Principles for Prayer

1 John 5:13-15 (NLT)

¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. ¹⁴ And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. ¹⁵ And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

Those of you who read frequently might have picked up on the fact that I have been reading and learning about prayer. My prayer for my own spiritual growth right now is that God would teach me how to pray more effectively and that He would help me love more. Although I don't have it figured out well enough yet to write about it, I know that in the end I am going to find out the two somehow go hand in hand. Here are some things that stand out to me from Rosalind Rinker's Prayer, Conversing with God and 2 days of Kay Arthur's Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days. First, Rosalind teaches that we should only pray for what we actually believe God can do. For example, if I need a new car. I can pray for God to give me a new car, but I don't truly have the faith that God is going to drop a new car in my lap. However, I  do believe God will  show me areas where I can cut corners financially to be able to save for a new car. Praying this prayer and seeing God answer increases my faith and grows my praise. Next, I might pray for God to bless me with a raise or help me to be faithful to save the additional money. Then,  as time goes on I could pray for God to show me the type car for which I am saving and so on. Each time praising Him for His answer and keeping the next prayer simple and specific. I love this method, because it causes me to stop and really think before I rattle on to the Lord in prayer. Second, in Kay's book, I've been learning that "asking" is key. We have not because we ask not.  Kay says this in regard to the scripture above, "If you want God to hear you and provide for what you ask, then you need to ask according to His will. And how will you know His will, Beloved? By listening to-knowing-His Word!" When we put the principles these 2 ladies and the scriptures teach together, we learn that by knowing God's Word, we are able to pray according to His will. As we pray according to His will and see Him answer, our faith will grow enabling to trust Him and believe Him for more and more! What a privilege it is to be able to communicate with the Almighty! To what area of your life are you able to apply these principles today? How will you pray differently? I echo the prayer of the man in Mark 9 whose son had been set free from an evil spirit, "I believe; help my unbelief!"