A New Way To Pray

Praise
Regrets
Admitting your wrongs
Yielding of yourself
Express your requests
Rejoice

Here is a new way to remember how to pray. Oftentimes when we come to God about something, it is mostly just asking God for our desires. Desires for safety, provision, love and other wants and needs. There are some important aspects of prayer that we too often leave out. Therefore, our prayer lives can become dull and lifeless. Then we question God wondering why our prayers aren’t being answered. When we fill our prayers with selfish things and do not humble ourselves before God our relationship with Him is similar to a baby. We take from God what we want and He continues to give it out. But we need to remember to “give as was given to us.” The Bible tells us to put away childish things. Are your prayers all about asking God for what you want? If so, try this little anagram and see if your prayer life becomes more powerful and fulfilling. I have found that when I am bothered by a situation, to go to God in prayer and to follow these steps. Afterwards, I feel so much better for several different reasons. Here they are:

1.Praise- Praising God first and foremost gets your mind off of the negative things of life and onto the most wonderful thing ever. If reminds you of Gods power to control any situation. Praising God is thanking Him for knowing everything. If he knows everything then he certainly knows about all of your problems. Thank Him for being all-powerful. This means that He has the power to change anything with the blink of an eye, so if something is in your life, there must be a reason. Thank Him that all things work to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Thank Him that He created you with a purpose and a reason for being on this earth, as well as all other human beings. Thank Him for being your Provider. There are so many reasons to praise God and be thankful! I do not have enough time to list them all, but this is a start. You can take anything bad and find something good to thank God about. For instance, if you have been mistreated, thank God that He knows the truth and the truth will set you free. Thank him that he loves you and will never leave you alone. There is always something to thank God for.
2. Regrets-This is just telling God about the things in life that you are sorry about. Not necessarily admitting your wrongs (that comes later), but telling Him about the things you have already confessed that you still feel guilty about and about the situations in your life that you wish had turned out differently. For instance, if a relationship has ended bad or you had a miscarriage. Just tell God all about it and how you are feeling. He has been there and understands all that you are going through. This is an opportunity to talk to God as you would your best friend. Only he is even better than your best friend because he understands and he is always there to listen.
3. Admitting your wrongs- This is where you confess all your sins. Sometimes you may not be able to come up with a long list of blatant sins, but it is also sharing wrong attitudes or anything that you think you may have done wrong. You can also share anything that you may not necessarily have done wrong, but that you could have done differently or better. Like getting annoyed with someone who was being obnoxious or passing someone in the hall without saying a word to them. Confess not only the big, obvious sins but the little things you did, as well as the things you should’ve done. I find that as I begin to confess these things and admit my faults, it humbles me and it feels as though each thing takes a burden off of my shoulders. Humbling yourself before God, allows your heart to be opened to what God is telling you and then you are more likely to hear his guidance and follow it.
4.Yielding of yourself- This is giving up your wants and desires and instead choosing to do what God wants you to do. This can be one of the hardest things. This is giving up your rights and letting God do his will with your life. This is realizing that God has a plan for your life that is far better and bigger than anything you could ever come up with. It is saying that you will take up your cross and follow Christ.
5. Expressing your requests- This is where you actually tell God what you need and what your goals and desires are for the future. After you have already yielded your rights to Him, this should be short and to the point. No longer do we have the need to fill our prayers with our “Christmas Lists”. Instead, it is mentioning that you would really like to find a new job that would be more fulfilling, but only if it is in God’s will and for the best interest of you and your family. You will have a new attitude when you get to this part after already dong the steps above. Therefore, this section will not be near as important to you as before.
6. Rejoice- Ending your prayer on a positive note helps you to keep the right focus. We should be thinking about God’s goodness and everything He has done for us. Instead, we find ourselves thinking about all of our problems and what we want but don’t have. So rejoicing at the end of your prayer and praising God for all He has done for you, all he is doing currently in your life and all he is going to do in the future ends you prayer in the right frame of mind with the right perspective.

If you continue to come to God in this way every day or as problems arise, I believe that it will change your outlook on life, as well as deepen your relationship with God. If we can learn to praise God, admit our mistakes and humble ourselves before God every day, then we will be more open to hearing and following God’s will for our lives. These things are so important and yet we leave them out of our prayer time. This way of praying gets our focus off of ourselves and puts it back on God and his awesome power and love for us.