Begin By Making Prayer A Priority

If you want a Prayer Life that makes a difference, then you need to commit a portion of your day to pray for specific needs (1 Thes.5:17; Col. 1:9; 1 Tim.5:5; 2 Tim.1:3; Rom.1:9; Eph.6:18) and to bring them before the throne of God (Psa.145:18-19; Prov.15:29).

Preparing To Pray

Your position in prayer. It's not the physical position that your praying in that counts (whether standing, sitting or kneeling), but the spiritual position that your heart is in when you come before the throne of God (Luke 18:9-14; James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6). Take a few moment of silence to ready your mind and heart for prayer.

Rely on the Holy Spirit's guidance in your prayers (Rom.8:26-27).

Pray with the right heart and attitude.

It should be humble (Psa.10:17; Luke 18:13-14)

It should be bold (1 John 5:13-15)

It should be sincere (Psa.145:18)

It should be simple (Matt.6:7)

It should be definite (Psa.27:4; Acts 12:5)

It should be in agreement with God's Word and will (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15)

It should be done with faith and belief (Matt.21:22; James 1:6; Heb.11:6)

It should be done so that it will bring glory to God (John 14:13)

Find and claim promises that God has made to us concerning the matter for which your are praying (open your Bible to that spot, put your finger on the passage and claim it before God: 2 Pet.3:9).

Be persistent in your prayer request and don't give up until God answers which may be yes, no, or not now (Gen.18:23-32; Luke 18:1-4; Col.4:2).

Pray in Christ's name, because as a Christian you are His ambassador and have been given the privilege and authority to do so (Matt.7:7, 11: John 1:1; 16:23-24; Rom.8:14-17, 32; 1 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Cor.5:20).

Watch and listen for God's answer (1 Kings 19:11-13).
 

There is no secret formula for prayer, but the Bible does give us many examples of how we should pray (Neh.1:4-11; Dan.6:1-11; Matt.6:9-13; John 17; Eph.3:14-21; and many other passages). Out of these examples we find at least five things that should be found in our prayers:

Thanksgiving (thanking God the Father for what He has done: Phil.4:6; Psa.66:13-20; 105:1-4).

Confession (agreeing or saying the same thing about your sins as the Holy Spirit says, as He point s them out to you: Psa.32; 5; Matt.6:12; John 9:31; 1 John 1:9-10).

Ask God to reveal any sins in your life so you may confess them, so they don't hinder your prayers (Isa.59:1-2; Psa.19:12; 32:5; John 15:7; 1 John 3:22). Here are some things that we are told that hinder our prayers:

Unconfessed sin (Psa.66:18)

Insincerity (Matt.6:5)

Carnal motives (James 4:3)

Unbelief (James 1:5-6)

Satanic activity (Dan.10:10-13)

Domestic problems (1Pet.3:7)

Pride (Luke 18:10-14)

Robbing God (Mal.3:8-10)

Refusing to submit to biblical teaching (Prov.1:24-28; 28:9; Zech.7:11-14)

Refusing to forgive or to be forgiven (Matt.5:23-24; 6:12, 14)

Refusing to help the needy (Prov.21:3; 1 John 3:16-17)

Renounce (disown, give up, or repudiate) the following attitudes for yourself, your church, and your country (note that these attitudes all fall under the list of hindrances given above):

Complacency & Contentment.

Critical & Judgmental spirit.

Gossip & pettiness.

Distrust of & attacks on God's chosen & faithful leaders.

Poor stewardship of time, talent, & treasures.

Lukewarmness & weariness in doing the Lord's work.

Self-focus that produces apathy to the lost.

Fear that paralyzes the open sharing, involvement, service & evangelism.

Any footholds gained by Satan through past hurts & traumas.

Satan's use of discouragement as a tool against us.

Intercession (asking for others)

For One Another's needs (Dan.2:18; Rom.1:9; 1Pet.5:10-11)

For restoration of the backslider (James 5:16)

For strength (Jude 20)

For good things (Psa.102:17; Matt.7:7-11)

For wisdom (James 1:5)

For keeping them from sin (Matt.26:41)

For God's will to be revealed (Luke 11:9-10)

For the impossible (Matt.21:22; Mark 9:29; Acts 12:5-7; James 5:17-18)

For boldness in witnessing (Acts 4:24-30)

For our Pastor(s) (Eph.6:19-20; Col.4:3; 2Tim.1:3-6)

For Missionaries (Acts 13:3)

For the Sick (James 5:14-15; 2Cor.12:7-10)

For our Government Leaders (1Tim.2:1- 3)

For all men (1 Tim.2:1)

For Our enemies (Matt.5:44; Acts 7:59-60)

For the lost (Luke 18:13; Matt.9:38; Acts 13:2-3; 2Tim.4:17)

For your Church (Rom.1:8-10; Eph.1:15- 20; 3:13-21; Phil.1:2-7; Col.1:1-14; 1Thes.1:2-3; 3:9-13; 2Thes.1:3, 11-12; 2:13, 16-17)

For Israel and Jerusalem (Psa.122:6; Isa.62:6-7; Rom.10:1; Heb.13:20-21)

For the Lord's Return (Rev.22:20)

Petition (asking for your daily needs: Gen.24:12; Matt.6:11; 14:30; Luke 23:42: see the list above).

Praise (worship and reverence towards God: James 4:8a).

For who He is and what He has done for us.

For His faithfulness and promises to us.

For His Sovereignty and Righteousness.

Through His Word

By Hymns and songs.

You can list many more things that we can praise God for.
 

Take the challenge and make a difference! We all may not be able to do everything, but we call all pray! Jesus has called us to be His disciples, and the first step in the process is prayer. It should not surprise us that prayer plays a major role in church revivals and growth; after all, it was a prayer meeting that led to the birth of the church and 3000 souls being added in one day (Acts 1:14).
 

"Don't pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it.
A man is powerful on his knees."  Corrie ten Boom

"As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits,
so must we addict ourselves to prayer." Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes,
so it is the business of Christians to pray." Martin Luther

“More than any point in my ministry I am aware of the tremendous power of prayer.
I really believe we are in the midst of spiritual awakening.
Wouldn’t it be terrible if you slept through this movement of God?” Billy Graham

 “The abundant evidence of a great prayer movement means that the awakening is now.
Many traditional churches are being renewed. . .keep alert and awake.
You could miss one of God’s greatest moment in our land.”  Thom S. Rainer

“The thermometer of a church is its prayer meeting.”  Vance Havner

“Prayer is blasphemy if it does not alter your life.” Charles Templeton

  "Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate.
The influence of prayer on the human mind and body is as demonstrable as that of secretion glands.
Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity.
It supplies us with a steady flow of sustaining power in our daily lives."  Alexis Carrel (French surgeon and biologist)

"And Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees." William Cowper

"All the Christian virtues are locked up in the word prayer." Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Beware of placing the emphasis on what prayer costs us;
it cost God everything to make it possible for us to pray."  Oswald Chambers

"Every Christian needs a half hour of prayer each day,
except when he is busy, then he needs an hour." Saint Francis of Sales (1567-1622)

"God always answers us in the deeps, never in the shallows of our soul." Amy Carmichael (1867-1951)

"He who labors as he prays, lifts his heart to God with his hands." Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

“If it only takes a mustard seed’s worth of faith to move mountains,
just think what our prayers could do if we would sprinkle them with seeds of faith!”  Mike Willmouth

"If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing;
it is an infinitely foolish thing." Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)

"If you can beat the devil in the matter of regular daily prayer, you can beat him anywhere.
If he can beat you there, he can possibly beat you anywhere." Paul Daniel Rader (1879-1938)

"In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart." John Bunyan (1628-1688)