pray earnestly, in Jesus’ Name. Halleluyah.

Further Study:
Luke 22:44; James 5:17

Protection Prayer

A basic protection prayer should consist of an expression of gratitude, a sincere reflection of desired protection, and a humble plea for help. If you sincerely offer a protection prayer will well thoughtout requests, and sincere thankfulness, you can expect protection to come. Although it might not be how you expect it, God always answers humble prayers. The tricky part for many of us, including myself more often than not, is recognizing the protection or answer when he freely gives.

Consider this…

God loves us and wants to protect us from all danger. He does however let adverse situations happen in our lives because he knows that we will grow through the trials. These lessons we learn are God’s way of protecting us from future situations for which we will offer a protection prayer. How many times have you prayed for protection and found comfort in the memory of an earlier trail? If you have never had this experience, you can rest assured that God has been preparing you for the trial you face now or has been preparing the protection you need for quite some time.

So if God wants to protect us, how can we be sure that he will?

With a few simple things remembered, we can find faith and hope that God is going to protect us. There are some very important things to remember when we pray; meaning everything we say, being grateful for already learned lessons, asking for more faith and hope, offering our love and admitting our reverence and respect, try to be personal, and following our heart. If you already do these things, great, pick one to focus on and try to improve. If all or some of these aspects are new to you, don’t worry they are really easy to become good at. Try this:

• Pick one aspect you want to focus on, then say a prayer (verbal or not) and have every sentence relate to aspect you chose.
• Do this a few times until your comfortable with that aspect. Next start adding in 1 or 2 sentences at a time focusing on another aspect.
• Repeat this until your prayers feel like they are full of faith. By this time, you should notice it has become easier to trust that God is protecting you with the things you have been asking for.
• Then tell me your experience so others can benefit from your story and the things you learn.

Waiting on God is hard for singles

If you’re on a quest for the right mate, waiting on God can feel like torture.

You pray. You plead, bargain, and promise that you’ll be forever grateful if God will just help you find the right person to marry. And yet an answer doesn’t come.

Miserable, you repeat the questions everyone secretly asks, “What is God thinking? What is he doing? Why is he taking so long? Am I going to miss the chance of a lifetime?”

Still no answer comes. Heaven seems silent. There’s no booming voice, like you see in the movies. There isn’t even a tiny whisper, like the prophet Elijah heard. There’s nothing.

Are you left on your own?

Whether you’re waiting for a mate, the perfect job, physical healing, or something else very important in your life, waiting on God is one of the most difficult things Christians are called to do.

When you don’t get any clear direction, you’re tempted to act on your own. You convince yourself that God told you or gave you a sign but that you missed it or couldn’t understand it. You haven’t done so badly so far, have you? You’re perfectly capable of making your own decisions. After all, God did give you free will for that, didn’t he?

If you can’t, for the life of you, figure out God’s plan, isn’t it better to dosomething, anything rather that just sit there, waiting on God?

The ‘take charge’ quality

Our society admires people who take charge, who boldly make decisions and lead the way. We reward initiative, not patience. We like people of action, who jump in with both feet, grabbing the situation by the tail and wrestling it into submission.

If this ‘take charge’ attitude is rewarded in your workplace, you’ll be tempted to use it in your personal life, too. After all, the early bird gets the worm, and victory doesn’t go to the faint of heart.

But the Bible is filled with people who waited, often for many years, for God to act. Abraham and Sarah were both wrinkled geezers when she gave birth to Isaac. Joseph had to wait years before God reunited him with his family. Joshua and Caleb had to wander in the desert for 40 years with the disobedient Israelites, patiently waiting on God, before they could enter the promised land.

Martha and Mary had to wait for Jesus–and their brother Lazarus diedwaiting.

But then he lived again!

The God of second, third, fourth chances…

No matter how urgent our request seems, we tend to forget that God not only wants what’s best for us, but that one of his names is Jehovah-Jireh: The God who provides. Because he owns everything and controls everything, he not only can give us another chance, but as many chances as we need to fulfill his plan.

In her powerful book, Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On, Stormie Omartian says, “As you take one step at a time, holding God’s hand and letting him lead, He will get you where you need to go.”

That’s great news! We can’t blow it because God works all things together for our good. We ask him for guidance, we follow his instructions from the Bible, and we trust him every day.

We use the Bible for our lamp, knowing that God’s going to show us what to do, a little at a time, but not months and even years down the road.

When God’s will becomes our will

I’ve often tried to talk myself into believing that I think something is good for me, so God must think so too. I got tired of waiting on God, so I tried to turn my desires into God’s desires for me. Every time I did that, the situation ended in failure.

And yet, over the course of my life, God turned even those failures into progress. It took me years to distinguish my desires for my life from God’sdesires for me. I still make mistakes. But I’m doing better. I’ve messed up so much that I trust God’s judgment now instead of my own.

What does all this have to do with waiting on God? When we’re waiting, God is asking us to surrender our desires to him. He’s asking us to make that leap of faith.

We need to trust that he will do the right thing–because that’s part of his unchangeable character. The right thing may not always be what wewant, but only the perspective of years can help us look back and see God’s lovingkindness at work in our lives.

Waiting on God is hard, no doubt about it. But when we exercise our faith by turning our needs and desires over to God, promising to follow his way, our waiting ends, God acts, and we take another step on the path he has set for us.

A Few Example Prayers

Praying for my husband or wife…

Build a spirit of sacrificial love in me toward my life partner.
Teach me to love my wife today the same way Jesus loves me.
Bless my spouse today with your richest blessing in Christ Jesus.
Provide the spiritual needs of my spouse in a way that glorifies You.
Teach both of us to trust your Word without compromise.
Help me keep be faithful to the covenant I made with my eyes.
Give them confidence to trust Your Word without exception.

Praying for my children…

Protect them from trouble unless in so doing you’re preparing them to serve you.
Lead my children in paths of righteousness and keep them from straying too far.
Protect my kids today, but do what’s necessary to train them to make decisions based on your Word.
Lead my children to learn a gentler, more teachable spirit.
Remind my children of Scripture as they contemplate action today.
Grant my children a healthy appetite for your Word.
Limit their dependence on things that pass away.

Praying for schools…

Keep those of bad influence from teaching in our schools.
Make our schools platforms for learning virtue and praticing it.
Give our kids a heart for God that is unapologetic.
Build strong character in our school kids.
Teach our children character as much as knowledge.
Don’t allow self-centered religious leaders into schools to teach hypocrisy.
Return educators to moral principles, rejecting political pressure not to do it.

Praying for teachers…

Grant boldness to godly teachers to speak the truth, even when threatened for doing so.
Protect those whose passion is to teach what is right in Your eyes
Bless godly teachers richly as they serve you and not man.
Build strong character in teachers who are mature and wise.
Give my children teachers with godly character.
Bless the teachers who instruct by godly principles rather than secular humanistic values.
Help them reject any teaching that contradicts Your Word.

Praying for my chilren’s friends…

Teach my kids to stand alone inspite of the influence of ungodly friends.
Give my children godly friends who are committed to do what is right in Your eyes.
Protect my kids from the bad influence of other kids.
Protect my children from “friends” who influence them in the wrong way.
Protect my kids from taking advice from ungodly friends.
Lead them in the path of righteousness, helping them stand when their friends won’t do so.
Use godly friends to condemn sin my children embrace.

Praying for my friends…

Teach me how to be a good friend toward another person today.
Help me be a friend to the friendless and faithful to those who befriend me.
Help me be a true and loyal friend today.
Build a spirit of mutual cooperation between myself and a friend.
Teach me how to be a good friend to another person today.
Give me an opportunity to make a new friend today and lead me,
Teach us to live reciprocally according to Scripture.

Praying for my work/employer…

Bless my business unless you find it ungodly. In that case, help me find work that honors you.
Make me a diligent worker, one who inspires my boss and leads him to trust you.
Bless my family and other families through my business.
Use my business to glorify Your Name God, in whatever way you desire.
Give my business a firm foundation on which to grow spiritually.
Keep my employer from making mistakes that would jeopardize the employees.
Keep my boss from leading me to lie.

Praying for my city…

Break down every attempt of those seeking to raise revenue through unholy means.
Take my city one where truth and liberty are dominant and favoritism has no place.
Teach our leaders the “right” way to act.
Give our city strong leaders with strong spiritual wisdom.
Guard our leaders from making laws that lead people to sin.
Help our leaders take care of business without compromising godly principles.
Shine in the dark places of this city to give hope to the fearful.

Praying for government leaders…

Keep our leaders from making ungodly decisions, but lead them to be righteous instead.
Guide government leaders to do only that which Scripture teaches.
Slow the growth of evil in government and strengthen your people.
Impede the progress of those civic leaders who are unrighteous.
Give our city godly leaders upon who you have influence.
Reveal the hidden dangers in all revenue generation based on immoral activity.
Return our leaders to the godly principles our Nation’s Founders employed.

Praying for my country…

May our citizens recognize the greatest patriot is the one who recognizes Jesus as Lord.
Convert our country’s patriotism “fever” into a passion for holiness under Your Banner.
God bless our country if she blesses and honors your Name.
Restore godly principles to our judicial system
Refresh our memory of the spiritual foundation upon which our country was founded.
Restore a spirit of humility that comes by realizing we moved away from you, not the other way around.
Make righteousness look good to the purveyors of sin.

Praying for my President…

Guard his life and protect him.
Give him wisdom to make the choices You want him to make.
Give him a tender heart of compassion for those he serves.
Protect him from arrogance that would lead him to abuse his power.
Teach him to regard life as You do.
Give him godly conviction and holy desire.
Give him courage to do the right thing even when expected to do the wrong thing.

Praying for my church…

Keep church members out of leadership who work on the basis of their own ability.
Give my fellow church members a passion to be clean and reconciled to each other.
Make our church a place where Jesus is praise, worship is predominant and open to your leading.
Teach us to seek holiness and turn from worldliness.
Humble us if we’ve taken our eyes off you and put them on men and programs.
Give our church a real desire for revival.
Expose those guilty of destroying Your work.

Praying for my pastor…

Give my pastor the courage to shepherd the church as you would in his place.
Direct him to lead resolutely, anchored on the rock of uncompromising faith.
Bless those who shepherd rightly; keep the “rancher” mentality away from your flock.
Give my pastor strength and energy to do Your work in your power.
Make our pastor a man of prayer that leads a people of prayer.
Bless my pastor and his family as he watches the flock.
Give him desire to only preach what You want to tell us.

Praying for our church leadership…

Restore the joy of those church leaders who are serving without passion.
Teach the leaders in our church to serve faithfully, even when none one is looking.
Magnify the work of our church workers to reach your objective.
Draw all church workers to work in Your energy and not their own.
Restore the joy of those church leaders who are serving without passion.
Grant creative juice to those who assist the pastor in serving the flock.
Don’t let their fervor die when they become an employee.

Praying for sister churches…

Use all the Spirit-filled churches in this area to make a real impact on the lost.
Bless those churches whose stand is uncorrupted by a world value system.
Make all our sister churches as one body doing one work.
Bless the work of discipleship and evangelism in sister churches.
Use all the Spirit-filled churches in this area to make a real impact on the lost.
Bless those pastors who are building up the church.
Grant unity to all churches in the area, based on desire to make disciples.

Praying for churches that are persecuted…

Provide the needs of persecuted brothers and keep moles away from the flock.
Protect persecuted brothers, giving them a testimony that extends around the world.
Make a way to escape for our brothers in persecution, if you can be glorified that way.
Protect those churches suffering from persecution.
Provide the needs of persecuted brothers and keep moles away from the flock.
Protect the persecuted church from destroyers.
Give all churches the boldness to minister regardless of potential danger.

Praying for missionaries…

Give missionaries the resources they need to do the work to which you called them.
Bless them. Meet their ministerial and personal needs to overflowing.
Provide richly their emotional, spiritual, emotional and physical needs.
Go before them in glory and behind them in power; surround them with your faithfulness.
Give them creative means to teach the Gospel that inspires a thirst for the Living Water
Meet the need of the missionaries abundantly and to overflowing.
Watch over their kids and their family removed.

Praying for the sick…

Restore those who are suffering from illness in a way that you receive the glory.
Sustain those on his or her sickbed.
Heal those suffering with illness in your time and in your way.
Keep their spirits high even though sickness has made them feel low.
Comfort those suffering from illness.
Relieve the pain and suffering of those who are ill today.
May all those who are sick desire wellness.

Praying for the lost…

Convict the lost of sin today and give them desire to do something about it.
Direct them to someone willing and ready to present the Gospel of Jesus without compromise.
Win them through the witness of your children.
Lead the lost to a believer with the words of life.
Give me boldness to speak the gospel without compromise.
Reveal your gospel through creative means to those who act like they don’t want to hear it;
Speak to those who hate and let them see Your love as we do.

Praying for those in despair…

Give hope to those who may be in despair today.
Remind those in despair that it is only ignorance of God that’s hopeless.
Show those in despair the peace of trusting in Your Name.
Strengthen those who are weak and despressed.
Heal the hurt in the heart of those who have lost a loved one.
Refresh us with new insight from your Holy Word.
When there seems to be no hope, show us what You see, Lord.

Praying for those hospitalized…

Place your hand in the gloves of the doctor(s) and nurses today.
Protect those in the hospital from infectious germs that might exasperate their condition.
Protect them from neglect and/or abuse.
Bless the physicians and care givers who listen to your instruction.
Use doctors and nurses today to do your work.
Keep them from discouragement and restore them to health as soon as possible.
Spread godly kindness through all those who serve the sick and injured.

Praying for the grieving…

Comfort those who grieve and build a spirit of trust in them to replace their doubts.
Give hope to those who grieve so they will know it’s purpose and not be servants to it.
Draw the fatherless to a reliance on you – our heavenly Father.
Grant hope to those in despair.
Comfort those grieving and build in them a spirit of trust to replace the doubts.
Restore those who grieve in a spirit of hope for the future based on Your Word.
Restore hope for those who have lost it and give it to those who never had it.

Praying for widows…

Take care of the widows using the Church to do the work by which you called them.
Protect the widows and provide their needs. Bless those who serve them.
Help us care for those widows who feel alone.
Supply the need of widows according to the richest of Jesus’ glory.
Give us a heart for those in need and feet to move when your Spirit moves.
Let us know when there is a need we should meet.
Comfort them if their heart is still tender having lost a mate.
Fill their missing void with the love of the Spirit.

Praying for orphans…

Place orphans in the care of godly men and women who know you.
Let the orphans know of Your care. Bless those who care for them.
Help your people care for those orphans who feel alone.
Give orphans the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Place orphans in the care of godly men and women who know you.
Help me love an orphan today in Your Name.
Draw godly foster parents into their lives who love and serve You, God.

Praying for myself…

Bless me with spiritual discernment and use me to help others.
Give me the confidence to speak your Word boldly today.
Use me to do your work and receive my gratitude- a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that praise your Name.
Restore my soul, extend my bondaries and bless my ministry.
Magnify the work of my hands to bring glory to your Name.
Make the desires of my heart the absolute same as Yours, Father.
Help me to stand when I want to quit.

10 Tips to Help Your Prayer Life

By Gregory Koukl

“If praying does not come effortlessly for you, try these tips for making your prayer life more focused and effective.”

For a few hardy prayer warriors, talking with God is as easy as breathing; it happens almost effortlessly. When you ask them how they do it, they simply shrug and reply, “I just pray.” Unfortunately, that’s about as helpful as John McEnroe saying “I just hit the ball,” when asked for some tips on more effective tennis. It may be easy for him to “just hit the ball”, but most of us hackers need a little more fundamental instruction to get the job done. With that in mind, we’ve included here some practical guidelines that might make your time with the Lord more fruitful. Not all of the suggestions will apply to your particular situation, but if you begin by incorporating a few of them, I’m confident your prayer life will improve.
1. Choose a specific place to pray away from distractions so you can concentrate. Ringing phones and crying children will sabotage your “quiet time” before it gets started.

2. Pray at the same time every day, if at all possible. Make it part of your regular routine and it will become habit. Write it into your schedule and then treat it just like a daily appointment.

3. Pray out loud. Many people can pray under their breath or in their minds for long periods and still maintain intensity, but for most of us it’s a quick ticket to dreamland. When we pray out loud we have to form intelligent sentences. We have to concentrate more on what we’re praying about.

4. Keep a note pad handy so you can jot down different things that come to mind while you’re before the Lord. Sometimes you’ll get great ideas totally unrelated to what you’ve been praying about. If you jot them down you can quickly get back to the topic at hand without being too distracted.

5. Make a list to keep track of your prayer needs. This can be done several ways. Prayer needs can be listed by category like “Church,” “Family,” or “Unsaved friends.” Or they may be listed by the days of the week. Each day you pray for a different set of needs. You may want to include prayer everyday for a different area of society that has a tremendous influence on the direction of our nation. These seven categories include 1) the church and religion, 2) the family and the home, 3) the media, 4) government, 5) education, 6) business and commerce, and 7) the arts and entertainment.

6. Redeem time for praying out of unused corners of your schedule. Those who have to drive to work can use the time talking with the Lord instead of screaming at traffic (just don’t close your eyes!). Busy homemakers can combine prayer with housework, especially if the task doesn’t require a lot of concentration. Joggers, swimmers and cyclists can use their workout time for prayer. Sometimes my best times with the Lord have been chats during long, early morning walks or jogs along the beach.

7. Change the pace during your prayer time. Include praise, thanksgiving and singing as well as petition. Spend some of your time reflecting on the Scripture, meditating on it and digesting its meaning.

8. Keep a prayer journal. Here are two variations of this idea. The first is to keep track of what you prayed for and when you prayed for it. Leave a space to jot down the answer when it comes. This will help you to keep alert to God’s answer so you can thank Him promptly. Sometimes prayer answers come in the back door and you don’t want them to slip by you. The second variation is to write the entire prayer in your journal. Make it a personal letter to the Lord on a daily basis. Just write “Dear Lord” instead of “Dear Diary.”

9. Pray with someone else. Though some prayers can only be said in solitude, there will be times when you’ll want to join hearts with another person in prayer. If you commit to meet on a regular basis, the accountability can really help build consistency. Such prayer trysts can become powerful, life-changing events.

10. Pray one-sentence prayers. If the thought of laboring over a topic wears you out, pray short, sincere prayers instead. A sentence or two may be all that’s needed to exhaust the topic for you for the time being. If so, just move on to the next item without feeling guilty for your brevity.

How to PrayFocusing on the basics is so important to improving the fundamental aspects of your prayers. There are times, however, when we need more than the basics.

For todays Beyond Prayer Basics topic we will focus on posture.

Is there a proper posture you must use while praying. Clearly, the answer is NO. Albeit kneeling and folding arms/clasping hands shows a great amount of respect. It is not however necessary to kneel, close your eyes, or even clasp your hands.

If it snot needed, why when learning to pray do we learn you must do this? The purpose of posuture is to show respet and to help us focus and be more sincere.

How to Pray Video

This video has some good prayer instructions and how to pray tips: