Information Related to "Tuning Up Your Prayer Life"
Beyond Today subscriptionAudio/Video
view Beyond Today
Tuning Up Your Prayer Life
By Robert Nettles

Our lives can be an up-and-down adventure; but just as we make the time for checkups and maintenance on our automobiles, we must also take the time to assess and maintain our prayer lives.

e all generally have a love-hate relationship with our cars. They are necessary tools in almost all people's lives. We like them to be clean and comfortable, to function properly and to take us from here to there without any worry. We make sure of this by having timely inspections of our engines, having regular oil changes and keeping up with general maintenance checks. We always want the right tire pressure, coolant levels, etc. Basically we want our car to be working at it top efficiency.

In the same way that we're concerned about our cars, we also want to look over our prayer lives. We need to do a sort of inspection, as it were. An eight-point inspection would be helpful. You can conduct the inspection yourself. I will simply be identifying the areas and scriptures that can help you in your inspection.

Inspections points

Point 1: How often do we pray?

Acts 6:4: "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." What does "continually" mean? It means that we keep God and His will in our hearts and minds always and that we take the time to pray daily. The Bible tells us that it was David's and Daniel's practice to pray three times a day without fail (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10).

Romans 12:10-12: "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer."

In the King James Version that reads, "Continuing instant in prayer." We should be continually in prayer. In whatever situation we may face, "instant" means that it should be our first instinct to turn to God.

Point 2: Where are we when we pray and what position are we in when we pray?

Whenever we can, we should seek a private place for our personal prayers. And being in reverent position helps us to worship God. Kneeling, standing and lying, preferably face down, are positions mentioned in the Bible. But knee problems and other health problems can make it impossible or unwise for many people to kneel. What is most important to God is our attitude of heart.

In the same way that we're concerned about our cars, we also want to look over our prayer lives. We need to do a sort of inspection, as it were.
Daniel 6:10: "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."

Daniel prayed on his knees three times a day, but I am sure that these were not the only times he prayed. Often we find ourselves in a crowd, stuck in traffic, at our workplaces or in some other situation where kneeling would not be appropriate.

While it is ideal to get on our knees and show our respect for God, it is not unacceptable to pray when we are out and about in life. It would be impossible to be continually in prayer, as mentioned before, if we could not pray where we were at any given moment.

With this said, we must understand that prayer is a private thing. While there is group prayer, such as opening and closing prayers in church services, prayer is a conversation between you and God. It is not necessary for the world to see you pray or for your friends and family to know you are leaving the room to talk to God. Look at what it says in Matthew about prayer.

Matthew 6:5-6: "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Point 3: Are we praying specific prayers?

The Bible compares prayers with incense. The fact that incense needs to be ground into fine particles to burn well teaches the lesson that our prayers need to be broken down into details (Leviticus 16:12; Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). It's logical that God would want us to go into detail.

When we repent to God, are we repenting for our specific sins or are we just generalizing? We need to speak on specifics when asking God forgiveness. It's too easy to get lazy and just ask for overall forgiveness.

God does not want to hear things like, "Please, God, forgive all my sins." That's pretty generic, but if we ask God to forgive us for the lie we told our wife, the way we treated our children, the words we had with our neighbor, then we are getting specific. God wants to hear us express what it is we have done wrong. It's a confession of what is true and what we know we need to work on.

Mark 11:25-26 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

We cannot have our trespasses forgiven, if we are not specifically telling God what we have done.

Many of David's prayers are good examples of how we should pray. We can also see this through the Psalms, where David sings praises to God for answered prayers. People in Bible times knew how to talk to God. From Moses right on up to Christ and His disciples, there are prayers throughout the Bible and we should be looking at them and learning from them.

Point 4: How much faith do we include in our prayer?

James 5:13-15: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

Are we doubtful that God hears us? This is a lack of faith. We cannot doubt God and trust Him too. Faith comes through the Word of God, and we must study the Word of God to understand Him and also learn how to pray.

Point 5: Do we pray for our enemies, those who are spiteful toward us?

This can be a difficult thing to do, but it is something God asks us to do.

Matthew 5:44-45: "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

Point 6: Are we asking that God's will be done and not our own?

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."

John 9:31: "Now we know that God does not hear sinners: but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him."

Matthew 6:10: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

God wants us to understand how important this is. God knows we are inclined to do our own will and not His. This is why we must ask for His will to be done and not pray according to our own wishes.

Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

While it is ideal to get on our knees and show our respect for God, it is not unacceptable to pray when we are out and about in life.
Obviously, this does not mean that if we pray for a new house or a million dollars, God will give it to us. Remember John 14:13 says, "Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." This is the key. If what we ask for is not helpful to us in spiritual growth, physical welfare and/or in glorifying the Father and Son, then it is not worthy of an answer. We may ask that our Volkswagen Bug become a BMW, but would it happen? We cannot expect selfish or self-centered prayers to be answered.

Point 7: Are we including ourselves too often in our prayers?

Be sure to spend a lot of your prayer time praying for other people as well as for yourself.

While it is important to pray for our illnesses, our families, the needs of our friends and for other special issues we may have, it can be a problem if we are focusing on the wrong areas of our lives. For instance, some may pray to win a game they are playing. Some may pray that God will find them a job while they sit at home on their couch. When their prayers are not answered to their satisfaction, they continue to pray for the same things, expecting, waiting and possibly even getting angry that God is not answering them.

There may be some few who do not pray enough for themselves because they feel it is too selfish. They do not understand that sometimes we must let God in on the trying times in our lives. The problem is not in praying for some of our own issues, but for the expectations and vain prayers people often offer up.

There is an article in Virtual Christian Magazine from January 2001 called "How to Spice Up Our Prayers" by Gregory Dullum. In it he uses the acronym of JOY. He lists it as follows: J=Jesus first, O=Others next, and Y=Yourself last.

Point 8: Do we take the prayer requests of others seriously?

Are we specific when we offer up prayers for others? It is too easy to ask God to heal the entire world and not focus on the specific needs of others. When someone asks for a prayer, we shouldn't just use a blanket request. We must not only give lip service to someone either. When we say we will pray for them, we must.

2 Thessalonians 1:11: "Therefore we also pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power."

Prayer is our connection to God the Father. He is not a stranger to us; He tells us exactly who He is and what He expects from us in His Word.
This is a wonderful way to remember where our hearts and prayers should lie. Prayer is our connection to God the Father. He is not a stranger to us; He tells us exactly who He is and what He expects from us in His Word. We must not allow our discussions with Him to become mundane, ritualistic ramblings each day. God loves us and want to hear from us daily. We cannot pick up the phone and call our Father long distance, but what we can do is even better. We can humbly come before Him from anywhere we happen to be -- we can open our hearts to Him and we can confide in Him.

There is no one truer than God in our lives. He will not tell our secrets, laugh in our face or take our fears lightly. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and we can trust that He will always be there for us through any kind of trouble.

So, take the time, do the maintenance checkup, and keep your prayer life tuned up.

Copyright 2008 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved.


Related Information:

Other Articles by Robert Nettles
Origin of article "Tuning Up Your Prayer Life"
Keywords: prayer how to pray 

Prayer:

Key Subjects Index
General Topics Index
Biblical References Index
Home Page of this site