When I was attending church as a high school student, my dad would take me to Saturday morning prayer sessions with the men of the church. During those sessions I learned what to expect out of most of the faithful men attending. After a year or so, I could quote some of their prayers with them, define the general structure of others, have a general idea of other’s focus, but there were a couple that would always be new and different. While my dad was usually going to cover everything, the sequence or order would not always be the same. What I learned from that group was that each person had a way to approach God. It may not have been right for me, but it was their approach. I built mine own over the years as you will yours.
I don’t know how much help my approach will be for you today, but hopefully there will be something here that makes sense to you. If it does and helps you strengthen your connection to Deity then you have taken a step closer to walking with God. If not, you have a stronger foundation to work with. The key, going into this process is to remember a couple things. (1) Prayer is not our idea according to Isaiah 65:24. He answers our prayers before they are uttered, so His desire to communicate with us originates when He puts the issues in our hearts to release the power (answered prayers) available to us. When we don’t pray things don’t happen. There is no power released. (2) Our obligation is to listen to what He wants (John 10:27) so that we can execute His requests as our desires, becoming His hands and feet (Psalm 8:6.) No it wasn’t your idea, you just thought it was! (3) Regardless of what we think, the only prayers God will hear are ours, not sinners (John 9:31) except a request for salvation.
So, here is what works for me. (1) Tell God you love Him and acknowledge that He is in control. (2) Ask Him to remind you if there is anything hindering your prayers. Sometimes it is good to do this beforehand if you are praying with a group. (3) Tell Him how blessed you feel. Illustrate your attitude of gratitude with examples. (4) Tell Him you trust Him, are committed to Him and want to be an integral part of His Kingdom. (5) Listen to the issues He brings to mind (6) Pray for whomever He brings to mind, even if you don’t know why they popped into your mind (7) Ask Him to address your personal needs. (8) Tell Him, after identifying your needed actions, that you will follow His direction (in #5) and will remain committed to Him – regardless.
This is not the end-all for prayer. I don’t expect you to use it all the time. It is simply an approach. There will be times, like during the day, which you may simply identify something that needs to be expressed and dealt with. Don’t miss that opportunity, remember to pray without ceasing! The process is more for you than God. He knows He’s God. It’s us that need to be reminded from time to time. This approach just helps keep things in perspective.
Love Dad