A group of us were to meet for prayer this am. I wasn't sure if I was going to go, but God woke me up (5:02am to be exact) in time enough to rub the sleep out of my eyes and take a shower so I could meet with the group by 5:30. So I made it....and so glad I did!

Our prayer leader started by sharing how prayer is an art of God, and just as there is the true and the false in every other spiritual discipline, there is the true and false way to pray as well. We want to make sure that we are truly praying God's way and in His Spirit, and not in our flesh. So there are THREE important things to learn if we want to truly pray and see results!

1. Pray God's prayers.
2. Pray in Faith!
3. Pray until the answer comes!

What does it mean to pray God's prayers?

Romans 8:26 says, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

We must ASK GOD to remove all roadblocks of sin in our hearts, we must ask him to teach us how to pray, what to pray for, and what His will is. Our natural human prayers tend to be selfish and self-centered. It is not our task to save the world, that is God's task...but we are to cooperate with Him and be in tune to His voice, so we know where to focus our time, our energies and our prayers...not just pick and choose who and what we think we should pray for! Even when we are praying for others, our prayers may sound all flowery and nice, but they are often springing from our own mind, born of the flesh and not of the spirit. We must be humbled and broken and put all flesh aside and cry out to God to teach us to pray, teach us WHO to pray for, WHAT to pray for, and HOW to pray for it. Nothing in prayer should be of ourself.

Sure, God still cares, He still hears...and He honors our feeble attempts at prayer. But if we really want to see results, if we really want to see spiritual power in our lives...we must learn to silence the flesh and allow His spirit to give us the prayers we should be praying!!

God has already given us parameters in which we are to pray, knowing that He will answer...and that is what is ACCORDING to HIS WILL. But we have to get our mind in tune with His, we have to be open to His voice (like we are to our mother), or we wont hear what we are to pray for. We will just invent our own words and our own prayers, and they are empty!

Secondly, we are to Pray in Faith! He's promised us victory from sin. He's promised us the ability to tear down Satan's strong-holds. He's promised us to bring us to Canaan. He's promised us souls for the Kingdom. He's promised us whatever will advance His Kingdom and glory. He's promised us wisdom. He's promised us strength...the promises are ENDLESS!!! Yet we sit around praying our selfish childish prayers, stuttering along, our request too vague and nebulous to even know if God is answering or not, and yet wondering if God will hear and afraid to claim anything boldly. We don't truly believe! We don't step forward in faith claiming that which God has already promised us!

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb 11:6

"God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Has he said it, and shall he not do it. Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good." Numbers 23:19

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering..." James 1:6

Thirdly, our leader shared, if we want to see answers, we are to pray with perseverance...we are to pray until the answer comes, or until we have peace in our hearts that God has granted our request! God's ways and God's timing aren't always our own, but we are to continue in faith before His throne, asking for His will, and persevering until the answer comes. We loose much because we give up too easily....sometimes God wants to build our faith, sometimes there are obstacles to fight through...but we must keep at it.

I am reminded of Daniel 10:12-13

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the Prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days."

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa 55:11

Either God is who He says He is, and He honors His word...or this whole thing called Christianity is just one big farce! Will we believe, will we trust, will we press forward in faith.

After telling us about the three ways to ensure our prayers are answered, he began to pray...so firm and strong. I almost expected to hear thunder in the distance. This is a man that knows His God, and He knows what to pray for...and He's seen God work in amazing and mighty ways!

All I can say is, it was beautiful! You'd have to have been part of it to understand...