Author: Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

When things go fine and when God answers our prayers, it is easy to thank God, – at those times we thank God and adore Him. But as soon as God decides to answer us in a way that does not fit our plans, we start thinking whether there is any sense in prayer. The Bible calls us to thank God in everything. The Bible calls us to praise God aloud so that other people would hear it. Be grateful to God, praise him, and sing to Him – aloud! Thanksgiving is the very model of prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples.

Thinking about God and His Majesty, focusing our mind on Him should become something we are constantly worried about. That´s what Jesus taught His disciples. You have to look at God with the eyes of your heart before you open your mouth for prayer.

Humble meditation of the God´s character He revealed to us is another way of how to worship Him. We receive His mercy when reading His Word, this, in turn, testifies about God´s character.

God wants us to talk to Him the way we talk to our father. Jesus said in His prayer: “… blessed be Thy Name!” The word “bless” means He worshipped the God Father in reverence to Him. Worship prepares our soul to meet the God. It also involves our spirit. Just like in order to listen to a broadcast on the radio you need to tune it up first, worship helps us to turn our spirit on and tune it up on the God´s wave. Jesus taught:

«You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve»

In order to pray effectively one needs a sample. Christian life is a spiritual life, therefore, connection with Heaven is vitally important. Our God is a spirit, but we all live on Earth, so we need to stay connected with God. There are only two ways of having fellowship with God – The word of God and a prayer. The God speaks to us through His word. The word of God is His revelation about God himself. Neither you can create the character of God by yourself nor you can imagine what kind of person He is, because you can easily fail getting it right. The God tells us in His word about who He is, what He can do and how He acts.

1. Set apart some time for prayer and commit to it.

2. Plan where you will pray.

It does not have to be at home, but you also do not need to turn prayer into some religious ritual. Be creative when you choose the place for prayer. For instance, there was a time in my life when I made walking into prayer time. I called it “a prayer walk”. I went out in the street for the purpose of prayer.

If we want to have fruitful prayer life, then prayer must become a habit. In order for that to happen we must gain some skills in the area of prayer. Skill means how we do something. When you know what you need to do and why you need to do it, the next step is HOW to do it. If you don’t know how, this activity can’t become a habit. But you won’t be able to learn how, unless you actually start doing it. I won’t know how to pray, unless I start praying. I am sure we already know very much about prayer. You can put to practice this knowledge that you have. Thus you obtain skills. Skills are developed by putting knowledge to practice.

When a person repents, he can start developing his prayer life. We must know that God does not turn away from us even when we do not pray. God is very patient and He wants us to understand that without prayer we are spiritually weak and unable to enter the things He has prepared for us. Effective prayer is the thing that opens a way for us and allows God to walk ahead of us. God waits until we come to full realization of it. He is good to His children, but His goodness must lead us to repentance. Many people do not understand it. Sometimes we do things that go against God’s orders and at the same time we feel like it is alright.

The Bible says, that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. What shall I do when I feel my prayer doesn´t work well. Shall I read a book about upsurge and healing, or listen to a sermon about liberation from curse, maybe I should blame devil and demons for all failures of my praying life. It´s them who set obstacles for me. Quite often people blame devil for all failures in their life. When I listen to the sermons constantly focusing on satan and demons I ask myself, whom are we preaching and whom are we glorifying? Read gospels to see what Jesus said to the demon. He said: “leave him” then continued his way. It´s not a satan fault that you don´t practise praying.

Knowledge is an understanding of theory of what we have to do and why. In order to make something as your habit you need to understand the theoretical aspects of such necessity. How is it connected to our praying life? Let me explain that. We acquire knowledge by reading the Bible, Word of God. We know why we have to pray, then we can make a habit of praying, just because we know what we have to do. We should pray without ceasing – I know this and so I do why. Let me elaborate on it. Awareness of what I gain or lose by having a particular habit helps us to develop that habit.

“ … for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Prayer unites us with our Heavenly Father, helps to know the depth of the His heart, His love and His plans for our life.

Do you remember Daniel? He was a man of God, similarly to David, one, whose attitude to prayer and fellowship with God was very serious. In Daniel 6:10 we read:

«When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he bowed down on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before».