LifeLine: Experience the Power of PrayerSample

From Relational to Personal

After we go upward in prayer, we open ourselves for God to go deeper into us. This is the next step in the Progression of Prayer—inward prayer. While the first dimension of prayer is relational, this one is personal. It’s here God begins to speak to us about us.

Inward prayer is where we open our hearts to His, and where we consecrate our hearts, lives, and choices to Him. This is dedicating ourselves afresh, praying, “God, You know better than I know me! I take my life—again—and I put it in Your hands.” Daily, after connecting with God through upward prayer, I’ll transition to inward prayer by praying, “Align my will with Yours, O God.”

This is one of the most powerful ways God changes and transforms us. Inward prayer is where we bring our dreams, our hopes, our pains, our insecurities, our challenges, and our fears to God. It’s here in prayer that we lay them all at His feet.

Jesus modeled Inward Prayer in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Throughout the Gospels, Jesus always makes it clear for us to pray, “God it’s Your way, not mine. It’s Your will, not my own.” That’s a life of consecration. That’s a life of dedication.

Common types of Inward Prayer include the prayer of consecration and prayer of commitment. These prayers are all about us casting our cares on God. Another type of Inward Prayer is the prayer of petition and supplication, which focuses on laying down our own needs and trusting God to provide. God cleanses, purifies, changes, and grows us as we align our will with His through Inward Prayer every day.

As you engage with God’s word:

● What is God saying to you?

● What does it mean to you?

● What action step do you need to take?

After you reflect on these questions, bring everything to God in prayer.