How To Pray Successfully

Prayer opens the door for God to work in our lives. Prayer is the beginning of miracles. We need to know how to pray successfully so that we can see answers to our prayers. There is no point in praying if our prayers aren’t connecting to God or accomplishing anything. The point of prayer is to commune with God and grow in our relationship with him, so his kingdom can come and his will can be done. 

The Bible tells us how to pray successfully.

First, we need to pray in the name of Jesus. Jesus said, “whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you” (John 16:23). 

Praying in the name of Jesus means to pray under the authority of Jesus. It means to approach God because of Jesus’ righteousness, not our own. 

When we do something in someone else’s name, we do it on that person’s behalf. When we make a request in another person’s name, it is as though the other person is making the request through us. When we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, it as though Jesus is praying to the Father through us. This is why praying in the name of Jesus makes our prayers effective.

We cannot pray in Jesus’ name if our prayer is not according to the will of God. Whenever we ask for something in the name of Jesus, we must be sure that our prayer is according to God’s will. Using the name of Jesus to pray for something that is not God’s will is using his name in vain. This is wrong. God doesn’t want us to use the name of Jesus randomly or for our own personal ends. 

“Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). 

It is possible to know the will of God (Eph. 5:17). The Bible tells us what the will of God is. Sometimes we don’t know God’s will, and we need to ask God to reveal his will to us. When we know what God’s will is, we can pray with confidence, knowing that God will hear our prayer. Praying according to God’s will is the key to successful prayer.

To pray successfully, we must pray in faith. Jesus said, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:22). We need faith in order to please God (Heb. 11:6). We must pray without doubt, if we want to receive answers to our prayers (James 1:6-7). 

Faith comes by hearing. When we hear God speak, we know what his will is, and then we have confidence that he will perform his will. As we read the Bible, we will understand the will of God more clearly, and faith will rise within us. 

Faith is preceded by the word of God. Faith does not create things, the word of God creates things. The power to create is inside the word of God. Faith releases the power of the word of God and brings the word to pass on the earth. When we believe the word of God, its power is unleashed to change people and situations. This is why faith comes by hearing. Our faith must be in the word of God to be effective. Faith in the air will not accomplish anything. When we pray, we must believe in the already existing word of God, and trust that God’s word will happen.

We must pray by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires us to pray, and he prays according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit prays through us to the Father in the name of the Son. The Holy Spirit has many things to pray for. He understands things that are beyond our own minds. When the Holy Spirit prays through us, he lifts us beyond our own understanding and helps us pray in ways that are beyond ourselves. Sometimes we will pray with groans which are beyond speech (Rom. 8:26). 

We are commanded to pray with confidence – to come boldly to the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help us in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We don’t need to be shy when approaching God. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We are accepted because Jesus is accepted, and his blood has taken away all our sins. We are no longer under the burden of guilt and shame. We don’t have to run away and hide from God like Adam did. 

We should lift up holy hands and pray (1 Tim. 2:8). Our hands are holy when they are cleansed from sin. Our hands do a lot of things, and sometimes they get defiled because we sin. When we sin we need to confess our sins and repent. Then our hands will become clean again, and we can lift them up to God in prayer. Lifting up our hands when we pray is a blessing.

When we pray, we must forgive others. We need to forgive everyone from the heart for anything they have done against us. Bitterness, anger and grudges come from unforgiveness, and these things hinder our prayers. 

Jesus told us to pray in our closet with the door shut (Matt. 6:6). This means we must shut out distractions. It’s easy to be distracted when praying. Our phones buzz, our thoughts turn to dinner, or our hearts are burdened with worry. Satan often tries to disturb our minds when we pray. We need to shut out distractions in order to pray successfully. Closing our eyes can help us avoid distraction when praying.

When we pray in a group with other Christians, the power of prayer is multiplied. When we agree together in prayer, we can bind and loose things in heavenly places. It’s important to actively agree with the others while they are praying. Prayer requires spiritual effort. 

Prayer is about talking to God, not people. When we pray in a group, let us not seek to impress others. And let us not worry about what others will think about our prayers. Let us avoid long prayers which monopolize the prayer time. Let us not pray for a long time as a pretense.

When we pray, it is important to avoid vain repetitions. Prayer is not about many words. It is about communion with God. God already knows what we need before we ask him. Therefore we don’t need to keep repeating things to him when he has already heard us. Persistence is important, but not repetition. We keep knocking, but when the door is opened, we stop knocking. We keep asking, but when the answer comes, we stop asking. Long prayers can be good; Jesus sometimes prayed all night. Persistence is important, and sometimes answers take years. But we don’t need to pray for a long time just for the sake of praying for a long time.

We are commanded to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). This means that our spirits are constantly engaged with God throughout the day. Even when we are working or talking to others, our spirits are connected to God. We are always ready to serve God – to hear from him and do something or say something for him. Few Christians live in this way, because it is so easy to be distracted by the world. But it is possible to grow in this so that our spirits are in continual fellowship with the Father.

Humility is important when we pray. True prayer is not about pride. It is about God accomplishing his will in us. When we pray, we must be willing to lay aside our own will and allow God’s will to be done. Sometimes God doesn’t hear our prayers because of sin or other reasons (Prov. 15:29; 28:9). When this happens, we are praying to ourselves (Luke 18:9-14). This kind of prayer is ineffective. To be sure that God hears us, let us confess our sins.

It’s good to pray with passion and zeal. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). Jesus prayed with great drops of blood. Sometimes God’s people are desperate, and they cry out to God for help. It’s ok to allow our emotions out when we pray. It’s ok to shout and get excited about prayer. God is the most awesome person in the universe, and prayer is about talking to him. Prayer is hoping that he will work and do a miracle in this dead world. Sometimes if God doesn’t work, all hope is lost. We need to see God work, so we need to pray.

Prayer has always been important for God’s people. As we get closer to the end of the age it will become even more important. At the end of the age, the prayers of God’s people will unleash great changes in the earth (Rev. 8:1-6). We need to continually seek to pray more effectively. The Holy Spirit will fill us and help us to do this.

Along with successful prayer will come powerful results. We will be transformed, and the world will change because of our prayers.