FIVE PRACTICAL STEPS TO A POWERFUL DAILY PRAYER LIFE

(Excerpt from book, “Returning To Holiness”, by Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell)

1. Make an absolute commitment to consistently spend significant time alone with God in uninterrupted prayer.
Give God significant time on a daily basis.
2-3 minute devotions are by no means the pattern of Jesus
You must reject the modern idea that you can develop a deep prayer life “on the run.”
30 minutes to an hour is a good suggestion for a vibrant daily prayer life
Remember, the only way we learn to pray is to “show up for practice”
If you spend significant time alone with Jesus, He will utterly change your life!
1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”
Though we must be very committed to prayer, we should never approach it as a legalistic bondage

2. Approach your prayer time as a relationship with God rather than a ritual.
· True prayer is a relationship!
· It is a love relationship with YOUR GOD!
· Many are so busy serving God that we neglect time alone with Him.
· When you approach prayer as a relationship, you will also learn to hear God’s voice on a daily basis.
· True prayer begins with listening to God.
· As you learn to listen, you are then sure what you are asking is God’s will.
· Learning to hear God is the greatest secret of answered prayer! (1 John 5:14-15)

3. Make a commitment to a balanced prayer life by regularly practicing the four different types of prayer.
· A.C.T.S. (Affirmation or Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication or Intercession for others)
· It is essential that our prayer life be far more than a list of “needs and wants.”
· We must experience daily cleansing or we cannot maintain the power of the Holy Spirit.
· It is impossible to regularly experience all the types of prayer in only a 2-3 minute devotion.

4. In your daily petitions, focus more on issues of personal character and holiness than on temporal needs.
· God’s great priority is to conform you to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)
· Make the 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit your daily personal prayer petition (Galatians 5:22)
· As you daily ask God to fill you with each fruit, also ask Him to show you how you don’t reflect that characteristic.
· The beatitudes also provide excellent personal petitions (Matthew 5).
· If you claim such prayers for your own heart, God will revolutionize your life!

5. In your daily intercession, focus more on issues of evangelism and missions than on temporal concerns.
· It is tragic that so much intercession is mainly focused on health and other temporal issues.
· God’s great priorities are the evangelization of the world and sweeping revival in the church (Matthew 28:18).
· God does incredible things when we focus our intercession on lost people, missions and revival!
· You may be wondering, “How can I focus my intercession on God’s great priorities?” Listed below are 5 powerful strategies.
1. Develop a prayer list of lost people and intercede for them daily.
2. Develop a prayer list of the key leaders and ministry strategies of your church. Pray for them regularly.
3. Compile a prayer list of key spiritual and government leaders. Pray for them regularly.
4. Regularly pray for vital mission strategies of your association, state and denomination. (You can get daily or weekly updates from your state and national denomination.)
5. Daily intercede for revival and spiritual awakening in your city and nation.

*Please do not feel that a powerful prayer life is out of your reach. If you are willing, God will revolutionize your praying and thus your walk with Him.

*Don’t let anything keep you from walking in full cleansing and dynamic prayer. No matter how weak you have been, you can become a powerful, biblical intercessor. If God is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)