Growing in Prayer

James 5:16 AMPC “Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”

Prayer is one of the most powerful things in the life of the believer. We can pray for one another, and we can pray to God individually and corporately. But prayer is more than just making requests known to God. Prayer can also be worshipful or a conversation with the Lord. 

Have you ever asked yourself, how do I pray without ceasing? We can find the answer to that question with the posture of our hearts. To pray continually is to have our hearts set on God and our minds set on God. This doesn’t imply we are always in a state of prayer, as in, “Heavenly father, I thank you… I ask…” or anything like that. To grow in prayer, we simply need to be mindful of God. It’s easy for us to be distracted by what we have to do for the day, sidetracked by the latest news items, or sucked into mindless social scrolling.

When we become overwhelmed by those things, we don’t catch that our minds can go from trusting God to a place of worry, fear, or confusion. Isaiah 26:3 AMPC “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.” 

Our minds must be set on the Lord and His Word for peace to be our resting place. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 AMPC “For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, 5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), 6 Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.”

Prayer is not only an action of a bowed head and folded hands; it may begin there, it may be an act of using a prayer book, but those are only beginning places. Prayer is faith spoken; it is conversation with God; prayer takes us from worry to worship, from fear to faith. 

I believe there are two things that will help you grow in your prayer life; one is to have a designated time of prayer each day, and the other is to pray (or think on God) throughout the day. Many of us are good with one and neglect the other, but we need both. In recent years, the throughout the day has been so encouraged that people have dropped focused prayer for more conversational and distracted prayer. We pray on the way to work, cleaning the house, or doing yard work, and that’s great, but there is something to be said for a quiet time and place when we are solely focused on prayer.

When we bring the focused time and the continual prayer together, it brings great power. It reminds us of who God is, what he has done, and what He will do. When we pray the Scriptures, we have faith for our future. Each of us can grow in our prayer lives; we do it one step, one word, one thought at a time. Books are a great help in the growth process, but before we pick up a book on prayer, let’s read the prayers recorded in Scripture and see how God leads you in prayer through the Scriptures.