{"id":5740,"date":"2021-06-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5740"},"modified":"2021-05-21T18:06:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T23:06:23","slug":"effective-prayer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5740","title":{"rendered":"Effective Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many times we go to people asking advice, but we really do not want their input. What we really desire is their stamp of approval on what we want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, we can approach our spiritual life the same way. Many prayers are not seeking God\u2019s guidance in our lives, but an attempt to talk God into giving us what we want. \u201cGive me, give me, give me\u201d prayers miss the mark. No wonder the disciples had to ask Christ, \u201cLord, teach us to pray\u201d (Luke 11:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer can have many components: praise (1 Chronicles 29:10-13), adoration (Ephesians 3:14-21), thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:20), supplication (Matthew 7:7; Philippians 4:6), confession (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9), and so on. However, most of us just focus on supplication and trying to get what we want for ourselves and for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, effective prayer\u2019s purpose is not to get what we want; it\u2019s a way of changing ourselves so we want the right things. Prayer is not a means to change our circumstances as much as it is a way to change ourselves. That\u2019s heavy stuff. Prayer coupled with Bible study helps us form a deeper relationship with God and know the mind of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is true that God hears all prayers, if the only time we pray is when we are at the end of our rope, then expecting God to deliver us from our circumstances is unreasonable. Prayer doesn\u2019t change circumstances as much as it changes our perspective, so we can cope with our circumstances. We don\u2019t pray, \u201cLet my will be done;\u201d we pray, \u201cLet thy will be done\u201d (Matthew 6:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are praying often, we can even grow to mean it when we say, \u201cLet thy will be done.\u201d Our goal should be to align our will with God\u2019s. Christ realized this when he prayed for \u201cthis cup to pass from me\u201d regarding his crucifixion, yet He told God He wanted God\u2019s will to be done (Matthew 26:39).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were created to be in a relationship with God. Prayer is part of that process. A deep, meaningful relationship cannot form unless we have a means of constant contact. Prayer is our avenue of developing that relationship. It provides continual dialogue with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps our prayers would get more results if we didn\u2019t approach them with the attitude of \u201cI wonder what God can do for me today?\u201d Maybe asking God what we can do to better serve Him each day would make all our prayers more effective. It\u2019s definitely something to think about.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.\u201d ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026 Many times we go to people asking advice, but we really do not want their input. What we really desire is their stamp of approval on what we want to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}