Do You Need to
Hear From God?
Prayer That Works--
Learn How to Pray
If you long for a closer relationship with God, prayer is
the place to begin. Many people don't pray at all--or
don't feel like they're praying--because they're afraid they
don't know how. So they're reciting memorized prayers,
like the Lord's Prayer, or reading prayers others have
written. Christian prayer can be so much more.
We believe your prayer life can be far beyond what you're
experiencing now. If you yearn to hear from God and
connect with Him in a meaningful, direct way--true two-way
communication--you've come to the right place. Prayer works;
you can learn how to pray effectively.
We're fellow travelers along the
spiritual path, driven by a burning desire for relationship
with God through Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. We've found some things that help us and we hope
they'll be of help to
you.
Why pray at all is a pretty
basic place to start your exploration. If God knows
everything and if He controls everything and if His will is
done, what are we trying to accomplish by going to Him?
And then there are all the different types of prayer: praise and thanksgiving,
petition and
supplication, contrition and
confession. How about intercessory,
healing, contemplative? Of
course, for each type of prayer, there are methods for how to get the most
out of it whether you're trying centering prayer,
prayer walking, or
even lectio
divina.
We also explore the use of specific prayers like the
Lord's Prayer, the
Serenity Prayer, or the
Sinner's Prayer, among
others. There may be a role for some of these prayers
in your life. Similar to lectio divina, or
praying the scriptures, you may find that these "pre-made"
prayers act as a launching pad to something infinitely
deeper than the recitation of words.
One aspect of Christianity sometimes overlooked is
Spiritual
Warfare. We address the truth about the Spiritual
Warfare battlefield. We are spiritual beings living,
temporarily, in physical bodies. What appears to be
our physical world actually exists in the midst of a
spiritual universe. And it is a battlefield; Ephesians
6:12 makes that clear. In that battle, we are
given weapons to resist the attacks of the enemy.
(Ephesians 6:11-18) We have some specific information
for you that many have found helpful.
Because of the wonderful results that prayer
can bring, there's always the danger that it can wind up taking
the place in our hearts that God should have. By that I
mean the tool of prayer and the results it brings become our
focus. What God is providing and what we ask Him to provide
becomes more important than God Himself.
He loves up because of who we are, not what we do. We ought to
love Him the same way: for Who He is, not what He does for
us.
That loving relationship must always remain the true focus of
our prayers.
So please
feel free to explore this web site and take whatever you need
to improve your relationship with your Heavenly Father. People
from more than 130 countries across the
globe and from every state in the United States already have.
Join them.
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If you have a
personal prayer
request,
we've set up a confidential page just for
you. A team of intercessors is at your
disposal.
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Join one of the discussions
going on in the Your
Thoughts
section, or start one of your own: issues on
your mind--or heart, vote for your favorite books
and music, even post prayers publicly.
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Sign up to receive our
every-so-often newsletter
.
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Most important of
all, if you've decided to invite Jesus into
your heart and your life right now,
click here.
You can read everything else
later.
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Finally, if you'd like the convenience of having
most of the material on this web site--and more--in the
form of an eBook or a paperback, that's available as well.
Be sure to contact us with comments, suggestions, or questions.
We love to hear from you.
Last Updated, September, 2008
Focus on Prayer is a project of
Surrendered Lives
Ministries.
We would appreciate your prayers of support.
Any monetary donation you feel led to make will also help
support our work in building the Kingdom.
May your prayer life be active and
fulfilling,
bringing you ever deeper into the Kingdom of
God.
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