My Prayer Life

I would like to share something about my prayer life with you. I believe that prayer is very important and necessary to have a successful Christian life. Prayer is simply communicating or talking to the Lord. There is no standard formula for prayer because there are several different types of prayer. Actually, the shortest prayer is when you cry, “Help me, Lord!”

I will start with the “confession.” When most Christians hear the word confession they immediately think of confessing their sins to God. This is important, but it is not the only type of confession found in the Bible.

Hebrews 3:1 says, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” There is an Apostle and High Priest of our confession and His name is Jesus. The word confession refers to our profession or acknowledgment. What are you say about the God who you serve? What are you saying about yourself? Are you confessing what the Scriptures say about you and who you are in Christ?

Hebrews 4:14 states, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” The Lord wants us to hold fast or grip tightly our confession or our profession. Why would God instruct us to hold fast to something if there were not the danger of us losing it? Remember, Satan always comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

In Mark 4, as Jesus told about the Parable of the Sower, He said Satan comes to steal the Word that has been sown in our hearts. He also explained how “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). This is why we most hold fast to our confession because Satan is trying to steal it and stop you from saying and agreeing with God’s Word.

When the trials I experienced came I was tempted to change my confession, to give up on God’s Word, and to start saying and agreeing with the circumstances I was facing. Instead, I ran to the High Priest of my confession and continued to speak and say what God said about me in His Word. Satan knows that if you will confess the Word of God you will release God’s power into the earth and change your circumstances!

The following is a list of confessions I say often about the Lord, and confessions about who He is to me. You can say, “Lord…”

You are Elohim – You are God the Creator.

You are El Shaddai – You are God Almighty.

You are El Elyon – You are the Most High God.

You are Jehovah-Jireh – You are the God Who provides.

You are Jehovah-Rohi – You are the perfect Shepherd.

You are Jehovah-Rapha – You are the Healer.

You are Jehovah-Tsidkenu – You are the One Who makes us righteous.

You are Jehovah-M’Kaddesh – You are the God Who sanctifies and makes us holy.

You are the God Who does all these things.

You are Jehovah-Adonai – The Almighty God.

You are the great Lord of Hosts.

You are the Lord Jesus and the Leader of the Army of God.

You are the great I AM – You are the First and the Last.

You are the Beginning and the End – You are the Root of David.

You are the Morning Star – You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The Lord likes to hear these things because they are His names and they demonstrate His characteristics. We are praising God when we bring His names before Him.

Next, you can talk to God about His nature. You can say, “God, You are omnipotent. You are omniscient. You are omnipresent. You are the sovereign God and separate from Your creation. You are self-sufficient and immutable. You are the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). You are just – You are true.”

Then you can proclaim His moral attributes. Raise your hands and say:

Lord, You are holy, holy, holy!

You are love! And You are love to me!

You are so kind! You are so kind to me!

You are abundant in mercy, and You are abundant in mercy to me.

You are abundant in grace, and You are abundant in grace to me.

You are beautiful beyond description.

You are marvelous in my eyes.

You are beautiful in all You do.

You are long-suffering.

You are slow to anger.

You are self-sufficient.

You are awesome in power.

You are very good, and You are very good to me.

These moral attributes constitute the glory of God. When you confess Who God is, His presence will fill your heart and He will become those amazing things to you.

The next thing I recommend is the prayer of supplication. As I shared earlier, Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, make your request know to God and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guide your mind and heart in Jesus Christ.”

The prayer of supplication means to make requests from God for yourself and fellow believers.

The Bible says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). This verse actually reveals a very important secret about prayer. It says that if we pray according to God’s will then He will hear us. The next verse then says that if God hears us, we will have whatever we have asked of Him.

How then do we find out what His will is; because, if we find out what His will is, then we will have the request? The answer is simple yet profound – His will is reveal in His Word. If you want to know what God thinks about something, you only need to turn to His Word.

The following prayer is example of the prayer of supplication from God’s Word. Remember, if we pray according to His Word then He will hear the prayer and answer the prayer.

The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers: “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…” (Ephesians 1:15-19).

How would you like to have a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God”? How would you like to have “the eyes of your understanding” enlightened? How would you like to have believers you know recognize “the hope of His calling” and “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”? How would you to know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe”? I think you can agree with me that these things are important and that we want them. And, we know these requests are according to His Word because they are in His Word. That means the only thing separating you from those revelations is you asking for them. Go ahead and ask every day to walk in these revelations.

The next step in prayer is adoration and worship. You may tell Him that you adore Him. You can sing your favorite hymns or you can play music in the background.

Then, just remain silent. This is a very important part in prayer. You have been talking to Him so far. Now, He wants to talk to you! When you are silent, He can talk. Look inwardly and quiet your mind. He will talk to you through your spirit. He will tell you things like not to worry, or, not to be scared, and that He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). Remember, when God speaks in your heart, He will never contradict His Word.

Sometimes, He may simply bear witness with your spirit that you are His child (Romans 8:16). He might even speak to you in a psalm. As an example from Psalm 23, He might say, “I Am your Good Shepherd and I Am your green pastures. I Am the table prepared in front of your enemies. I Am the anointing oil and I Am the cup that runs over. I Am the goodness and mercy. I Am the house you live in.” If you start talking while He is talking, He may stop because He’s a gentleman. Be quiet again and you will hear His voice in your spirit.

Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order in all He does. For example, in a church meeting, or conference, when the presence of God has manifested, if someone causes a distraction, the Holy Spirit can cease to work. The anointing can lift. It is the duty of the leaders or pastors to recognize that this can happen and find ways to prevent it. Sometimes there may be practical things that can be done to prevent distractions. Maybe leaders can make provision for the children to be in a separate room and not so close that they can be heard by everyone in the adult meeting. In the adult meeting helpers can be assigned to minimize movement and to assist people who have come to be prayed for. God moves in a worshipful atmosphere where He is invited and honored.

This is also important in our own prayer time. We need to invite Him and honor Him. We need to give our Creator the opportunity to speak to us without distraction. When you let the Lord speak He will address your situation and bring Scriptures to your remembrance that will be effective in your situation. You may even be surprised when verses you have forgotten about come into your mind! (John 14:26)

During your time with Him you can even quote Psalm 23 back to Him. You can say, “Lord, You are my Shepherd. I shall not want….” You can quote all of Psalm 23 just the way you started. After finishing that, you can start saying other Scriptures to Him. When your dialogue with the Lord is over you can enter into “intercession,” which is the next stage.

Intercession is taking the place of another in prayer, especially the unsaved. In intercession you can speak in other tongues. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14:2 that we can pray out “mysteries” when we pray in other tongues. When you intercede in other tongues you bypass your mind. You may be praying for someone you don’t even know in another country you’ve never been to. Perhaps you are praying for some person who is calling out to God at that moment.

The final stage is praise, worship and thanksgiving. You can raise your hands and praise the Lord. You can say, “I praise You Lord… I worship You Lord… I thank You Lord,” and go on and on. He likes to hear His children’s worship. You can do this all day long if you like.

These are the eight stages of my prayer life. These stages are so normal to me that I don’t even think about the next step because I live it. I enjoy doing this three times a day; sometimes longer and sometimes shorter. I promise you that if you do this, it will make your spiritual life stronger.

In conclusion, I will give you one more “prayer” before I close. Have you heard of the prayer of Jabez? It is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. Verse 10 says, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested.”

What was so special about Jabez? Let’s see why God granted his prayer from the previous verse. “Now Jabez was more honorable that his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain’” (1 Chronicles 4:9).

The beauty of this Scripture is that before and after it there is a genealogy of names. Then, suddenly this verse appears out of nowhere. Why? I’m not quite sure, but He is the Lord and He decides where to put what. However, this is what sticks out to me – Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.

In this passage we can also see Jabez’s heart. He said, in other words, “Don’t let me hurt anybody with my words, or with a look. I don’t want to hurt anyone consciously or unconsciously.”

In my profession as a doctor I talk to patients many times a day. I often pray, “Lord, give me the right words so that I can help them.” Sometimes, when I’m too tired to talk, I pray, “When I go in to see them, take away my tiredness and make me fresh so I can glorify Jesus.” Just before stepping in the room I sometimes pray, “Show Jesus to them, not Dr. Shah, or the flesh.” When I do, I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as I talk to them. The Lord is so faithful; He guides me so beautifully.

This is my Christian journey and I recommend following the Lord very highly. I encourage you to follow the Lord and do the Christian journey with all your heart. When you do, then you can enjoy it and your relationship with the Lord. Your problems will be fun rather than painful. Please don’t go around with a gloomy face, because life is full of problems. You can make big problems look small, and small problems look big. It all depends on your attitude. If you keep praying, and your mind becomes renewed with the mind of Christ from God’s Word, there will be no problems that can take dominance over Scriptural thinking. Actually, it will seem as if you are looking at your problems from a distance. It will appear as if you are watching a play. You will view yourself as if you were a distance from that problem, and you will be totally detached from it. Your peace of mind will not be disturbed unless, of course, you dwell on the problem. Give it no importance in your mind because Jesus is victorious! In Him we are more than conquerors!

I will finish with this one thought; no matter what problems you are facing, you are going to win! Give God all the glory, praise, and honor that are due Him!