How To Develop A Powerful Prayer Life

It is possible for a believer to develop a powerful prayer life. In this article, find out how to develop a powerful prayer life & end prayerlessness

We ought to know we must pray and take conscious decisions to ensure our prayers come with the needed power for effectiveness.

What is the point praying when the prayers carry no power and causes no effect?

Prayer was never designed to be a weak, dry and unfruitful enterprise. It is expected to be the womb of possibilities.

The Bible in James 5:16 says that "...the earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results." (Living Bible).

This means at every point in time, our prayers ought to carry a dose of power. Hence power is an integral component which should be found in our prayers.

While it is important to see prayers as the believer's lifestyle and culture and develop a consistent prayer life, we should have this in mind – prayer ought to carry power.

Why Is This Important?

The language of the world today is power and everyone that will get a chance at surviving must speak it.

The church must speak power else the gates of hell will prevail and trample her underfoot.

The world systems are governed by powers stationed at high quarters and if the church of God will triumph, she will need to understand and speak power.

And one of the ways the church can begin to respond with power is when we begin to engage the Monarch of Zion in powerful prayers.

Prayers backed by much power is our foremost tool for survival and we need to excel in it.

This makes the question of how to develop a powerful prayer life an important one.

I trust that with this article, we would all see the need to develop a powerful prayer life and how to develop one.

After reading this, I urge you to practice them, so that we can begin to make much power available by the instrumentality of prayers.

Without further ado, let me show you seven (7) ways I believe would help anyone develop a powerful prayer life.

It is quite a long reading about 12 minutes approximately. So get a cup of your favourite drink and sip as you read.

1. Understanding What Prayer Is.

In this kingdom, knowledge alone is not power – understanding and knowledge births power.

An understanding of what prayer is which I am about to share will spur you into making much power available by prayer.

There quite a lot of definitions around on what prayer is and I do not intend to heap another on you but I may need to.

As touching developing a powerful prayer life, prayer is the awareness, the realization of our helplessness and inability and the volition to make an appeal to the One seated in the heavens for help.

For instance, I want to purchase a laptop which costs about $131 and all I have is $13. I would not be able to purchase it right?

Yes.

But then I have a friend who can give me and is willing to give me the $131. I then go to him, knowing he'd give it to me and most definitely he does.

This is what prayer is in this context. As humans we are unable to do accomplish anything by our power. So, we look to God for help.

On our own, we lack the sufficiency to withstand the turbulence of life and its challenges. But we go to God, in whom we can find peace, comfort and stamina.

In Luke 11:9 Jesus reveals a profound truth to us. He says: 

"... Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." 

There is a rule even God can not break. That rule is "We must ask and God must answer."

This consciousness and understanding is important when we pray. You know you are praying to someone who is under obligation to answer you.

Furthermore, in John 14:16, Jesus still assures us saying:

"If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it." 

Anything my friend is anything. Oh how lucky we are? The All-Mighty God is ever ready to answer only if men will take up the volition to ask.

2. Understand Who God Is.

The second point on how to develop a powerful prayer life is to understand who God is.

I touched a bit of this in point number 1 but I still feel like adding more emphasis.

Aside God being obligated and willing to answer us, we need to know that He is able to answer.

There are three things here to digest.

• The first is God is OBLIGATED to answer.
• The second is God is WILLING to answer.
• The third is God is ABLE to answer.

No matter the nature of the request, we rest and bank in the assurance that our God is able to answer us when we pray.

In Ephesians 3:20, Apostle Paul said:

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"

The implication of this verse is that God is not just able to do what we ask. He can do more than what we ask – there's no limitation with our God.

It does not end there folks. He is able to do what we think. He is capable of doing more than what we can imagine.

Our minds are too small to articulate the scope of the things God is able to do.

He told the prophet Jeremiah, 

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me? – Jeremiah 32:27

Our God is not only willing to answer but capable of answering. There are no limitations with Him. He is called Omnipotent that is All-Powerful.

With this in mind, you do not pray like a disadvantaged fellow. You pray like someone who has a Father that is very much able to answer.

3. Pray In Accordance To The Will of God

This is one often neglected principle for praying effectively which is also essential for developing a powerful prayer life – praying the will of God.

As much as God is able to answer and willing to, He will not always answer. This is why.

Prayer in itself is not powerful except the will of God is captured in it.

For emphasis I would say that again: prayer is powerful only when the will of God is fully articulated in it.

One of the reasons why we pray and do not receive answers is because we pray what I like to call selfish prayers.

Selfish prayers are prayers that capture only our wants, needs and desires without any provision for God's.

Note this: God has needs and prayer is a tool given to us to meet and satisfy God's needs and purposes on the earth.

In Jesus' model of prayer recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught that after hallowing the name of God, the next thing we do is to give expression to the will of God.

He says "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done." (Matthew 6:10). It is God's desire to see His kingdom established on Earth and that His will and counsel are entrenched.

Prayer is our way of actualizing that. True and powerful prayer is about entrenching God's will and kingdom on the earth. So that as it is in heaven so it will be on Earth.

Until we begin to capture the needs of God in our prayers, we would not make any power available.

Power is derivative of praying the will of God. We command power to the degree of our usage of prayer to achieve God's purposes and intent.

James sheds more light on this discourse. He says:

"You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts." – James 4:3

If all you pray about is satisfaction for your needs and wants you will never be able to develop a powerful prayer life.

God will not be able to entrust any thing meaningful into your hands. He won't give you His power when all you care about is your selfish desires.

Apostle John further perfects this in 1 John 5:14

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us:"

Our ticket to answers from God is asking in accordance to His will. 

It is quite unfortunate that many believers care about what they can get from God only.

They are completely oblivious that prayer is supposed to be a tool for enforcing the kingdom of God.

It is this orientation that has made the Body of Christ today weak and beggarly brought under the subjugation and suppression of darkness.

We must redefine and adjust our opinions on prayer. It is high time we retracted back to the scriptures and carefully examine what prayer was originally intended for.

A powerful prayer life is only feasible when prayers capturing the will of God are offered to God.

4. Live A Holy Life 

In my article on How To Develop A Consistent Prayer Life, I mentioned that Holiness is a vital posture for prayers.

Aside being a requirement for entering heaven, Holiness is quintessential for developing a powerful prayer life.

Prayer and sin are like water and oil – impossible for them to mix. A sinner can not pray let alone develop a powerful prayer life.

Every believer who intends to have power over Satan and walk in the victory Christ has procured must resolve to live holy and pure.

God considers the prayers of sinners an abomination to Him. Prayer offered from the a life soaked in sin brings bad, offensive incense to God.

It is utterly impossible to have any dealings with God without Holiness. And power as a gift from God can only be apprehended in holines and purity. 

Only by prayers from a pure heart can we lift up incense to God and be able to trap His power to rule the earth.

5. Consistency is Key To Develop A Powerful Prayer Life

Consistency is unarguably the principle to harnessing the power of any given phenomenon. It doesn't matter what drives and operates it.

To become good at anything, you must do that thing on a consistent basis. Prayer like every other art can be mastered and it is possible only be consistent, persistent practice.

A believer who does part-time prayers will never come into the plains of power in prayer.

God will not be careless to entrust a prayerless Christian with something as precious as power. 

Remember my definition of prayer earlier on? Where I said, prayer is the realization of our helplessness and inability and the volition to appeal to someone for help.

Now let me show you how consistent prayers works in developing a powerful prayer life.

The prophet Elijah had just ended a contest with 450 prophets of Baal. Before hand, he had locked the heavens and for 3½ years there was no rain in Israel.

The contest being over, prophet Elijah slayed every single one of the prophets of Baal. He instructed King Ahab to get up and eat assuring him of a torrential downpour.

Elijah climbed up Mount Carmel and casting himself down, he put his head between his knees – he prayed.

After a while, he asked his servant to go check the skies for a sign. The servant returned bearing a negative response.

Elijah was not deterred as he continued seven times sending his servant who kept coming back with negative responses.

Typical of many of us, we would give up, stop praying and quote the usual "What will be, will be." Unfortunately, what will be, will not be, except you make it happen.

End that deceit of allowing life or the universe play out on its own. Command and enforce what you want to see by prayers.

At the seventh time, Elijah's servant returned with some cheering and comforting news saying "Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand." (1 Kings 18:43)

By consistency, Elijah was able to invoke a dimension of power in prayers. Dear reader, God is not deaf, He will answer, you may need to trouble Him some more.

When James tried to explain the power we make available by prayer in James 5:16, 17, there was no better example than Elijah.

God may delay in responding like Elijah's experience teaches us. But eventually, by consistent prayers, we can get Him to respond.

I explained this point in The Right Attitude To Prayer".

6. Pray With The Word 

Prayer and the word of God are two inseparable sides of a coin. You can not separate prayers from God's word and the word from prayers.

I love to use this analogy when I try to explain the relationship between prayer and the word.

A gun without bullet can not inflict much damage. A bullet also is just a piece of metal capable of almost nothing.

But when a bullet is loaded on to a gun, the collective impact can be ravaging. That is prayer and the word.

Prayer is the gun. The word is the bullet you load onto the gun. In self-isolation they can not yield maximum impact. But in their combined state, they are powerful tools.

Trying to choose one over the other or substituting one for the other is like saying I would only breathe in and not breathe out.

Whether you want it or not, you survive by breathing in and out. No one stays alive by breathing in without breathing out.

Prayer and the word is like breathing in and out. You can use one and be powerful. They must be combined.

The Apostles were men of great understanding in this matters. When they had to choose either to undertake the noble cause of serving tables and ministerial work.

They choose the more noble venture. They said "But we will give ourselves continually to prayers and the ministry of the word." – Acts 6:4

Stop trying to neglect Bible study because you feel prayer makes you more spiritual. They are important together.

You will find prayer boring unless you have God's word locked up in your inside. Don't you think the reason why you labour so much to pray is because you don't study?

Desist from substituting the word of God for prayers. To develop a powerful prayer life, dearly beloved, you must pray with the word.

7. Submit and Partner With The Holy Spirit

Last but not the least on how to develop a powerful prayer life is to submit and partner with God's Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is our helper and an important aid for praying effectively. You may need to read "Who Do We Pray To: God the Father, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Angels or Mary?"

Powerful prayers are sponsored by the Holy Spirit and anyone who wants to have a powerful prayer life must partner with the Spirit.

Power is actually resident in God's spirit and to have access to it, you must yield in total submission to the Spirit of God and His government.

It is very important to note that prayer is a spiritual function and its power and effectiveness comes from partnership with the Holy Spirit.

It will be foolish for anyone to think they can pray by themselves. Jesus said in John 6:63 "...the flesh profits nothing..." (Paraphrased).

Praying by the energy of the flesh is never profitable. This is why David prayed in Psalms 80:18 

"So will not we depart from thee, quicken us and we would call on your name."

No matter the level of zeal and enthusiasm you have for prayer, to pray effectively, we must be quickened by God's Spirit.

You may be strong and feel your energy can make you pray therefore you do not need quickening. You may need to rethink after reading what Romans 8:26 says: 

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Even though you think you have the strength to pray, you do not know how to pray. This weakness is why the Spirit supplies strength to help you pray.

To develop a powerful prayer life, you need to partner with the Holy Spirit to help you pray. Without Him, the energy source of prayer is gone.

Why not cry out today for the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you have not been filled before?

He says He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28 Paraphrased). Ask for the baptism of God's Spirit even today.

And if you have been baptized, why not allow Him help you pray by saying "Spirit of God, help me pray. I am insufficient in my self."

God is able to make all grace abound towards us. I see His church becoming stronger and being more empowered to withstand darkness.

We all can have powerful prayer lives. We can all make tremendous power available when we pray.

Developing a powerful prayer life is not a fairy tale. But a reality, a possibility in God. We must keep pressing and travailing in prayers till we touch His essence.

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How To Develop An Effective Prayer Life

What must I do to develop an effective prayer life?

How can I become an effective prayer warrior capable of orchestrating divine possibilities through prayers?

Find out in this article.

Thomas had just given his life to Christ and joined himself to a Bible-believing church hoping to grow in his newly found faith. He was visibly enthusiastic about being a believer and like every newly saved person he was zealous to know, walk with and work for God.

One Sunday morning, Thomas' pastor preached about prayers. His teaching centered on the benefits of prayers, why believers must pray and how to pray effectively. He concluded his sermon that morning by saying that all believers must give quality time to God in prayers.

Thomas had not as much as understood what prayers was about and his pastor was teaching on the need to pray and to do so for long hours.

After the sermon, Thomas decided he was going to implement what he just learnt – pray for long hours.

Thomas had not prayed for fifteen (15) minutes before the frailties of his humanity rose and he had to stop praying. 

Thomas didn't relent.

Again he tried to pray and he was only able to pray for ten (10) minutes before he got tired again.

This continued for a long time. Soon Brother Thomas became weary of prayers and considered prayers only for very spiritual people and men of God.

What do you think was Brother Thomas' problem?

Whilst you ponder, the story of Brother Thomas is the same story with many believers today. We have read books on prayers, listened to various sermons on prayers, studied the Bible about prayers yet like Brother Thomas we do not find prayers convenient to practice.

It is expedient to note that knowledge is not enough. Knowing how to pray and why you must pray is not enough for you to pray.

Have you not read different books by different men of God on the subject of prayers?

Have you not attended several prayer conferences?

Have you not listened to your pastor and other men of God teach on prayers?

Have you not read your Bible on the subject of prayers?

Why then are you unable to pray?

The problem is not in the sufficiency of knowledge. It is in the deficiency of the understanding of what prayer is actually about. Yes! Understanding!

We are not able to pray because we lack the foundational understanding of what prayer is actually about. The lack of understanding on the issue of prayer is grossly associated with the reason why many of us do not pray at all let alone pray effectively.

Today, I would be sharing with you what I believe to be the foundational understanding needed for the mastery of the art of prayer. I trust that after going through the words of this piece you would understand the basic principle of prayer and your prayer life would change for the better in Jesus name, Amen!

The basic or foundational understanding of prayer I would be sharing is in two spheres.

The first is that prayer is a communication between God and man.

Prayer is not a monologue i.e communication by only one person. Prayer is a dialogue i.e communication carried out by two people.

Many of us think that prayer is simply us tabling requests before one exalted personality. This idealogy of what prayer is not is the pivot behind our ineffectiveness in prayers.

Prayer is not a tool for channeling our requests to God. It is a technology of communication designed by God with which humanity can commune with divinity.

As you seek desperately to talk to God, He also wants to talk back to you. If all you do is pray without any feedback from God then you're short-circuiting the effects of prayers.

Begin to see prayers and as a communication between you and your father (God) and you'd begin to cultivate an effective prayer life.

The second sphere of the foundational understanding of prayer is that God is ever-ready to respond to you when you pray.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. –  Matthew 7:7-8

If you would develop an effective prayer life then you must arm yourself with the understanding that you're praying to a God who is ever willing and ready to respond to you when you pray.

Jesus was trying to give voice to this fact in Matthew 7:7-8. He was showing us that your duty is to ask, seek and knock. Then He assures that anyone who asks shall receive, he who seeks will find and the one that knocks would have the door opened for him.

Do the asking, seeking and knocking because God is ready to answer, to give, and to open the door.

God is not a tryrant. He is not wicked. He waits for us to call on Him as He is always on standby ready to answer.

He says;

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. – Jeremiah 33:3

Habakkuk understood that God would always answer when he prays that was why he said;

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. – Habakkuk 2:1

David also understood this principle that was why he said;

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. – Psalms 65:2

God hears your prayers and He is willing to respond to it. See how The Message Bible puts Hebrews 11:6

It's impossible to please God apart from faith because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He CARES ENOUGH TO RESPOND TO THOSE WHO SEEK HIM.

Glory to God! He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him.

He says you should ask him in prayer and He assures you that He will answer you.

When you pray carry this understanding, 

i. Prayer is a dialogue i.e as you talk to God, He also wants to talk to you.

ii. God is ever ready to answer you when you pray to Him.

Quit from seeing prayers as a monologue; a request tabling session. Begin to see prayers as a medium for communication between humanity and divinity, between your heavenly father and yourself. Only then can you cultivate and develop an effective prayer life.

God is your Father and He cares enough to respond to you when you call on Him. This is the primary step on how to develop an effective prayer life.

Now pray with this understanding...

"The story of Brother Thomas is a product of my imagination and does not represent the life of anyone I know. Any resemblance to anybody is clearly a coincidence!"

How To Develop A Consistent Prayer Life

One of the questions that plague the average believer is how to develop a consistent prayer life. Many believers who are concerned about their prayer lives always wonder why they are unable to pray consistently.

The task of developing a consistent prayer life is important for everyone of us. This is because prayer is a vital part of our lives as believers.

Prayer is the lifestyle of believers but we are often unable to engage prayers as we want to. When you study God's word, you will discover one emphasis, prayer! It is very evident that prayer must be part of our lives but how can we pray consistently?

Before we talk about how to develop a consistent prayer life, I need to show you something about our frailty as humans.

Humans Can Not Be Consistent

Humans can not be consistent. Performing an action consistently is not in the character of humans. Especially when that activity is a spiritual one. Prayer is a spiritual activity and no one operating in the flesh can prosecute prayer consistently.

In our prayer enterprise, you must reckon with the fact that you can not pray with consistency on your own. Your flesh will always want to choose something contrary to the demands of the Spirit.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus made it clear to His disciples that the Spirit will want pray but the flesh will want do something contrary.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. - Matthew 26:41

Even when the Spirit wants to pray, the flesh because it is frail will not want to pray. It is this frailty that makes it almost impossible for a man to develop a consistent prayer life.

Apostle Paul further explains this concept of the flesh being contrary to the Spirit in Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The Spirit and the flesh can never work together because they are contrary to each other. This explains the reason why in the flesh we can not develop a consistent prayer life.

Having highlighted the frailty of man and its effect on the inconsistency we suffer when we try to pray in the flesh what do we do to pray consistently? You will get the answer in a bit.

Develop A Consistent Prayer Life By Partnering With The Holy Spirit

This is the foremost means to develop a consistent prayer - partnership with the Holy Spirit. Developing a consistent prayer life is only possible when we partner with the Spirit of God.

Trying to perform a spiritual activity is impossible in the flesh. The flesh is not strong enough to carry out spiritual activity.

Spirits control the action and activities of men. And it is true regardless of the action whether in the occult world or in Christendom.

Every second we are constantly interacting with spirits. The contention is not necessarily about the action but the spirit that engineers the action.

A man may be preaching or moving in the "anointing" but he is acting on the strength of an evil spirit. Many persons parading as ministers of the gospel are under the influences of demons.

The extinction of sound doctrine and men of order in the Body of Christ has made these anomalies to go on unhindered.

Nevertheless, prayer can only be carried out by the engineering and support of the Holy Spirit. Outside the help and support from the Spirit of God, men will be unable to pray as they ought to.

Jesus made the emphasis on prayer in Luke 18 highlighting that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Sadly, we faint rather than pray and it is because our nature as humans is fainting.

This is why David prayed in Psalms 80:18 saying:

So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

It is part of our nature to not want to stay in the place of prayer. The flesh will always look for better options rather than prayer. It will always rebel against staying in prayer

The Spirit of God Quickens

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. - John 6:63

Clearly, we see that it is the Spirit of God that quickens us to carry out the activities which we must as believers. The life of a Christian should be powered by the Holy Spirit and none of the flesh.

Christianity would be witchcraft in the absence of the Spirit of God. Our lives as believers is spiritual and only by partnership with the Spirit of God that we can live properly.

To develop a consistent prayer life, we must be quickened by the Spirit of God. Job said "there is a Spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding" - Job 32:8

God's Spirit in partnership with our spirit makes us to pray effectively. We need quickening in order to pray and we can only be quickened by the Spirit of God. Prayer will be religion except the Spirit of God is involved in our prayer enterprise.

If you want to pray better, develop a consistent prayer life and pray effectively, we must receive the quickening that comes only from the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God Helps Us To Develop A Consistent Prayer Life

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. - Romans 8:26 (NLT)

I can not overemphasize this truth - prayer can only be done consistently and with great effectiveness when we pray in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

This is because as humans we do not know what we should pray for and we can not pray as we want to pray. It is the Spirit of God that provides the needed support and powering for consistent, effective praying.

What must be on our priority check list when we pray?

Help from the Spirit of God. Only the Spirit of God can help us develop a consistent prayer life and we must engage him like David did in Psalms 80:18 for quickening in order to pray.

How To Overcome Weakness In Prayer

One of the major issues that plagues the believer is weakness in the place of prayer. The question of how to overcome prayerlessness is always in the heart of every true and committed believer.

How can we overcome prayerlessness? How can we go past our weaknesses in prayer and become more prayerful?The answers will be revealed in this article.

Prayer has been emphasized over and over again as an integral part of the believer's life and walk with God. For a believer to come to the place of intimacy with God, trap spiritual realities, exercise Dominion over the earth, usurp the advance of darkness and attain his maximum potential in Christ, prayer must be absolute.

But with the intense emphasis on prayer and the widespread teachings and preachings on prayer, many default in carrying out the enterprise of prayer. Excuses pertinent to busy schedules, weakness in prayer and a number of other are brought up by believers as to why they don't pray.

There are so many peculiar reasons as to why believers fail to pray. For some they have got other options seemingly better than prayer. Others are depraved of the need for prayers. Others have their faith weakened due to a long list of unanswered prayers. While for many, prayers don't just make it to the priority list.

The truth is no excuse is good enough to sideline and relegate prayers. Any sign of prayerlessness and weakness must be dealt with at all cost. It is interest you to note that prayerlessness is a sin.

Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: – 1 Samuel 12:23

In the scripture above, we see Samuel revealing that if he fails to pray for Israel it is equivalent to sinning against God. There is no excuse that can validate your negligence to prayers.

Another critical point to bear is that prayerlessness produces a gullible, weak and feeble spiritual life. Our life is more spiritual than it is physical and it is worthy of note that we interact with Spirit entities every now and then. Apostle Paul said;

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This powers and principalities that we wrestle against will overpower, conquer and subdue us except we turn our faces to God and engage the protocol of prayers. A prayerless Christian can not have power over devils and principalities.

God's commission to mankind of dominion and subduing the earth will never be articulated and expressed by a believer who does not pray. It is by prayer that we attract the requisite power needed for dominion over the earth.

If we will have dominion – trampling the devil and the earth underfoot – we must retract back to the place of prayer and begin to deal diligently in prayers to God.

For some believers, their immediate needs have been taken care of and because of that they do not see the need to pray. This is gross pride.

It is the view that prayers is solely meant for petitioning – asking for needs – that gives rise to this form of negligence to prayer. If prayer is about asking God for needs, when the needs are met why pray?

The inability to pray for long hours of time, for others, is the reason why they do not pray. Many want to be reckoned to be prayerful and they opt to pray for long hours of time hoping to get approvals and appraisals.

Due to the frailty of our humanity, they may be unable to reach their quota and being discouraged overtime they may lose interest in prayers unknowingly.

Busy schedules, academics, career, work, family upkeep and other activities are the reasons why some Christians don't pray. These set of Christians live extremely busy schedules and they have no time to engage prayers.

Excuse or no excuse, prayer is our lifestyle as believers and we all must be yielded to prayers. As oxygen is needed for the survival of humans, prayer is needed for our survival as spiritual beings.

Prayer is not meant to gratify your desires alone. The orientation that praying is all about asking God for your needs is wrong. The same way you have needs is the same way God has needs and He designed prayer as the medium for fulfilling those needs.

One of God's need is intimacy with us. God desires to be intimate with Him – To have us know Him more. Prayer is the channel with which God can achieve intimacy with us.

Prayer in the words of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. In other words, it should be what we begin our day with and how we end our day.

You can suspend every other thing in your life but not prayer. When prayer stops, everything in your life is bound to stop working. You must not allow any excuse swing you into weakness in prayer.

The writer of Hebrews advised in Hebrews 12:12 "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees". It was actually a call to prayers.

How can a believer overcome weakness in prayer and become more prayerful. Here are some of the steps I recommend to assist every believer

1. Pray More To Overcome Weakness in Prayer

This sounds weird but it is the first step on how to overcome weakness in prayer. To become prayerful is to pray more. Nobody starts out praying as an expert. Everyone was a beginner at praying but overtime due to practice and yieldedness, mastery was achieved.

Like every known art, Prayer must be learnt and mastery only comes by constant practice. To become good at soccer or at playing the keyboard, you must give yourself to football trainings and keyboard practice. It is no different with prayer.

Personally, there was a point in my life when I could not pray in tongues for 15 minutes straight but as I continued in prayer I began to master the art and today by His grace I can pray for hours in tongues.

It is not a sin to be unable to pray for hours. Do not let any one deceive you or demean you on such grounds. First of all, prayer is not time-based but Spirit-based that is you do not pray into time, you pray into the Spirit.

Although, praying for long hours is good because it exercises your Spirit, do no be dismayed when you are unable to. Prayer is not for proving points but for touching God.

Note that, a baby does not learn how to walk and talk in a day. Growth is by all standards a process. You must keep engaging in prayers until you gained mastery.

Praying without ceasing, continually and consistently will help you gain mastery of the art of prayer and before you know it you would have metamorphosed into a praying machine.

2. Be Deliberate About Prayer To Overcome Weakness in Prayer

The second point on how to overcome weakness in prayer is to be deliberate about prayer. Prayer is a spiritual activity which must be engineered by the Spirit but you must not always wait to be pushed to pay before you pray.

You would need to take conscious, deliberate decisions to pray whether in your convenience or not. Apostle Paul said "..I will pray.." (1 Corinthians 14:15). This means he (Paul) will take the conscious decision to pray.

One point that is worthy of note is this: your flesh will never want prayer. When it is prayer time, your flesh will bring up other options to take. This is why you need to put your will to work and choose to pray. Prayer is not always palatable for the flesh hence you must force it to pray.

The flesh will always rebel as Paul tells us in Galatians 5:17. It is your duty to force it to submit. If as you pray, you sleep off, wake up and continue praying. Do not be deterred by the frailty of your humanity. Never go easy on the flesh, train it to always choose prayer.

3. Partner With The Holy Spirit

To overcome weakness in prayer, you must partner with God's spirit. Jon Bloom of desiringGod said Prayer is not fundamentally a discipline thing. And that is very much true. Prayer is a spiritual function so if you must pray you must pray in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

Disciplining yourself is very important but prayer can only be performed accurately and according to God's standards when we pray by the quickening of His Spirit.

It is vain to try and pray without the person of the Holy Spirit believing in your energy and strength. David understood how the important role of the Spirit of God in prayer that is why he prayed in Psalms 80:18 thus

So will not we depart from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon your name

It is unnatural to want to stay in the place of prayer but when we are quickened we will want to continue to prayer. To overcome prayerlessness and become more prayerful, we must partner with God's Spirit to help us pray.

Partnering with God's Spirit for praying effectively is in three dimensions. We partner with the Holy Spirit so that:

1. He will quicken us to pray
2. We can pray in accordance to God's will
3. He can help us to pray

It is the Spirit of God that quickens and helps us to pray as prayer is communication with God who is a Spirit and no flesh can interact with God except by the Spirit.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you - Romans 8:11

When our humanity seems to overpower us, we must trust God's Spirit to supply strength to help us pray. The Holy Spirit has a support facility providing strength to the believer when needed.

Also, in Romans 8:26, Apostle Paul points out the reason why no matter how much we think we can pray, we still need to depend on the Spirit of God.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

You see that the Spirit helps in our weaknesses because we do not know what we should pray for and how we ought to pray. The Spirit of God helps us overcome theses weaknesses by making intercessions on our behalf. He does not only quicken us to pray, He teaches us how to pray and what to pray for.

I believe one of the reasons for prayerlessness is the lack of the Spirit of God. We have tried to pray on our own by ourselves and it has proven to be a venture in futility. Why not partner with God's Spirit to help you pray?

Say; "Spirit of God, come help me pray, come pray with me, come quicken me to call on the name of the Lord". I trust God's Spirit to help you conquer prayerlessness and become prayerful.

4. Living a Holy Life

Another point on how to overcome weakness in prayer is by living a holy life.

Sin is a major hindrance to prayers and praying. It prevents you from praying and equally stops God from answering your prayers. God's servant, Dr Paul Enenche said "Sin keeps you from praying as much as prayer keeps you from sin".

A sinner will always find prayer burdensome and a total waste of time. The nature of sin is one that prevents the sinner from any inclination to prayer. To overcome prayerlessness, the believer has got to live a holy life.

Holiness is not just a criterion for making heaven, it is an important requirement for praying effectively. It gives us both the boldness to come into His presence and the assurance of answered prayers.

This is what Apostle Peter explained in 1 Peter 3: 12

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

To overcome weakness in prayer and become more prayerful, the believer must deal with secret sin. Those weights that easily beset us, hidden faults and little foxes. Holiness must be your watchword if you will ever master the art of prayer.

Conclusion

We grow into being prayerful. You can not master a skill in one day. Prayer is not rocket science but a process -- it takes times. So do not be discouraged if you are unable to pray as you want.

Remember that, it is by consistent and continual practice we gain mastery of prayers. Before you know it, you would be surprised how much you have grown.

Most Importantly, prayer is communing with God and not trying to prove a point by praying long hours of time. No one should make you feel less of a Christian over the issue of praying long hours. There is need to pray for long hours but the primary focus is to commune with God.

Jesus told a parable with this emphasis "Men ought always to pray and not to faint". He was given us insight into the unrivaled position prayer should occupy in our lives. Prayer is mandatory and not optional for everyone.

Prayer must be your top most priority first before your job, career, academics and any other activity you engage in. You must create time no matter how busy you are to commune with your Father else you would become a prey in the devil's hands.

Finally, prayer is not theoretical but practical. It is an organic reality. After reading this article, PRAY. Do not wait for later, PRAY NOW.

I trust that with these steps on how to overcome weakness in prayer, your prayer life will see a massive turnaround. PRAY NOW.

When Is The Best Time To Pray?

Is prayer supposed to be time-based?

Are believers expected to pray only at certain times of the day or in certain seasons of their lives?

These questions and many more bothers the average believer and they border around the ultimate question — when is the best time to pray?

Prayer is quintessentially the believer's lifestyle and culture and for anyone who intends to do much with God and to make the best out of the practice of the Christian faith, prayer is ultimate and focal.

The necessity of breathing in and breathing out for survival as living beings is the similitude prayer takes up in the life of believer. Spiritual breathing is made possible when we engage the art of prayer.

Much emphasis is placed on the need for maintaining prayers but amidst the rave of emphasis, there is still a deficiency in the prayer life of believers.

In times like this when the world seem to be drowning in chaos, we must all enter into the secret place and engage God in much prayers because in Him, lies the fortification needed for the survival of the believer.

To provide an answer to the question in focus, the word of God is and remains the fountain from which we can draw accuracy and balance. Accuracy and balance in the dispensation of sound doctrine has seemingly escaped through the backdoor of the church giving rise to unbalance and inaccurate doctrines peddled by certain obscure men.

As no preacher's opinion is stronger than the perspective sustained by the word of God, to get accurate and balanced doctrine, every believer must retract back to the study of scriptures: rightly dividing the truths encapsulated in its letters.

The word of God is by all means the anchor of the believer, the manual whose content is timely in delivering the thoughts and intents of God for every dispensation of time. It is to this word we would draw perspectives as to what time is best for prayer.

Come with me....

Jesus in Matthew 6 delivered one of the most profound teachings of the Christian faith. He gave thought to the technology of prayer and dispensed timeless truths on the art of prayer. 

One very notable point we need to be aware of is found in the phrase He used when He wanted to begin the section of prayer in Matthew 6:5. He said "And when thou prayest..."

The point in the verse above is what I like to refer to as the "When Phenomenon".

WHEN PHENOMENON

English language made us to understand that the word 'when' is an adverb of time. It tells of the possibility of an event in time which must take place.

Let's do a little analysis. Look at the statement below: 

"When I go to church on Sunday..." 

The statement above suggests that come Sunday I will go to church. The reiterates the fact that my coming to church is a surety.

For Jesus to say "When thou prayest...", He was showing us that prayer is not optional but mandatory. The believer is not given the leverage of deciding to or not to pray. 

Whether it is convenient for you or not, prayer is a when phenomenon, by implication it must be performed. You are not given too many options. This is why many believers don't pray, within them is the luxury of "options" other than prayer. This is contrary to the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Had Jesus said "If you pray..", we would be sure that other options abound outside prayer because "If" is conditional. "If I come to church" denotes that there is a tendency i might not come to church but "When I come to church" assures of the possibility of coming to church.

From this, we understand that prayer is not optional but mandatory. Not for ministers of the Gospel or those who intend to do ministry but for all and sundry. 

A believer who understands the frailty of his or her humanity will engage prayer with all their might because it is only by engaging prayer, following the when phenomenon, that the believer can gain sufficient stature of stand in the days that are upon us.

PRAYER; A LIFESTYLE NOT JUST A TOOL

The idealogy that sees prayer as a tool for curbing emergencies and as an escape strategy when the believer is faced with overwhelming circumstance is unscriptural. The emergence of very weak and gullible believers is due to the acceptance of prayer as a tool.

The life of a believer is expected to be sustained by prayer. As a human, breathing in and out is essential for survival, prayer takes the same form for believers. Engaging in prayer only when the needs arises will make the church less of what God expects her to be. 

Not only is prayer supposed to be a communication channel between man and God, it is supposed to be a channel through which downloads from heaven can be captured by the praying man, downloads which would serve as a means of extending God's Dominion as expressed in heaven on the earth.

If all the believer does as prayer is plague  God with requests then more and more we will lose the ability to withstand the evil at work in the world today. Prayer is expected to be the way a believer lives, the system in which he gets respiration.

Jesus tried to present this truth when Luke records in chapter 18:1 that He spoke a parable to the end "that men ought always to pray and not to faint". This is the lot of all men – Prayer. 

For the believer to attain to his maximum potential in Christ Jesus, our importunity to prayer must drive us to constantly go before God in prayer whether in convenience or inconvenience.

PRAYING ALWAYS 

Having explained the need to pray not just for needs or when the need arises but as a lifestyle, let us see when really in respect to time is best for praying.

To answer this question, let's look at the scriptures on prayer below – carefully observing the emphasis as touching timings.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; – Luke 18:1

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word – Acts 6:4

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; – Romans 12:12

Praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints – Ephesians 6:18

Pray without ceasing – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

From the scriptures above, the right attitude to prayer which the believer must sustain is summed up in two words – Continual & Always. For the sake of simplicity, let's make do with "Always".

There is no restraint on the timing for prayer. With much liberty is the engagement of prayer such that no matter the hour of the day, the wellness of our being, the comfort, the pain or tribulation, prayer must be maintained always. The best time to pray is actually all the time.

Emphatically, there is no prescribe time for prayer as a general rule but men have by an act of their will, their importunity for prayers and by divine instruction have set apart a specific time of the day for prayer.

Setting a particular time to engage prayer is not bad at all, infact it is needful a practice as men who have learnt to court and fellowship with God understands that routines and frequency are important in engaging God in prayers but then the best time to pray is always.

While on the road, in your bedroom, at your place of work, wherever and whenever, importunity should drive us to pray. The best time to pray dearly beloved is always. Timings are important but then praying always is scripturally prescribed!

Who Do We Pray To: God The Father, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Angels or Mary?

As believers who do we pray to?
What personality should we offer our prayers to?
Do we pray to God the Father or to Jesus Christ or to the Holy Spirit or to angels or to Mary the mother of Jesus?

We must understand the right quarters to direct prayers to because when prayers are not directed to the right quarters it can not amount to any form of effectiveness. Prayer only becomes effective when it is channeled to the right quarters.

There is a dire need for an accurate understanding of how to get God to answer our prayers and how we can prosecute the enterprise of prayers effectively. This understanding stems from the correction of the perspectives we have sustained on who we pray to.

You need to know that answers to prayers is made possible when we pray to the right person. All the time you spend in the secret place is only productive when your activities and prayers are directed to the right personality.

Supposing there is a vacancy in  a secondary school for instance and applications are supposed to be submitted to the Vice-principal of the school. If you submit your application to the security man do you think you stand a chance of getting the job? Absolutely not! Why because applications were supposed to be submitted to the vice-principal and not to the security man.

In the same vein, if you direct your prayers to the wrong personality you do not stand the chance of getting your prayers answered. There is a personality we must pray to and there is also a protocol we must submit to in order to pray effectively.

It will amaze you to know that a large percentage of believers do not know who we ought to pray to and we make many mistakes in prayer and wonder why we do not see results.

Before I reveal who we should pray to, let me quickly identify a few misconceptions we have entertained about who we pray to and I do so with love for the Body.

WE DO NOT PRAY TO OR THROUGH MARY THE MOTHER OF JESUS

We neither pray to Mary nor through her and she does not pray for us. According to David Pawson, four persons engage in every prayer prosecution.

These four persons are you, God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of Mary the mother of Jesus as part of any prayer engagement.

Mary is only the vessel through whom Jesus was born into the world and she is not referenced through out scriptures to be a mediator between God and man. She is neither praying for us nor carrying our prayers to God on our behalf.

Mary's function in the kingdom is clearly stated in the Bible and that is giving birth to Jesus. Any other thing we believe about Mary outside this is not captured in scriptures.

It is believed by a group of Christians that Mary acts as a mediator between us and God helping us to pray but Scriptures clearly show us that we have only one mediator between God and man and that there is only one personality for provides help for the believer when we pray. Our mediator is the man Jesus and the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to pray.

The following scriptures proves the validity of my claims:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. - 1 Timothy 2:5-6

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of the sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. - Hebrews 12:24

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. - Romans 8:26

The first two scriptures that is 1 Timothy 2:5-6 and Hebrews 12:24 shows us that Jesus is the only mediator between God and men. He is the only one declared as an intermediary between God the Father and every man.

 The third scripture proves that it is the Spirit of God that helps us pray. Later on, I would discuss extensively on the role the Holy Spirit and Jesus play as regards prayers.

Never in scriptures was Mary the mother of Jesus recorded to perform any role in the prayer of believers. We do not pray to Mary or through her neither does she pray for us. Praying to Mary or expecting her to pray for you is not scriptural and it is not consistent with the character of God.

WE DO NOT PRAY TO ANGELS

Another misconception about who we pray to is praying to angels. Angels are spiritual beings created by God for the sole purpose of serving Him. They function as messengers of God, carrying out His errands.

Angels are also called ministering spirits. As ministering spirits, their duty is to look after us, I mean you and I. This is why scripture records in Hebrews 1:14 saying:

Are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

This is the job description of angels. Never were angels portrayed as recipients of prayers nor as carriers of prayer requests. Angels do not answer prayers nor help us pray. Their job function is service to God which includes declaring His glory, guarding His jealousy and as His messengers delivering His eternal counsel to men.

Any doctrine that teaches you that we can pray to angels is false and not scriptural. Angels can only bring answers to prayers as we see in Daniel chapter 10.

 The angel Gabriel was only a messenger more like a delivery man delivering the answer of Daniel's prayer. He was not the one the prayers were directed to neither was he the one answering them. He was only a delivery man, bringing the answers to Daniel.

The main reason I am bringing all these scriptures to you is for you to understand that the perspective I am bringing is not mine but from the word of God. I do not own any opinion I share.

 All of the opinions I am sharing and the perspective I am bringing are from scriptures. If you think these perspectives are wrong, bring up scriptures to prove your points so we compare scripture by scripture.

WHO THEN DO WE PRAY TO?

I have explained that we do not pray to Mary, neither do we pray to angels, who then do we pray to? Do we pray to God the Father or to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit?

Remember what I highlighted about David Pawson earlier on, where I spoke about the persons involved in prayer. God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are part of every journey of prayer we engage in.

Each of them have roles they play whenever we pray. Let's quickly run through the roles of these personality so we can understand who we ought to pray to.

THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PRAYER

The role of the Holy Spirit in prayer is to help us to pray. The Bible speaking in Romans 8:26 tells us that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, one of such infirmities is that we do not know how to pray as we should. The best of humans do not know what they should pray for and how they should pray. We all must rely on the Spirit of God for us to pray effectively.

Prayer is a spiritual activity and it can only be performed effectively when it is carried out in the premise and in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

No matter how skilled you are or how eloquent your tongues sound when you pray, prayer can not be effectively prosecuted by the energy of the flesh. As a spiritual activity, it must be done in partnership with a spirit.

The Holy Spirit helps to pray by making intercessions for us. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is our helpmeet in prayer. We partner with Him and He helps us to pray. This is made possible when we pray "In Him". We do not pray to the Holy Spirit, we pray in the Spirit. The best place to pray is not in your bedroom nor in the church nor in your car nor on a mountain but in the Spirit.

This was Paul's counsel to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 6:18

Praying always with all prayers and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Jude also admonishes us in Jude 1:20

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

THE ROLE OF JESUS CHRIST IN PRAYER

Having highlighted the role of the Holy Spirit in prayer stating that we pray in Him, what then is the role of Jesus Christ in prayer?

When we pray, we pray through Jesus. Let me explain why and how. The fall of man in the garden of Eden broke the relationship between God and men. Man was unable to have access to God. Jesus' purpose for coming to the earth to die was to bring God back to man. He came to restore the access man lost to God.

Anything we do as Christians in our relationship with God is based on the finished works of Jesus Christ. We are saved from death because of Jesus. We are free from sin because of Jesus Christ. We are able to pray to God because of Jesus.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them - Hebrews 7:25

Jesus Christ is our high priest who continually makes intercessions for us daily. He plays the role of a mediator, an intermediary between God and man as we see in 1 Timothy 2:25. He understands what it is to be human and He knows how to present your request better to God the Father.

For prayer to get to the right quarters we must pray through Jesus. Sadly, we can not pray through Jesus without being in Jesus. Being in Jesus refers to living a life of holiness, a life that is apart from sin. Sin is a major hindrance to prayers and if you must pray effectively then you must flee from sin.

Jesus said "He is the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). No one can approach the Father who is the right personality to pray to without Jesus. There is no means of boycotting the process. If it is not through Jesus you are not getting to God.

Jesus taught us in Matthew 6:6 that when we pray we should go into our closet and pray to no one but the Father. When He prayed, Jesus prayed to the Father as we see in Luke 6:12 where the Bible records

And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God

When Peter tried to defend Jesus by cutting off the ear of Malchus in Matthew 26:53

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

We see that Jesus modeled a pattern of prayer both in His teachings and lifestyle showing us the right quarters to channel our prayers. We pray in the Spirit through Jesus Christ.

WE PRAY TO GOD, OUR FATHER

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

- John 16:23

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

- John 15:16

The only personality prayers should be directed to is God who Jesus makes us understand to be our Father (Matthew 6:6). Jesus called God "Father" using several prepositions such as my, yours, and our. His goal was to show us that God was Father and our prayers should be directed to Him.

In Matthew 7:11, Jesus made a shocking comparison. He said if our fathers that is our earthly fathers even though they are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more our Father who is in heaven? By implication, when we compare our earthly fathers to our Father in heaven, our earthly fathers are evil but they still know how to give good gifts to us when we ask. Then Jesus asks "How much more your Father in heaven?".

This is what makes us different from other religions. God is our Father and we can refer to Him as such without fear nor favor and we can direct our prayers to Him and be sure of getting answers from Him. Hence we pray in the Spirit, through Jesus Christ because of the access He grants us to God the Father.

We do not pray to angels or to Mary. Our prayers must be directed to God, through Jesus in the Holy Spirit.

Nine Reasons Why Prayer Is Very Important

Prayer is a very important part of the Christian's journey. It is the culture of the believer and it's importance can never be overemphasized.


Prayer was designed to be a means of survival for believers and if a believer will amount to anything, he or she must be given to the art of prayer.


Why is prayer very important? What are the reasons that make up for the very important posture that prayer bears?
I am going to unveil nine (9) reasons why prayer is very important.

Prayer is Important Because It Is Our Channel of Communicating With God

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”– Matthew 6:6


Prayer is oftentimes defined as the communication channel between God and man. The goal of God in designing prayer was to afford man the opportunity to commune with Him and have Him commune with man.


There is no way we can talk to God except through the protocol of prayers. God is a Spirit and it is through the Spirit that we commune with God. In order to commune with God, we must partner with His Spirit through the altar of prayer.


Seeking other means of interacting with God aside the protocol of prayer is a move in the direction of witchcraft and necromancy. To talk to God, we must pray. Prayer is our telephone line for reaching God.

Prayer Is Important Because It Helps Us Achieve Intimacy and Fellowship

God's desire for creating man was to have intimacy and fellowship with man. Man was created from the fellowship of the God-head and he was expected to function by fellowshipping with the God-head.


After creating man, God will come to the garden of Eden in the cool of the day to have fellowship with the man He had created. Until the devil came and disrupted that establishment. Due to the fall, man became unable to fellowship with God again.


So prayer was now designed as the means to bring man and God back to that plain of fellowship and intimacy. If we must commune with God, we must be people of prayer.


By prayer, man is enabled to come back to the original status quo of intimacy with Divinity. Prayer creates an enabling ground for God and man to become intertwined as originally designed.

Prayer Is Important For Self-Realization

Prayer helps us realize who we are. It helps us to uncover and unravel the mysteries that shrouds our lives. It gives us an insight into what God had in mind when He was creating us.


God was not careless about creation. Everything God created had a purpose. Nothing was made just because God wanted to fill the earth. God was intentional about creation.


By implication, God created you for a purpose. When God was forming you like the Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, He knew you and had made you a solution to a pre-existing problem on the Earth.


The way you were born does not matter here. Even if you were born as a result of an unfortunate night, God allowing you birth is enough reason for you to believe that God has a plan and purpose for your life.


As Late Myles Munroe asserts "the worst tragedy in life is not losing your job or failing an exam but living a life without fulfilling purpose". You will be disappointing God if you refuse to fulfil His predetermined purpose for your life.


This is one of the reasons why we pray. We pray because it is in the place of prayer that God begins to unveil who we are to us. It is in the place of prayer that God through His Spirit makes us to realize who He has made us to be.


The Psalmist said, “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.” – Psalms 36:9

In God's light we encounter light which reveals who we are. It was this light the Prophet, Isaiah encountered that made him realize he was a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).

To realize who you are in God and discover your purpose in life, then you have to be yielded to prayer.

Prayer Helps Us To Know The Mind & Will of The Father

The will of God is the governing counsel for our lives as believers. Anything a believer does outside of the will of God accounts for nothing. Our operation and conduct must be in synchrony to the will and mind of God.


Hebrews 10:7 gives us a concise insight to what our lives must be about:

“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”

We live not to bag degrees or build mansions or win Miss World contests or become rich and popular but to do the will of God. The will of God for our lives must be trapped as it is what gives us voice among immortals.


Our resolve always must be like that of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 26:39 which says:
“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”


It does not matter how wonderful our ambitions are. They may even look spiritual. It is a sojourn in futility if the will of God is not captured in it. God's will must be the compass that directs our life.


Prayer then becomes our practice. This is because we can only know the mind and the will of God when we pray. The mind of God can not be discerned by guessing or following your heart. You must labour in the place of prayer to apprehend the mind of God for your life per time.


The Spirit of God is the revealer of the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). We partner with Him to discern the mind of God and the tender upon which the provision for this partnership is laid bare is prayer. Only by prayer can we receive what have been given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Prayer is Necessary For Spiritual Growth and Development

It is God's desire that we grow until we come into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. You see when we become born again, the experience is like that of an actual birth. We become babies and it is expedient for us to grow.


The components that makes us grow is not physical food as in the case of newborn babies. We are spiritual newborns hence the components responsible for our growth is spiritual.


Prayer is one of the spiritual components responsible for our growth. To grow spiritually, a believer must embrace the altar of prayer and waste his life there.


Jude explains this in verse 20 of Jude where he said:

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”


We build ourselves by praying. Prayer builds the believer. This is also attributed to why the early church grew rapidly. In Acts of the Apostles chapter 6:4, the Apostles maintained that “we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”


They understood that if they left prayer and began to serve tables their growth and the eventual growth of the church would be disrupted and stunted.


If you must grow dear believer you must be prayerful. Having alternatives outside prayer is a sign you are not ready for growth. Growth is experienced when prayer is practiced.

Prayer Enforces God's Will on The Earth

Prayer is the tool with which we enforce God's will on the earth. Jesus taught that for us to pray effectively, our prayer enterprise must be fashioned in such a way that the will of God is captured in it.


In Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus said:

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."


Prayer must be about enforcing God's will else it is will not be effective. Our prayers are potent to the degree of how they align to God's will. God's will is superior to say motive.


It is only in Heaven that the will of God is settled. Men will have to labour in prayers for the will of God to take center stage on the earth. The altar of prayer is the enforcement agency of God's will.

Prayer Changes Things and Transforms Lives

“And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” – Luke 9:29

"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." – James 5:17-18


Prayer is able to change the situation of things and transform the lives of men. In the verses above we see this importance of prayer expressed.


The first scripture, Luke 9:29, tells us about Jesus. On one of his several prayer engagements, Luke accounts that Jesus literally transformed. This transformation can be experienced even today. By prayer, men can move from being charlatans and vagabonds to signs and wonders.


I have seen how men who embraced the altar of prayer become transformed. Men who had been vessels and tools in the hands of the devil by the protocol of prayers have become instruments for the expression and manifestation of the glory of God.


On the other hand, James tells us of Prophet Elijah. How that by prayer he(Elijah) locked up the heavens over Israel for three years and six months. And by prayer still he opened the heavens and the land had rain.


There is no situation or problem that is too big for prayers to handle. My father told me how the zeal for prayer was kindled in him. Someone gave him a gift and as he unwrapped the gift, the first thing he saw was the inscription "Prayer Changes Things".


He got that gift long before I was born and it will interest you to know that my dad is still as zealous towards prayers as he was years ago.


Prayer is able to transform men. Praying for my siblings has yielded immense results. Situations orchestrated by darkness can be turned around when we give ourselves to prayer. Truly Prayer changes things.

We Engage In Spiritual Warfare By Prayer

The world we live in is a battleground. Every day we are engaged in a warfare and it is disheartening to see believers live as though we are in a funfare.


There's a raging battle and we have been recruited into it. That was why Apostle Paul urged us to "Put on the whole armour of God..." (Ephesians 6:11). Denying the fact that we are in a spiritual warfare does not negate the fact.


The earlier we come to terms with the warfare dimension of the earth, the better for our safety on the earth. As it is a spiritual warfare, we do not war carnally or with carnal weapons.


“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” – 2 Corinthians 10:4


The weapons of our warfare and how we engage in it are spiritual. It is by prayer that we engage in spiritual warfare. The man who does not pray is setting himself up as a casualty of war.


I pity many who spend the night sleeping. That timeframe which is strategic for warfare should not be spent snoring and slumbering. Brace yourself and war, life is a warfare. Prayer is the platform for engaging.

Prayer Secures Deliverances

The devil will do anything within his jurisdiction to put and keep you in bondage. He was never happy when God made man and has sought to frustrate God's intention for man by placing man under the bondage of sin.


But the Bible reveals that deliverance is possible. In Isaiah chapter 49:24-25, a question was asked and the answer is very interesting.


"Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children."


Deliverance is a possibility in God and we command deliverance by prayer. The devil will back out of your life and family when your prayer fire intensifies. The Bible says the weapon of our warfare is not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds" – 1 Corinthians 10:6(Paraphrased)


Have you noticed a pattern or a circle in your family? Has the devil kept your family in bondage and made everyone subject to his wickedness? Then it is time you embrace the altar of prayer and shift the devil back.
Prayer secures your deliverance.


James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” How we submit to God in order to gain sufficient stamina for resisting the devil is prayer. Only by prayer can we entrench the systems of deliverance.

Who Should Pray?

I have spoken to quite a number of people and I discovered that many believers do not pray because they believe prayer is for a particular set of people: Ministers of God.

That's not true. Every man ought to pray. In Luke 18 verse 1, Jesus taught the disciples a parable and His goal was to let them know that men ought always to pray and not to faint. As long as you are a man then you must pray.


I hope you know that by man it does not refer to only male gender but every human. Being a human is reason enough to pray. Stop seeing prayer as an activity for certain groups of people. Engage in prayer today and enjoy overwhelming dividends.


Before you go, share your thoughts with me. I really want to hear from you. Drop a comment in the comments section below. The Lord Bless You.