Approaching God in Prayer Effectively

 God loves to hear us pray. He wants to answer our prayers, too. He is not trying to think up reasons not to answer our prayers. However, there are some things that God is looking for when we pray. When He sees those things, He is much more likely to answer our prayers. The reason for this is that we are praying for God's will to be done, not our own will. Therefore, there are things we can do to show Him our heart's desire to know and do His will.

Daniel was very effective in His prayers. We can learn a lot from him that will help us in our prayers. One of the things that Daniel did well was how he approached God in prayer. (Daniel 9:4) " I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: O Lord, You are a great and awesome God. You always fulfill Your covenant and keep Your promises of unfailing love to those who love You and obey Your  commands." There is a lot for us to unpack in this one verse. 

We need to start by praying to God as "Lord." We must recognize that He is in control of all things. Also, we must address Him as our personal Lord, our God. If we don't believe in God enough to put our faith in Him to save us and to be our God, why should God answer our prayers. Of course, He can answer if we don't, but it is not as likely. Then, we need to praise God for His power and holiness. This keeps us in the right mindset to know that He can do whatever we ask and believe that He will do it in His way.

We need to assure God that we believe in His faithfulness, that He always fulfills His covenant and keeps His promises of unfailing love. We might not understand all that He does completely, but we can know that He is doing what He promised in His way, and His answer is always given in unfailing love. Finally, we must remember that He does these things for those who love Him and obey His commands. When He sees our love and obedience, He knows that if He answers, we will submit to His will and do it in His way.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Daniel 11-12 and Hosea 1-3.