Effective Prayer
James 5
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, [m]anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will [n]restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, [o]they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A [p]prayer of a righteous person, when it is [q]brought about, can accomplish much.
Hebrew word of the day!
Tefilah
Meaning “Prayer”
I wholehearted belive that consistent prayer has changed my life. The connection that I feel with YHWH (God) has been stronger than ever since learning how to effectively pray. I feel Him, I hear Him. The overwhelming spiritual sensation often brings me to tears!
I make my prayer life more effective by remembering to P.R.A.Y.
PRAISE
Psalm 100 helps us to remember to ‘Come before His presence with singing‘
Shout joyfully to the YHWH, all the earth.
2 Serve YHWH with jubilation;
Come before Him with singing.
3 Know that the YHWH[b]Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and [c]not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.4 Enter His gates with [d]thanksgiving,
And His courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For YHWH is good;
His mercy is everlasting
And His faithfulness is to all generations.
When I begin my prayers, I start off by praising His name and thanking Him for the blessings that I have in my life.
REPENT
Psalm 19 reminds us to take the time to search your heart and mind to ask for forgiveness of any sins, transgressions and iniquities that have come between you and Him.
12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
13 Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be innocent,
And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
YHWH, my rock and my Redeemer.
Come before YHWH humbly for discernment and to reveal the sins you may be unknowingly doing, asking Him to shine the spotlight on anything in your life that is not of Him and casting away any barrier that comes between you and Him.
ASK
When our hearts are clean (after repenting), we can have the confidence to come before our Father to ask.
1 John 3 says,
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence [g]before God; 22 and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
In Matthew 7, Yeshua (Jesus) tells us,
7 “[g]Ask, and it will be given to you;[h]seek, and you will find;[i]knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what person is there among you[j]who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread,[k]will give him a stone? 10 Or[l]if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 So if you, despite being[m]evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
We find this is supported in John 14. Yeshua says that our request must glorify YHWH.
13 And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
In John 15, He says our request must be in harmony with His Word.
7 If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Finally, in John 16, Yeshua adds the condition that what we ask will bring us joy,
23 And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
YHWH loves His children and wants the very best for us! When we come before Him humbly, asking for His will to be done, we may find answers or paths to be open to us. Being sure that our requests will ultimately bring Him glory, are consistent with His Word and bring us joy.
YIELD
As we see in Psalm 37,
4 Delight yourself in YHWH;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to YHWH,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
The Hebrew word for ‘delight’ in this passage (ענג anag) means to be figuratively soft or pliable. Using this in context, when we ‘delight ourselves in YHWH’, we are to be yielding to Him as though we are clay. A moldable person to His Word. We can yield ourselves to Him by being still. Cease from talking, listening with a patient heart and seeking to hear from YHWH.
In Conclusion,
by remembering to P.R.A.Y., we can ensure that we are effectively praying. Let’s come before our Father with Praises, a Repentful heart, Asking for His will to be done, and Yielding before Him.
May YHWH bless you abundantly!
