Most of people think praying is only the activities asking God for something and some of them think praying is the routine activities that must do every Sunday or maybe every religion event.
I tell you if you think praying is like that, then you are really wrong. Not all we pray is a effective prayer, because in the bible points out that many prayers are wasted. Why is it wasted? The answer is because we do not follow the conditions that God sets forth in His Word and it is written in the James 4:3 and John 14:13-14
Prayer is about the communication interaction between God with us and it is very important for us to be growth in our spiritual by God's guiding. In Indonesia language, Praying is called “DOA”. “DOA” can be stand for “Dengar Omongan Allah” (Listen what God speaking). Ya in the prayer or in the Christian, it is called “quiet time”, we must listen more to God speaking than we talked.
Why we must listen more than we talk to God? the answer is because God know everything, He know your life and He know what in the future. If we talk more than we listen, means we are God's god, but in the real, we are God's servant, so we must listen more than we talk.
Here some question that people always ask “how can i pray to God effectively?” I will give some guide to make you know more about the effective prayer and i make it become word “ACTS”
In the book of “ACTS”, we know the Apostles pray together in the roof and 3000 people come and become believer. That's why i make the guide become “ACTS”
A – Adoration
C – Confession
T – Thanksgiving
S – Supplication
Now i will explain one by one from all the point above
Adoration
Adoration is the one that God want and it pleases God. Heart of praise and worship to God is equivalent of sacrifice and it is significant act of worship (Hebrews 13:15). In fact, one of the reasons why God want to save sinners in this world, it is because all sinners that saved by God can praise, adore and worship Him (Psalm 22:22-23). Adoration will be a major part and very important of our service to God throughout eternity (Revelation 5:13). Adoration is simply praising God for who He is and what He has done. We have already done this with people, don't we?
Bu why we need to adoring God? The answer is because to get to know Him more. The more you learn about God and what He has done for you, the more natural it becomes to praise Him. God has given us His Word as a guiding to help us appreciate Him more so that we can please Him with our lives and praise Him with our lips.
The Psalms are excellent for helping you to learn about God's awesomeness and how to express yourself when you want to adore Him. For example, you can read “Psalm 103”
Adoration naturally leads to...
Confession
Confession is one of the way to ask the forgiveness from God. it is what God wants you to do instead of making excuses or blame shifting (because of the sins of others against you – Proverbs 28:13). It is the mark of a growing Christian (1 John 1:8-9)
Confession involves:
- A growing understanding of the seriousness of sin (Psalm 5:4; Habakkuk 1:13a)
- A growing sensitivity toward your own sinfulness and your continual dependence on Christ's righteousness as the basis of your acceptance with God (1 Timothy 1:15-16)
- Daily acknowledging your sin to God (1 John 1:9). The verb tense in this verse indicate a continuous, regular action.
As you experience God's forgiveness, you can't help but be filled with an attitude of...
Thanksgiving
You have so much for which to be thankful (Psalm 103)
- God's forgiveness of all your sin (v.3)
- God's provision for your needs and even many of your desires (v.5)
- God's great compassion toward you (v.13)
God is worthy of your thanksgiving
Finally, you need to bring to God your...
Supplication (Praying for your needs and the needs of others)
Pray specifically (Avoid praying in generalities like "God bless so and so.” It would be difficult to see that sort of pray answered in a clear way). get to know people in Christ's body. Pray expectfully (Matthew 7:7-11). Pray submissively (Realize that God ultimately knows what is best - Matthew 26:39)
Now let's put this into practice (James 1:22)
As you evaluate your own prayer life, what key elements of prayer (ACTS) are a regular part of your prayers? What parts are not there?
Study the prayer of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20.
- What sort of problems was he up against?
- How did he begin his prayer?
- How did the beginning of his prayer affect the "supplication" part of his prayer?
- How did it affect those who heard the prayer?
- How might this kind of praying affect your prayer life?
Try taking a day or two and spending a few minutes in praise. Don't forget to get help from God's inspired praise book -- the Psalms 150). Get into the habit of confessing sin to God and others when you need to -- A.S.A.P! and remembet to thank God for all his benefits -- you can do this anytime! You might even try to do this occasionally at the dinner table. A good jump start would be to imagine what life would be like minus some of the things we daily take for granted--like electricity, food, car, clothes, house (not to mention eternal life, forgiveness of sins) etc.
It is helpful to make lists. Make one list of things for which to praise and thank God. Make a second list of people and things for which to ask God's help.
Do not bite off more than you can chew. If you can only think of one request, that is enough to start. As you grow in your faith in Christ, your list will get longer!
If you want to know more how to pray, you can read Collossians 1:9-14 and see how Apostles Paul pray
"God Bless you and start to pray by today"
Hope this article can bless you all
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Al.Kira
Nice information. There is no one way to pray to god. Many people have different ways of praying. It is not that one way is more effective than the other way but all the methods are equally effective. The important thing is not how to pray but to pray that is.
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