Three Essentials of Prayer

Pastor Jeffrey Smith

No matter what you are going through in life, I want to encourage you to keep praying. You never know what may happen.  James 5:16 (NCV) says, “When a believing person prays, great things happen.”  Your prayers matter. In order to have an effective prayer life, we look will at 3 essential areas:

 A Specific Time

The way we start our day matters.   Social media is alluring, but it is best not consult it first thing in the morning.  Set your heart and mind to focus on God and communicate with him. If mornings are impossible, set aside a different time specifically for the Lord. A consistent time will build a consistent prayer life.

A Specific Place

Life is full of noise and distractions; finding a special place away from the norm will strengthen your prayer life. I ride my bike in the mornings and pray, but there are times when I pray in my study room at home. My wife has a specific place in our home where she prays. She creates a space with a blanket, a cup of coffee, and a Bible.  Create an environment that helps you to condition your mind and spirit to connect with the Lord.

A Specific Plan

Jesus taught his disciples to use the Lord’s Prayer as a model in approaching God in prayer.  As you use this model, below are a few areas to cover in your daily prayer life:

Pray for your family: It’s important fight for your family spiritually and believe that we will see God’s favor and goodness. 

Pray for your church: Lift up your church leaders and pray that God would continue to use City of Life effectively to revolutionize our city.

Pray for your nation:  It’s vital to cover our government leaders in our city, county, state, and nation in prayer.

Pray for your needs in life: In what part of your life do want God to move? Your job, your marriage, your family, your golf game?  Don’t be ashamed to pray for your own personal needs. Everything matters to God.