Published August 22, 2024 at 8:20 PM

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As Christians, we should integrate prayer heavily into our daily lives. As 1 Thessalonians 5:17 makes clear, Christians should pray without ceasing. At the very least, we should be in the habit of praying when we wake up and before we go to sleep. I personally had to get out of the habit of waking up and immediately checking my phone, and the Spirit is still working on me in that area.

As we grow in our relationship with God, we should pray throughout the day, especially if something troubles us. We don’t have to wait until our end-of-the-day prayer time to seek God. Be like Moses, who fell on his face in prayer IMMEDIATELY after something happened (Numbers 14:5, 16:4, 20:6).

While most Christians understand the importance of prayer, some find it difficult to actually pray. Prayer is similar to reading the Bible every day, in that it is difficult to get yourself to do it, but the act of doing it is not very difficult. This is because the enemy does not want you praying, similar to how he doesn’t want you reading your Bible. However, the way to change the course of a ship is by turning it one degree at a time. Praying every day has small effects that accumulate to have a big impact.

This article will provide three pieces of advice to help you engage in effective prayer.

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#1 – Saturate Your Prayers With Praise

The first piece of advice I want to give you is to saturate your prayers with praise. I like to start and end my prayers with praise, which helps remind me of who God is. Reading the Bible will help you do this, as you’ll know God’s character and attributes. I use many of the names/attributes of God (i.e. Ancient of Days) in my prayers, alongside some of my favorite statements of praise in the Bible. Below are a few of them:

“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.'” (Exodus 34:6-7 NKJV)

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalms 118:1 NKJV)

“And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!'” (Isaiah 6:3 NKJV)

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'” (Revelation 1:8 NKJV)

God is worthy of our praise, and it should always be incorporated into our prayers. The Lord’s Prayer starts and ends with praise, which is the model for how we should pray. Moreover, we should incorporate praise, even when we are mourning or asking God questions. Even in hard times, people like Job and Habakkuk never forget who God was. They cried out to God, and still praised Him amidst hard times.

“Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22 NKJV)

“Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their dragnet; Because by them their share is sumptuous And their food plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?” (Habakkuk 1:12-17 NKJV)

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#2 – Be Direct With God And Bring Your Burdens

The next piece of advice is to be direct with God, and unashamedly bring your burdens to Him. If you have something on your heart, you can tell God. He already knows what it is, and He is waiting on you to bring it to Him in prayer. There is also no need for you to do vain repetition in your prayers; God hears you.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:7-8 NKJV)

Catholicism (praying multiple “Our Fathers” and “Hail Marys” in penance) and Hinduism (Mantras, such as repeating “Om”) implement elements of this vain repetition. The point that Jesus is making is to be direct with God.

In my personal prayer life, I had to get out of the habit of only telling God half of what was on my heart, as if He didn’t know that I was keeping something back. Keeping things back from God is a subtle way of telling Him that you don’t trust Him. I had to get in the habit of bringing all my burdens to God, as it was the only way I would be at peace.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV)

So don’t be afraid to talk to God about the things on your heart. If you have a request, let it be known. Sometimes God will say yes, other times He will say no, and other times you’ll be instructed to wait. God’s answer is always the best answer, even when he says no; all things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
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#3 – Engage In Intercession And Spiritual Warfare

The third piece of advice is to engage in intercession and spiritual warfare. While we live in the earthly realm, there is a spirit realm that is more real than the earthly realm. As Paul made it clear, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12-13). There are evil spirits and demonic entities that have power in the world, and while we can’t see them in the earthly realm, their power is still real. However, we are not powerless against them; God equipped us to deal with this. Christians have power in the spirit realm, and there are also angels who watch over us (Psalm 34:7, 91:11-12) and war on our behalf.

“And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15-17 NKJV)

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 NKJV)

Because God gave us spiritual authority, we must use it in our prayers. One way is through intercession, which is the act of praying and warring in the spirit on behalf of someone else. The simplest form of intercession is to pray for a friend or family member who is in sin, asking God to show them mercy and lead them to Him. I do this often, as I care for my friends and family members. You can also intercede on behalf of someone who is going through a hard time, and ask God to give them His peace.

Moreover, you can intercede on behalf of a group of people. I find myself interceding on behalf of this nation, as it is full of evil. I pray that God will revive His church and lead people to Him. If He judges us, I pray for mercy within the judgment (Habakkuk 3:2).

Another way to engage in spiritual warfare in prayer is to deal with strongholds and generational curses. This is a higher level of Christian theology (and if the Spirit leads me, it will get its own article), but a lot of the sins that people are stuck in are connected to strongholds. Addictions are a form of stronghold, which is why it is difficult to stop watching porn. Similarly, there are generational curses that impact entire bloodlines (they don’t impact everyone, and sometimes skip generations). The Kennedy and Von Erich families are examples of this type of curse, as the calamity that happened to their families is not a coincidence.

To deal with strongholds and generational curses, you must heavily engage in spiritual warfare. I also recommend having other people pray with you, because more intercessors praying is a good thing.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6 NKJV)

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Conclusion

I pray that this article was helpful in giving you tips on how to pray effectively. God wants us to always talk to Him, as it is one of the ways that we build our relationship with Him. Moreover, He wants us to ask Him for help in all that we do. Get in the habit of praying before going to work, school, or doing any task. When you feel frustrated, pray for patience, and pray for His peace when everything is seemingly going wrong. Even before reading the Bible, we should get in the habit of praying and asking God to open our eyes to understand His word. Paul made it clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:17; pray without ceasing!

Thank you for reading, and always remember to stay vigilant!