It is a joy to speak on a subject like prayer but it is also a most difficult subject. It is a "holy art" given to each of us individually....a gift from God and part of our very essence. We can pray because the Holy Spirit is within us. Although we have different gifts in prayer we ALL can pray! We also see how the Lord requires us to pray (from the heart and not the lips,) in deep humility, and finally we must pray confidently ending in "AMEN!" Prayer today has fallen on very "tough times" as they do not match these requirements and become very carnal.
There is a need. Prayer is the Christian's vital breath and his native air! We pray unceasingly! It is not always the formal prayer but he prays ALWAYS! We move, eat, drink, and move in prayer as our essence is living with the Lord!
If prayer is a natural thing for the Christian why must we ask ourselves how we must pray? But even as we say that we understand that our soul life still lives in the body of this sinful flesh. While children struggle and pray for "bicycles" we too often struggle with the same thing and the same flesh! Prayer is part of our sanctified life and we must live vertically to God's glory in our entire life with our prayers supporting and substantiating this! It is the fruit of the Spirit of the mighty God that we pray. Our flesh however struggles with this. Do we think our flesh wants God's glory?? Prayer is the CHIEF (meaning it permeates us) part of the child of God as He leads us in a sanctified life of which we pray for as He gives His grace and Spirit to those who seek them from Him! We cannot stand a moment on our own and see the necessity of prayer do we not?! We pray to be sanctified and holy to His glory! There are some techniques here. 1. From the heart! Not from the mind, but ALWAYS from the heart! Anything else is like the Pharisee. It is dead if the prayer is not our of the heart having its root in our new sonship in Christ! Prayer need to BEGIN from the expression of the heart! 2. From a humble spirit. From the fact we are sinners who have no right to anything and it is all "for Jesus' sake" who intercedes for us to the Father in all things! It is always to God THROUGH Jesus (not a prayer to Jesus as often believed and prayed today.) 3. We must be confident and in confidence. This is difficult. If we make a list and we asked ourselves can we confidently pray to God for these things how many would get crossed off the list we made?
Subject matter. Ask yourself are you sure God will grant you that petition? Thanks be to God that we can pray "Thy will be done" and not ours! May our will conform to His will as often we are so very carnal in our petitions and prayers. We pray for everything for our body and soul and must do so from a SPIRITUAL point of view! Not carnal so that we may pray in a way that is pleasing to God. A Holy art! A gift of God!