The top 5 ways to increase the power of prayer.
By Karen Barber
1. Get to know Jesus personally – God loves us and He wants us to be connected to him in a loving relationship but, we as humans, are not good at keeping this connection. We often do things wrong intentionally and unintentionally that separates from our connection with God and His best plans for our lives. God sent his Son Jesus to help us to know the importance of God’s love. Jesus gave up his life to show us the importance this love relationship with God. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our mistakes, sins and our weaknesses. He gave up his life to enable us to live new lives. When we accept this gift from God, we acknowledge our need for help. Then Jesus applies his power to us and begins a personal relationship with us. When we know Jesus personally there are some amazing things that become possible for us. Jesus becomes our advocate with God, the father, when we pray. Even when we do sin, Jesus speaks to the Fater in our defense.
2. Use The Bible When You Pray by learning about God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit – it increases the power of our prayers because it tells us about the truths about God. The kind of truths needed for effective prayer require knowledge of the Bible as a whole, not just bits and pieces taken out of context. Using the Bible transforms prayers into an ongoing conversation between ourselves and our God whom we know, love, trust and depend on. That’s why Christian churches and groups read and study the Bible together and glean its meaning and compare it to other teachings in the Bible.
3. Develop A Regular Prayer Time – Prayer doesn’t have to be complicated. A fast and easy way to create regular prayer time is to pray during a daily routine activity. Many people think you must sit still with your eyes closed and your hands folded. The 5-minute prayer at the sink doing dishes or while you are driving is just as effective as the hour long prayer at you designated prayer place. There are many prayer activities you can do while on the go, such as praying for others and thanking God for things. The effectiveness of your prayers doesn’t have to do with rituals, big words or length. Focusing while you are praying is essential. We have more distractions than ever before, with any type of entertainment or social connection at the tip of our fingers, we constantly can lose focus. This is something we can’t afford to do during our time with God. Also, we have many things running though our minds at one time. All these distractions are hindering us while trying to hear from God. So how do we stay focused during our prayer time? Just remind yourself that all the to dos, obligations, and unfinished conversations will all be right there waiting for you, when prayer time is over. Resist the pressure to make something more important than this time you are spending with God. A good idea is to leave your electronics in another room. Even if you have the Bible app on your phone, leave it in another room and take your actual physical Bible with you when spending time with God. This prevents you from being distracted when you are right in the middle of praying.
4. Discover Prayer Ideas That Work For You. Finding ways of praying that fit with your personality and ways of learning and ways of relating is a key to having more powerful prayer that connects you closely with God. In Christian prayer there are a variety of ways and means of praying that will work well for you.
- Plan a destination – Find a convenient place where you can spend at least five minutes inside or outdoors in a natural setting where you won’t be distracted by having to talk to other people or to do other tasks.
- Disconnect from business and connect with God – prayerfully turn your thoughts toward God. Put yourself in a frame of mind that is open to the Holy Spirit. put yourselves in God’s presence and allow the Holy Spirit to gently guide you. You might want to pray, “God, open my eyes to you.”
- Focus on something – Focus on your breathing or your heart beating or an object you see close to you. Allow the Holy Spirt to bring what you are focusing on deeper into to your attention.
- Wonder and ponder – Spend at least five minutes thinking of your breathing, heart beating, or the object you are focused on. Receive new thoughts from the Holy Spirit though the things you are focused on. Don’t force it or over think it, let it flow naturally.
- Record your thoughts – Record your thoughts or the kinds of things God may have brought into your mind. This log of your thoughts, actions, questions, and insights will help you identify the process though which you most naturally interact with God.
5. Connect With Other Christians – The power of praying together with other Christians increases the power of your prayers. The Bible tells us that praying together brings results! You don’t need to be in a large group to strengthen the power of your prayers. You can pray with a prayer partner or a few other people. When you are using the power of praying together with others Jesus gives us this incredible promise: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20 NRSV)
