Bible Study No 4

EFFECTIVE PRAYER

I often hear Christians being told to pray in the name of Jesus, sadly some of the new and younger Christians are not being taught how to pray, as well as the different types of prayer. Unfortunately I tend to hear them saying "Father I pray in the name of Jesus for ........ Amen". This type of prayer, I am sad to say, is ineffective.

To start with, let's have a look at the dictionary definitions of:

PRAY - a request, to ask, an entreaty, enquire, find out, emplore, to make supplication

SUPPLICATION - to make a humble entreaty, to ask earnestly and humbly

I believe that for us to have an effective prayer life, and to become effective prayer warriors, our prayers should be a supplication. After all, whatever or whoever we are praying for, we are asking earnestly and humbly. Therefore, I believe we should pray thus:

INTERCESSION
- Father, I come before you on ....... behalf/I bring before you ......... for ...... in Jesu's name, amen

HEALING
- Father, I ask you to heal ......... of ....... in Jesu's name, amen

DELIVERANCE
- Father, I ask you to deliver ..... from ..... in Jesu's name, amen

THANKSGIVING
- Father, I thank you for ..... in Jesus' name, amen

GENERAL
- Father, I ask you for ..... in Jesus' name, amen

Always remember, whatever we do, we do it in His name: Whatever we pray for, always remember to thank the Father for doing it. His word says that He will do it (Jn 14:13,14).

Please remember that after while, tedious and long winded prayer tends to put some people off, or even tempt others to go on even longer - please, keep it short, after all scripture tells us to!

Don't forget, if you wish to pray over, or with someone, don't hurt their feelings, please ask them first (can I / may I / shall I pray for / with you?)

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