1. Praise- If God inhabits (lives in) praise then I, for one, want to start my prayers with praise! Let me tell you, God not only inhabits praise, He is reachable and closer than you can imagine. He is right there with you. Tell Him how much you love him. He wants your praise!
There is POWER in praise! Look at Psalm 149:6-9. In 2Chronicles 20:21-22 the Bible gives us an example of how a battle was won with praise alone!
2. Thanks- We have things to thank God for before asking for more! Even if things are not going well we have the assurance that even they will eventually turn out good according to Romans 8:28! We have to trust Him. We need to thank Him for everything. We can think of things to thank Him for if we try!
1Thess 5:18, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
3. Forgiveness- You and I have been forgiven a large number of things by our Father in heaven. He is glad to forgive us, so we should be glad to forgive others for what they have done. Plus, we need to continually ask forgiveness because even bad thoughts are considered sin and need to be forgiven.
Mark 11:25, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."
4. Asking- According to 1 John 3:22 in order to receive the things we ask we need to keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Verse 23 tells us His commandment is we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. If we are not receiving answers to our prayers then we obviously need to dive deeper into the Bible and get our thoughts and prayers more in line with God's will.
"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Luke 11:9
5. Listening- Listen for the answers to your prayers. Listen for other things God wants to tell you. "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14 Wait can mean wait a minute, wait till tomorrow, wait for a few years. God will reveal things to you in His time. He knows what you need and also knows when to give it to you.
When you are praying leave plenty of time to wait on God to speak to your heart. Imagine Him to be in the same room with you (because He is!) When Jesus died the curtain to the Holy of Holies was split by God from top to bottom so we could enter into that holy place and be with God!
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