(By: Norm Rasmussen)

I am fully persuaded that Satan desires born again believers in Jesus Christ to ever-struggle with prayer. I speak from great personal experience! Yet it is my unwavering belief that God truly desires for us to experience intimacy with Him in prayer that nothing else outside of praise and worship may bring in this life, and He truly wants disciples of Jesus Christ to have confidence when they pray. I know someone who wants just the opposite of that!

We are told in God's Word to pray without ceasing, aren't we? (See: 1 Thes. 5:17) Satan wants us to perceive this scripture as a "chore" - our endless, religious duty that we simply must constantly do, and if we don't, we will disappoint God and come up losers. Bunk!  

God wants us enjoying praying. God wants us to delight in having conversation with Him. God wants us to constantly be diligent in learning how to pray prayers ... however short they may be ... that when we pray to God, we are confident that He hears, and we are confident that He will respond to them according to His wisdom and will. That is called praying prayers with faith, which is consistent with what the Holy Spirit tells us regarding prayer in the New Testament. 

I'll share a little reminder with you that might help in your prayer life. Satan works without ceasing to frustrate your prayer life. He constantly wants you to believe you aren't praying enough; you're praying incorrectly; there must be a better, more effective way to pray ... even when you might well be praying the most effective way already!  

The Holy Spirit will never make you feel discouraged regarding prayer. Your flesh will though. And guess who works through your flesh? Satan.  

One of the vital keys in having a more confident and enjoyable prayer life is to tell your flesh to "Shut UP!" and allow the Holy Spirit to do your thinking for you regarding prayer. Continue to constantly ask and trust God to reveal to you how you can more wisely function in cooperation with the Holy Spirit regarding your prayer life. It will supercharge your prayer life like little else can or will! 

Here is a brief testimony by Joyce Meyer that I believe is so precious and encouraging! It is taken from her book:  "The Joy Of Believing In Prayer"

For many years I was dissatisfied with my prayer life. I was committed to praying every morning, but I always felt something was missing. I finally asked God what was wrong, and He responded in my heart by, saying, 'Joyce, you don't feel that your prayers are good enough.' I was not enjoying prayer because I had no confidence that my prayers were acceptable.

Prayer is simply conversation with God 

Too often we get caught up in our own works concerning prayer. Sometimes we try to pray so long, loud, or fancy that we lose sight of the tact that prayer is simply conversation with God. The length or loudness or eloquence of our prayer is not the issue. It is the sincerity of our heart and the confidence that God hears and will answer us that is important. We must develop the confidence that even if we simply say, 'God help me,' He hears and will answer. We can depend on God to he faithful to do what we have asked Him to do as long as our request is in accordance with His will. We should know that He wants to help us because He is our Helper (Hebrews 13:6). 

Simple, believing prayer comes straight out of the heart and goes straight to the heart of God. 

God's Word For You 

"Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 

The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here. 

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain. 

But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am! 

I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14)

Humble Prayer 

For prayer to be sincere, it must come from a humble heart. In this lesson on prayer taught by Jesus Himself, we see that the Pharisee prayed 'ostentatiously, meaning that he prayed pretentiously, making an extravagant outward show. There was nothing secret or even sincere about his prayer. It even says that he prayed 'before and with himself.' In other words, his prayers never got two inches away from himself; he was all caught up in what he was doing. 

The second man in the story, a despised tax collector and a 'wicked sinner' in most people's eyes, humbled himself, bowed his head, and quietly, with humility, asked God to help him. In response to his sincere, humble prayer, a lifetime of sin was wiped away in a moment. This is the power of simple, believing prayer. 

Build your faith on the fact that humble, believing prayer is powerful. Believe that you can pray anywhere, anytime, about anything. Believe that your prayers don't have to be perfect or eloquent or long. Keep them simple and full of faith. 

We receive the grace of God by humbling ourselves before Him, casting all our cares upon Him, and trusting Him to take care of them as He has promised in His Word. 

Prayer Promises

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)