Prayer Guide

I was reading a post about how to pray by one of my fellow bloggers and I thought that this would be good information to pass on. His name is Brian Branam and his blog is called "Feel My Faith". I have him listed as one of the blogs that I follow on my sidebar, feel free to click on his site and read some of his recent posts. I find them quite insightful.

Here is his post called "Prayer Guide":

Over the past few weeks I have been sifting through Dr. Gregory R Frizzell's book, Returning to Holiness, A Personal and Churchwide Journey to Revival. Here is an outlined gleaned from pages 78 - 81 on Five Practical Steps to a Powerful Daily Prayer Life. He lists five practical steps, I managed to stretch it into six.

1) Make an absolute commitment to consistently spend significant time alone with God in uninterrupted prayer (Luke 11:1).

2) Approach your prayer time as a relationship with God rather than a required ritual (Luke 10:38-42).

3) Listen first (1 John 5:14-15).

4) Make a commitment to a balanced prayer life by regularly practicing the four different types of prayer (1 Timothy 2:1).

a) Praise, thanksgiving, worship
b) Confession and repentance
c) Petition and supplication
d) Intercession

5) In your daily petitions, focus more on issues of personal character and holiness than on temporal needs (Matthew 5, Romans 8:29, Galatians 5:22).

6) In your daily intercession, focus more on issues of evangelism and missions than on temporal concerns (Matthew 28:18).Develop a prayer list of:

a) Lost people
b) Key leaders and ministry strategies of the church
c) Key spiritual and government leaders in city, state, and nation
d) Mission strategies of our association, state, and convention.
e) Petitions for revival and awakening in our city.

I believe that I heard this same exact teaching as part of a message from a church that I once attended. It laid the foundation for and became a crucial part of my relationship with God. In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus explains how we should pray. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. I love to wake up early in the morning, before the sun rises, and before anyone in my family rises. I have a great view of the eastern sky through my living room windows. I will sit and read some scripture, and then I close my eyes and begin to pray. The total silence in the morning is key here. God not only desires to hear from us, but He wants to speak to us as well (1 John 5:14-15). Having no distractions around is important. His voice is not usually a loud voice, but a whisper when He speaks to me. Sometimes He paints a picture in my mind. Sometimes He gives me a simple word. Sometimes He just holds me as we sit in total silence. And then I open my eyes and look to the east just in time for Him to show me another beautiful sunrise. It is the most important and best part of every day for me.

If you are not doing so already, I encourage you to take some time and look over this list (Prayer Guide). Then, find a quiet place, and get alone with God. Lift up your prayers and LISTEN. You will be rewarded. Peace!