Principles of Effective Prayer

Prayer is the foundation of every successful Christian endeavor. Time spent with God is vital if you desire a fruitful Christian life. As the foundation of every Christian endeavor, it plays a vital role in living a successful Christian life.

Study the lives of the great men and women of God from the past and you will see the strong emphasis they placed on prayer. Without prayer, they would never have been able to achieve such tremendous results.

Throughout the New Testament we can see the value of prayer in the founding of the early churches. The Apostle Paul prayed and interceded many hours for the new believers. In Ephesians 1:15-16 he wrote: “I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.”

In Colossians 1:3 he said: “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 he instructed the Church to “pray without ceasing.”

Luke 18:1 says, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

It is not enough to know that we should pray. We need to know why. Look at Ephesians 4:14-16: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Compare the Body of Christ to a brick building. The bricks would topple in the breeze if they were not joined together. Mortar forms those bricks into a solid, impenetrable wall. However, it is held together, or made useful, by the effectual working in the measure of every part.

The power of love, through prayer and intercession, is the mortar which knits the Body together. Each member contributes his part by building up the Body and strengthening it through prayer. If one is injured or weakened in some way, the others are able to stand in prayer and make up for that weakness.

Faith causes your prayers to bring results. Faith pleases God (Heb. 11:6). It pleases Him to answer your prayers. He can only manifest Himself in the earth through the believer who is operating in faith. However, there will be no strong faith without a deep and intimate fellowship with the Father.

This is the very heart of a successful prayer life. Fellowship is the mother of faith. You can only put your faith and confidence in God to the extent that you know Him. By spending time in fellowship with Him, you will become personally acquainted with your heavenly Father.

Your new birth into the family of God gave you the right to expect your prayers to be answered. You came into a Father-child relationship. Relationship without fellowship, however, is like marriage without love. In a loveless marriage, two people are related but don’t really know each other.

If I never spent quality time in fellowship with my son, anyone could tell him lies about me and he would believe them. The same thing applies to a husband and wife, an employer and an employee, business partners, etc. Lack of fellowship causes lack of trust.

If that can happen in human relationships it can happen between my heavenly Father and me. By not spending time in fellowship with God, you will come to a place where Satan could lie to you about God – he would say God is your problem or He is the One making you sick to teach you something. You will believe it. You will not have a personal experience with the Father, called trust (faith), that refuses the lies of Satan called doubt (unbelief). Consequently, you will not resist those lies but begin to accept them as truth.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee” (Isa. 26:3).

God is NOT your problem. The more you fellowship with Him, the more you know that He is FOR you. He wants to use His power on your behalf.

Galatians 1:3-4 says, “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”

The number one priority in God’s heart is to spend quality time with us every day. As believers, we need
to be able to hear His voice and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We have the command to resist
anything that does not come from Him (James 4:7). God does not want us lacking in any area of our lives.

Fellowship is so vitally important. It will cause you to operate out of your spirit where the faith and power of God reside. Mere head knowledge of the Word, or what is called mental assent, will not cause you to tap into the power of God.

When you know, that you know, that you know, that God’s promise is good, nothing can take it away from you! All fear and doubt are dispelled.

Mental assent is simply agreeing that God’s Word is true. On the other hand,
fellowship will bring you to a place of operating out of revelation knowledge.

By maintaining a consistent and close fellowship with God, you will bear fruit in your life. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:4-5,7).

Jesus said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”  Bearing fruit is doing the works of Jesus; consequently pleasing the Father. The way to bear fruit is by prayer. Jesus always separated Himself from people to spend time in prayer. He had a personal relationship with the Father. He stayed in tune with the Holy Spirit through fellowship and prayer.

Set aside time every day to spend with your heavenly Father. Make the decision
that you will not allow anything to interfere with your quality time alone with Him.

The more time you spend in His presence, the more you will act and think like Him. God has already given you His nature. To fellowship with Him will cause your attitudes, actions, and beliefs to line up. The more time you spend with your Father in the Word, the more your desires will become His desires. Then when you pray, you will simply be voicing His will. The reality of God will burn into your consciousness. You will not be crying out to God 92,000 miles away. He will be right there – closer than a brother. “As you draw nigh unto God, He will draw nigh unto you” (James 4:8).

No danger in this world, no circumstance, no problem can come near you with God Almighty by your side! Spending time in fellowship with God on a personal basis will give birth to a deep, strong faith and trust in His ability. Your prayer life will take on new meaning.

As a born-again believer, you have everything that you need to succeed in this life. God is a winner! You are His very own child. You have been born again to win! When you are praying in faith and confidence, all of heaven’s resources are at your disposal! Determine in your heart that you will maintain consistent and intimate fellowship with God so that your prayer life will be based on personal knowledge of Him.

Prayer Changes Things
Always remember that prayer changes things; it does not change God. One of the mighty attributes of God is that He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

What you want to do is take your faith and the Word of God and change the circumstances in your life to line up with His will. His plans and desires are always for your success and well-being.

Some people think that if they pray long and hard, they will get God to do something for them.

The Word says that God’s eyes are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers (Ps. 34:15).

If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He is already open to your prayers.

Through prayer, you tap into His strength and change the things that are out of line with His will.