“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” F. B. Meyer

If you are a Christian, you’ve been told that spending time with God through Bible reading and prayer is not a legalistic exercise but a necessary practice for spiritual growth. If you cherish this practice, you know the daily impact.

Some followers approach reading the Bible, and prayer so casually. Lack of dependence, self sufficiency, or lack of desire, or faith means prayer is for a crisis only. If you only go to God when something immediate is wrong in your life, then you are living like the characters in a soap opera. I used to watch them, and the characters prayed only in a crisis to a god they didn’t know. So, how do we keep from being or becoming people who only pray in crisis?

As my title suggests, you will practice prayer. For me, that has meant praying when I didn’t feel like it, getting on my knees most of the time, but not every time, and praying as if God is with me, walking beside me all day long. He is helping me solve problems, stay calm, and pray about a million different things that He can bring to my mind, because I’m ready to pray. Of course, even though the practice is a way of life, I struggle with temptation, business or moodiness some days. Even those days send me to my knees saying something like, “Lord, today isn’t going well at all.”

Prayer often helps you not be caught off guard, or unprepared. The state where I’m from has tornado drills. It is a reality that stays in the back of most people’s minds when tornado season approaches. But if there were no drills, people would not know what to do when the announcement came to prepare for an approaching tornado or developing conditions. The same is true of your Christian life. One of the greatest witnesses to being Christian is how we respond in crisis. If you’ve prayed regularly and a crisis comes, you are prepared far beyond someone who hasn’t. Instead of alarm or panic, you immediately turn to Jesus and ask Him to guide and help you and anyone else involved.

Sometimes you will need to change your mindset to begin praying, but I wouldn’t wait for that. The mind is hard to change without applied diligence. I would recommend the practice of prayer. Whatever you practice will become part of you. And here are a few practices of prayer.

5 Practices of Prayer:

1. Expect results. Prayer is a discipline. I know that sounds like “eat your vegetables,” but you should practice to get out of “crisis mode only” with prayer. Now, that is not to say you can’t pray at other times. You can pray all day long, anytime. However, praying as a disciplined choice is necessary to get into the habit. 
2. Expect to hear from God. We all fear that God might speak to us in our prayer, and we aren’t sure we want to hear what He has to say. But once you pray intentionally, you become fearless. Your faith strengthens, and your love for Him increases. Then, any instruction, comfort, or guidance He speaks rests in your soul. Occasionally if something is hard to hear, you can pray even about that!
3. Expect better relationships. Prayer keeps you honest before God. It is logical that if you are honest before God, your relationships will get more honest. Every relationship problem is not solved because maybe the other person isn’t honest about themselves, but you will have more peace and less struggle.
4. Expect to use the Bible in your prayer time. Use the scripture you read earlier in devotions or bible reading, and pray it to God. Or find a passage particular to your situation, meditate on it, and ask for God’s intervention. Praying scripture is a submissive choice to agree with God that His Word is true and true for you.
5. Expect answers to your prayers. The more you pray, the more answers you will get. Why? Because the Holy Spirit reminds you of all kinds of things as you pray. Even if you have a prayer list, the Spirit is not bound to it. If you come open, you will pray way beyond the list. And you will see Him answer. And your expectancy will increase as well as your faith. 

None of this means that you’ll be spared suffering. God is not a genie. But a fervent prayer life will sustain you in suffering. True followers of Christ will suffer in this life. That is theologically based right out of God’s Holy Word, but your prayer life will give you strength and wisdom for each trial.

Do you need to get on your knees?

I choose to get on my knees because something supernatural happens there. It’s a humble posture. I feel close to God and His Spirit. Praise comes out of my mouth easily. I confess my sins. Isn’t this what you’d expect to do in prayer? It goes from being a stiff “have to” step in my quiet time to a desire to know Him and enjoy His presence.

I hope these tips will encourage you to enter into God’s presence with expectation and gladness through prayer. God honors those who honor Him and He is waiting to hear from you.

“True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice.”

Billy Graham

©Valerie Rumfelt

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