Tips for Effective Prayer

The Resurgence Blog had some good thoughts on prayer. Here are some of the thoughts:

Keep Praying.
The Puritans talked about ‘praying, until you pray.’ That is a helpful expression. It can, and will, become a delight. If you don’t believe me, read Psalm 16. Prioritise prayer, make a plan, put it in your diary, and keep the appointment. Meaning to do something changes nothing: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing...” (Prov. 13:4) and don’t just leave it to “the Spirit to lead you.” My experience is that he doesn’t, or not in the way I want him to anyway.

Tips for Effective Prayer

* Set the right goals. Make them challenging enough to motivate you, but still doable.
* Get to prayer meetings. You’ll learn a lot.
* Learn what distracts you and outplay them.
* Keep close to a pencil and paper. Make notes if any thought keeps stealing your focus.
* Be around people who know how to pray and ask to join them. That can be the most instructive thing of all.
* Be accountable to someone. Tell them to ask you how your prayer life is regularly. Encourage them to abuse you when you don’t pray!

Resist discouragement—It’s from the devil. Your Father loves you. And resist pride. Remember you come to God because you need him, not to impress him or anyone else. He is already perfectly impressed with his Son and, therefore with you, whether you pray or not.

(via www.theresurgence.com/blog)