How to Pray?

Are you wondering how to pray or what to pray for? You are not alone! Disciples asked Jesus the same question. Prayer is communication between the Father and His children. Just as communication can’t exist without a relationship, so can’t prayer. Something we can learn is that to have effective prayer, we need to improve our communication.

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. -Martin Luther

According to Matthew 7:7, prayer has to have 3 parts to it:
Seek – it deals with DEVOTION. It’s when we seek God’s presence.
Ask – it deals with PETITION. This is when we ask for our requests.
Knock – it deals with INTERCESSION. This is when we wage war on behalf of souls for salvation.

Prayer is like a triangle made up of these 3 corners. I find many people don’t make room for all these angles in prayer therefore their prayers are not very effective. 

Our prayer should be spontaneous and strategic at the same time.

Here is a list of prayer points that we practice here at Hungry Generation, both in our personal and our public prayer meetings. It’s taken from the Model of Prayer that Jesus set for His followers.

This is a Path for Prayer you can use in your prayer time!

1. Thanksgiving and praise (Our Father, hallowed be Your Name)
   Father, I thank You for the salvation of my soul, for the power of the blood of Jesus, for giving me Your living word, and for sending Your Holy Spirit into my heart.
   Father, I thank You for giving me good health, family, church, purpose, and friends.
   Father, I worship You for You are holy, good, powerful, faithful, merciful, slow to anger, and very forgiving.
   Father, I exalt Your Name as a Healer, Savior, Redeemer, Restorer, Sanctifier, Deliverer, Prince of Peace, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
2. Confess your sins (Forgive us our debts)
   Lord, have mercy on me and let Your mercy and favor speak for me.
   Father, forgive me for all my sin: inaction, thought, or attitude.
   Jesus, wash my conscience with Your precious blood.
   I choose to forgive those who have offended me or sinned against me.
3. Confess who you are in Christ
   I thank you for Your promises concerning me: That I am forgiven, accepted, saved, redeemed, delivered, and healed.
   I am a new creation in Jesus. I am seated in heavenly places. I am a royal priesthood. I am a chosen generation.
   I can do all things through Christ. I am no longer condemned. My past is over.
4. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit
   Oh Holy Spirit, give me more of You and take more of Me.
   Oh Holy Spirit, teach me Your Word, empower me for Your task, reveal to Me Jesus, and fill me with Your strength.
   Oh Holy Spirit, activate Your gifts in me and use me to touch others by Your power.
5. Pray for the World (Let Your Kingdom come)
   Lord, let Your kingdom come to the whole world, bring salvation to the 10/40 window, and the nations who don’t know Jesus. We pray for nations like North Korea to be opened for the message of Jesus.
   Lord, let Your kingdom come to Israel and bring peace and prosperity to Jerusalem.
   Lord, let Your kingdom come to my nation and touch our president and our government. Protect our country. Deliver us from the bloodshed of abortion and immorality.
   Lord, we pray for all believers around the world who are being persecuted right now for their faith.
   Lord, we pray for all ministers and ministries around the world, and that you will bless your church.
   Lord, let Your Kingdom come to my city. We pray for peace, prosperity and salvation of our region. We come against spirits behind drugs, false religion, abortion, human trafficking and violence to be brought down in Jesus’ name.
6. Pray for your local Church (Your will be done)
   Lord, it’s Your will to save people. We pray for salvation to happen every service and every day. We pray for thousands to be saved in our church every year.
   Lord, it’s Your will to heal people. We pray for emotional and physical healing for those who are all who are in pain. We pray against heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and kidney disease.
   Lord, it’s Your will to deliver people. We pray for freedom from the spirit of fear, the spirit of bondage, the spirit of death, the spirit of infirmity, the spirit of deception, the spirit of heaviness, the deaf and dumb spirit, and every spirit of python. We claim freedom from generational curses, cast curses, and earned curses. Let Your anointing expose and expel evil spirits.
   Lord, it’s Your will to prosper people. We pray for the finances of our people and our church. We pray for businesses to prosper.
   Lord, it’s Your will to see strong families. We pray for marriages and families.
   We pray for all volunteers and our pastors to be anointed with strength from the Holy Spirit.
7. Pray for your personal requests (Give us our daily bread)
   Lord Jesus, I pray for my financial needs. For jobs and better jobs, raises and bonuses, benefits, sales and commissions, favorable settlements, estates and inheritances, interests and income, rebates and returns, checks in the mail, gifts and surprises, finding money, debts paid off, expenses decrease, blessing and increase.
   Thank You, Lord, for meeting all of my financial needs that I may have more than enough to give into the Kingdom of God and promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
   Lead me not into temptation this day but deliver me from all evil.
   I pray for my friends and family members to come to know Jesus.

If we don’t pray, we will stray.

My favorite quote on prayer comes from the “Why Revival Tarries” by Leonardo Ravenhill “A man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing. The people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers. But few agonizes. Few wrestlers and many fears and very few tears. A lot of fashion and little passion and interferers, few intercessors, and many writers but very few fighters. A sinning man will stop praying and a praying man will stop sinning. Our accent is on playing theirs was on praying. When we have paid the place it’s taken, when they had prayed the place it was shaken. We are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly use.”

These are my prayer points, what are yours? Do you follow a pattern during prayer?