Prayer is a conversation with God.

The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. In other words, all the time. So how can you really do that? Well, that depends on what prayer means to you. If you have to be on your knees, at church, in a special place, or special time, then you may need to redefine what prayer actually means.

Prayer is just talking to God. It’s communicating to Him from your heart. Yes, it’s possible to read prayers, but they only count as prayers when it means something to you. It has to be genuine.

Do you have to pray out loud? No. Do you have to be formal. No!

Talk to God. You know, like He’s the Person who loves you more than anyone else, like He’s your best friend, like He’s the One who takes care of you and blesses you beyond understanding. Have a conversation with Him. Tell Him what matters. Cry out. Tell Him your dreams, you needs, your fears.

Then listen. A conversation goes both ways. It’s not really a conversation if you do all the talking. Listen with your heart. Will it sound a lot like you talking back? Yes, because that’s the way you were wired to hear Him.

You can talk to God all day long. And you should. There’s a lot to talk about.

Declare the word of God to problems.

Declaring God’s word is just like prayer. Jesus taught us to pray with the Lord’s prayer, but He also demonstrated how to live with His life. When He was faced with a storm at sea, He spoke peace to it. When He was faced with disease, He spoke healing to it. He declared the word of God to the situations that needed to be fixed.

When we declare God’s word in a situation, we are depending on God to move as we are asking. It’s just like prayer. You must declare His word in faith and you must pray in faith. Many times, I think God is waiting for us to declare His will in a situation, just as Jesus showed us. We shouldn’t be freaked out by that. We are just calling down heaven just as if we pray to call down heaven. It’s really a matter of semantics.

Don’t be afraid to declare the word to a problem. Look to see what Jesus did. He’s your role model. You’ll be blessed when you see the results, and that should encourage you to step out and do more. God wants to see growth and maturity in faith, and we need mature believers in the kingdom.

Another post on declaring God’s word: Speak Peace To The Storm

Related articles

• Prayer of faith

We can have daily conversations with God.

The easy part living life as a child of God is that He is always with us. It’s the amazing aspect of salvation–God actually puts His Spirit in us. God, who made all things put Himself inside us, to be part of us, in us, is with us all the time. We can have daily conversations with Him.

And it has nothing to do with how we feel in the morning. He does not require us to be cheerful. He does not require us to feel “holy”. He doesn’t care if we did something stupid. He is always with us.

Our requirement is to acknowledge Him. He’s always waiting for us to turn to Him. When we realize that we’ve done something stupid or wrong, all we have to do is talk to Him, tell Him we’re sorry, and ask for help to not do it again.

But the best part is listening to what He wants to say to us. He has the best ideas. He has a plan for our lives and we need to be sensitive to what He really wants us to do. We need to be aware that God really wants to talk to us.

Living with God in us means having an ongoing conversation. It’s a dialog that will never stop through eternity.

Related articles

• Does Prayer Work? Are You Talking To God

Effective prayer is specific and persistent.

I heard someone say recently, “Prayer is not magical. It just has to be persistent.” I like that. It’s too easy to repeat a prayer, especially if you are reading it, and expect “X” to happen. It’s not an incantation. We do not recite prayers to the universe and wait for results.

Prayer is a conversation you have with the Father. He’s more than willing to do what you need Him to, He just expects you to talk to Him about it, not demand, rant, plead, or recite. How rude it would be to have someone pull out a sheet of paper and make an official request to borrow your pen and never look you in the eye.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (Jam 5:16) Effective prayer is specific. Fervent means fiery or impassioned. Consider that you are carrying on a conversation with God and you really want to get your point across. Look Him in the eyes. When you do that, you will be flooded with His love. Your prayer will go straight to His heart and He cannot hold Himself back from answering for you.

Be persistent. Go back to Him everyday with the same level of specific fervency and always give Him eye contact. You are praying to your Father, not an ATM.

Another post on prayer: Specific Prayer Gets Specific Answers

Related articles

• Effective, Fervent Prayer

Pray for your leaders and change a nation.

Do you want to see the kingdom of God released in your country? Then pray for your leaders. They are the targets of enemy attack. If the leader can be persuaded to believe deception, then the country cannot be blessed with the guidance of God.

Pray that the scales of deception fall from the eyes of those in power. Let them have eyes that see and ears that hear so they understand the will and the ways of God. Ask that they be filled with the wisdom of God and revelation from heaven. Let their hearts be moved with a hunger for truth and justice. Let them be filled with compassion for people and outrage for injustice.

Your prayers can move mountains and they can change the heart of a president, a minister, or a king. You prayers are powerful. Join with others and your prayers become magnified in power. Don’t bad mouth your leaders. Bless them and pray for them. They can be moved to do good with your support. Strongholds can fall. Lies can be exposed. The kingdom of God can be released to bless a nation.

Spend time in praise and worship so your heart can be open to know how to pray effectively. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (Jam 5:16)

Be faithful and persistent, and promises will come. Photo: Kashfina Rahman

God made it very clear that if we turn to Him first, He will take care of all our needs and desires. He made promises to us:

• The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. (Psalm 91:14)
• But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. (Malachi 4:2)
• And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)
• Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.(Psalm 37:4)

These are promises. He will do what He says, under condition. Will you delight in Him and seek Him first? Will you trust Him, despite how long it takes to answer?

There was a judge in a certain city . . . who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ (Luk 18 2-5)

God said to go to Him like that woman. Look at those promises like a door and knock until you see it open. And it will.

Another post on answered prayer: Is God Going To Answer My Prayer?

Related articles

• God’s Unshakable Plans for Your Life – Jeremiah 29:11 – Inspirational Bible Verses of Truth