In last month’s Poetry & Prose post, I began sharing quotes and thoughts on prayer with you.
This month, I want to continue on that topic and give you a few tools that you can use to evaluate and improve your prayer life.
Prayer is vital in a Christian's life. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 states clearly that we are to "Pray continually."
How is your prayer life? How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10, a 10 meaning that you are in communion with God 24/7/365?
Below are some Prayer Tools that you can use to give your prayer life a tune up.
These Prayer Tools are followed by a few more quotations on the subject of prayer. Use these quotes to further inspire you to raise your 1-10 prayer scale rating.
Prayer Tools:
Who to Pray for -
* Other Christians (John 17:6-9)
* Christ’s ministries (Luke 10:2
* The sick and hurting (James 5:14-16)
* The unsaved (I John 5:16)
* You (John 17:1-5)
* Your enemies (Luke 6:28, 36)
* Those in authority (I Timothy 2:1-2)
Attitude for Prayer –
* Be devoted, watchful and thankful (Colossians 4:2 & 3).
* Never give up praying and trusting God for answers (Luke 18:1).
* Always rejoice as we seek God, His plan, and His ways (Psalm 105:3).
Creative Prayer Ideas:
* Talk a Prayer Walk. As you walk, look around you. Pray for the neighbors’ whose houses, cars, businesses, etc. you pass.
* Start an email prayer chain. Use a service such as MailChimp to create and send prayer requests to all those who want to participate in this prayer ministry with you.
* Start a telephone prayer chain. Make a list of the names and phone numbers of everyone interested in participating. When someone has a prayer need, he or she calls the first person on the list. That person then passes the request on to the second person on the list and so on until the entire chain is praying for that need.
* Pin prayer requests on a bulletin board or write them on the dry erase board or chalkboard in your classroom at church.
* Create and send a weekly or monthly prayer newsletter for you and your friends or for your Sunday School class.
* Create a “Prayer Bulletin” to be given out at worship services, Sunday School, youth meeting, or placed in a central area.
30-Day Prayer Plan:
Make a list of 15-30 character traits in which you would like to grow to be more like Christ such as patience, contentment, responsibility, self-control, respect, and compassion.
Find 1-2 Bible verses that talk about God’s view on each trait. (Be sure you have a total of 30 verses.)
Write the references or the complete verses beside each character trait on your list.
Keep the list with your Bible, on the refrigerator or bathroom mirror, or in some other place that you visit each day.
Each day for the next 30 days read one verse and ask God to help you grow in that area.
Prayer Quotations:
1. “You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” – A.J. Gordon
2. “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” – John Wesley
3. “Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces.” – S.D. Gordon
4. “One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer." -- Unknown
5. “The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray.” – S.D. Gordon
6. “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” – Martin Luther
7. “The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray.” – Chuck Smith
8. “Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God.” – Chuck Smith
9. “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” – Sidlow Baxter
10. “God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” – E.M. Bounds
11. “Prayer is where the action is.” – John Wesley
12. “Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying.” – Paul E. Billheimer
13. “Oh brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper – and sleep too – than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber.” – Andrew A. Bonar
14. “Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” – Corrie ten Boom
15. "Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” – E.M. Bounds
16. “The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day.” – E.M. Bounds
17. “God's cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men. Praying men are the vice-regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans.” – E.M. Bounds
18. “The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!’” – J. Hudson Taylor
19. “No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack.” E.M. Bounds
20. “The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it.” – E.M. Bounds