How To Have A Better Prayer Life

Jesus commanded us to pray. In Matthew 6:5-14, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He taught them by saying “when you pray,” not “if you pray.” This implies that praying to God is something that we are expected to do. Also, in the passage, of all the things that the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach, they asked Him to teach them how to pray, not how to walk on water, multiply their loaves of bread, or heal the sick. That shows us the importance of prayer and how we must give importance to our prayer life.

Heavenly Father, teach me and open my eyes to the importance of prayer so that I will never take it for granted. Give me the grace to maintain my spiritual discipline of prayer, and let me delight in it. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

What Stirs Us To Pray?

God has called us to live holy lives. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, it is written that we are to be holy, for God is holy. If we live a holy life where we obey, revere, and love God with all our hearts, minds, and strength, part of that means obeying God’s commands of praying to Him. Philippians 4:6-7 states that we are to present our prayer requests to God, where His peace, which transcends all understanding, shall guard our hearts and minds in Christ.

We also pray when we have prayer requests and when we worship, adore, praise, and thank God. In ( In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18), we are told to thank God in all circumstances. Also, in Psalm 29, it is written that we are to ascribe all the glory due His name to the LORD and should worship Him in the splendor of His holiness. God is a holy God, the Most High God, in the highest distinction. There is none like Him.

Knowing that God is holy makes us pray to Him, which is our act of worship, and it is our way to adore, thank, and present to Him our prayer requests. That is why in 1 Peter 1:15-16, it is written that we are to be holy, for God is holy; it starts with the knowledge of who God is. That is why, in several epistles of Paul, he mentions having knowledge of God and spiritual understanding of who He is, as knowledge of that drives us to obedience, zeal, and passion for the LORD.

Even the grace we need to grow as Christians comes from God’s knowledge. In 2 Peter 1:2, Peter prayed that grace and peace would be multiplied to the readers of his letter through the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. How do we increase or understand that knowledge of God? We do that by going to the word of God, where God has revealed to us who He is. As we constantly dive into God’s Word, our minds will be renewed (And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2), and we will start to desire a better and more consistent prayer life.

It is also through the Word of God that we get to know more about the character of God. As we learn more about Him, it stirs us to worship Him and be zealous for Him. It drives us to always pray to God, and having a better prayer life follows. In other words, we stir ourselves to pray, leading to a better life when we learn more about God through His Word.

How do we develop a better prayer life?

Given what we’ve mentioned above, we clearly develop a better prayer life by getting into God’s Word, where we can learn more about Him. As we learn more about God, it constrains us to do that which honors Him. Knowing who God is drives us to live a life of worship, which manifests through prayer. Because we live lives of worship, we always desire to come to God in prayer.

A good start for this is to pray to God as you read this article and ask for the Holy Spirit to help you be disciplined in reading His Word so that you may know more about God through His Word. You can also pray like Moses in (And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. Exodus 33:18), where He asked God to show him His glory. You can also pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the wonders of His law, as written in (Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Psalm 119:18), so that you may behold God for who He is and, from that, live a life of worship where you pray and read His Word out of delight.

 

Holy Spirit, give me the grace I need to read Your Word and fight for my time reading Your Word, especially when I don’t feel like doing it. As I read Your Word, open my eyes to the wonders of Your law. Show me Your glory, Father, as I get to know You through the Word, and may I behold You for who You are, for that is what drives me to be passionate for You and live a life of worship for You, where praying to You is something I am eager to do. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

It is by God’s grace that we get to dive into His Word, and it is also by His Word that we grow in grace. In other words, developing a better prayer life is, in the end, still the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is something that doesn’t work like a quick fix, but we should patiently keep doing it until it becomes second nature to us.