How To Pray More Effectively Sample

Pray Scripture 

One of the ways in which you can pray effectively and grow in your prayer life is by praying Scripture. This is what I practice when I have struggled in my personal prayer life. 

The other day, I was finding it hard to pray. I'm reading the book of Ezekiel right now, and so I went to a chapter there and made my way praying through that chapter. You may be wondering what that looks like exactly. Well, you read the verse you're currently reading, understand it, and in light of what you understood, lift a request to God. For example, when I read about Ezekiel telling God that people have idols in their hearts and sins before their face, I lift this to God and pray, 'Let me not be a person of idols in my heart and sins before my face.' 

Prayer is not self-talk. You are not talking to yourself. You are talking to God. It is possible to find yourself self-talking subconsciously, instead of actually talking to God. You can be worrying out loud, with no mindfulness of God. It is Biblical to take our anxieties and worries and cast them onto the Lord. It's ok to ask anything of God, as long as you're willing to stick around for the answer. And that answer will be found in Scripture. 

If you read some of the Psalms, you will see that David spent a lot of his time complaining. He often brings up righteous indignation, yet interlaces his prayers with worship, steadfast and trusting in God. In many Psalms you do read men pouring out complaints, but their perspective is changed by the end of the Psalm. I encourage you to read Psalm 73. You will see how it begins one way and ends another way. 

Our prayers are guided and standardized by the truth. You must be praying from and listening to truth. You can go to God and say, "Lord this is what I'm struggling with in my life right now," and if you lift that prayer to Him, as the Psalmist would do, you will bring into the picture the things that He has promised in His Word. Those promises that you read in Scripture you can know are true for your life. Let the Bible saturate your prayer.