Bit Ten

Beginning in 1 week, I will be leading out a prayer group at Josh's church (please keep this in your prayers). During the process of planning, I have learned a little more about this method of communication with God...

My thoughts on prayer:

Ephesians 6:18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Praise - Give thanks. Beginning the session with praise helps us to acknowledge the great things that God has already done. After we understand His glory and worthiness to be praised, we are humbled to come before Him with our requests.

Before moving from praising to petitioning God we must make sure that we are honestly asking for God's will to become our will so that when we present our requests, we are asking for what God wants to give us.

Petition - Ask a request of God. Petitioning God is more than just asking for what we want. Jesus told us in Matt. 7 that when we ask, we will be answered, but He also went on to say that when we seek, we will find. Therefore, before requesting an answer from God, we must learn how to seek Him. In doing this, we learn what to pray for, and we learn to seek His answer.
We are breaking ourselves down in order for God to fill us with a Spirit that longs to see Him glorified, and not simply longing to see ourselves satisfied.

Pay Attention – Listen for God to speak and watch for His answer. Praying doesn’t end when the request has been made. That’s only half of the process. Prayer is a two-way conversation with God, and so we must stop talking and listen as well. Listening for God can be done through meditation, but it also includes keeping an eye out to see how He satisfies our requests.