Prayer: getting better at it
The "Quick Start Guide" is all very well for getting you going, but after a while you need a bit more. (So if you've only just read the Guide, go off and do some praying for a week or so before you read this!!)
After all, prayer is supposed to be a lifelong adventure with God. So you need to keep on growing in the way you do it. Here are just three important things that will develop your prayer life into something exciting and valuable.
1. The Bible
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The Bible and prayer go together. In prayer, you're talking to God; when you read the Bible, he talks to you. So the more you're able to read the Bible, the more directly and specifically God can give you the answers and perspectives and insights you need. If you read a passage of the Bible whenever you have your daily prayer time, you'll find that God starts helping you through it very quickly. Of course you need to understand what's there; so it's good to use some notes that will help you grasp what you're reading. There are lots of different notes we can get for you, or online you could try the ODB Today's Devotional, Word For You, or Word For Today. (It's all free.) |
In prayer, it's just you and God together. But other people can be part of that too - and that can add another dimension to your prayer life. From the very start of the Christian church, believers got together to pray. (In fact the church really started in a prayer meeting that got interrupted - you can read the story here.) And they did that because Jewish people had done the same for centuries. There are lots of benefits in praying with other people. For instance... (a) We all pray a bit differently, and it's exciting and encouraging to listen to somebody talking to God who knows the same Father but has their own unique relationship with him. (b) Other people's prayers can remind you of things you'd otherwise have forgotten, which you want to pray about. (c) Your prayers are not so difficult to concentrate on, when there are a few of you doing it together. And so on. So if you want to try praying with somebody else, or a whole group of people... just ask and we'll sort it out for you. | 2. Other people
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3. The key question
| When Barrack Obama was US President, there were all sorts of important visitors who sought an audience with him... and many were disappointed, although they were foreign diplomats, leaders of industry, and brilliant thinkers. But there were two small girls who could wander into the Oval Office whenever they liked, and nobody would stop them. Why? They were his daughters. God is good to all kinds of people. He'll often answer the prayers and fulfil the desires of people who are not "family" - in fact, who are still technically his enemies, because their sins have never been dealt with and forgiven. But it's when you belong to him that you can really expect to see your prayers taking off. Is that you? Are you in the family? If you aren't sure - or if the answer is still No - go to this page and get it sorted right now. He's been waiting a long time for you to come home. |
Your other options:
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