Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– R.A. Torrey
Devotional: 7 Powerful Christian Prayers
This is a very powerful quote because it sums up the essence of prayer. With that said, there are many ways to pray and many things to pray for. Depending on the circumstances and depending on what you pray for, some of them are just more powerful than the other. Here are 7 powerful Christian prayers:
Effective Prayers Ask For God’s Will
While God is a very loving father, and He gives freely based on His grace, keep in mind that our salvation is His priority. The most important to Him is our transformation to make us ready for His coming. He wants to reunite us with Himself. This is why asking for His will in our lives is one of the most effective prayers we can make. By definition, it’s selfless because you’re not asking for what you want, but rather for what He wants.
God Hears Prayers That Line Up With His Will
Flowing from the discussion above, God readily hears prayers that line up with the will and vision that He wants for your lives. The prayers that we all send to God are countless. A large proportion of these prayers remain unanswered because they are asking for what we want, rather than in accordance with what God deems is best for us. That is why reading the Bible is important so that we can understand the will of God for our lives, and that we can line up our prayers based on that will.
Salvation Is the Core of Effective Prayers
All prayers should lead to salvation. God certainly answers our prayers, like, for instance, when we ask Him to help us out with solutions so that we can pay the rent. He answers our prayers when we request Him to help us get a new job or car. However, we must scrutinize these prayers to see if they can lead us to salvation, because salvation is the ultimate reason why we’re here on earth. Salvation, of course, leads us to something greater, revealing God’s true character. All our prayers must have salvation as its core, otherwise they would be considered selfish prayers that, depending on God’s grace, could not pass.
God Loves Prayers About Transformation
The main reason we’re here on earth is for a journey that starts in one place, like when human beings came into reality; and ends up in another place, in a different form of existence. This is what we mean by transformation. It basically engages us into getting up, walking, stumbling down, and then getting back up again; changing every time we complete another cycle or process. God loves prayers asking for Christian transformation. Like, when we ask for His will to see the lesson behind every challenge, God readily gives us a vision of it so that we can be transformed. God is more than prepared to send the Holy Spirit into us to turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
True Prayer Is Humbling
A real prayer is not self-seeking. It is one that always seeks something higher and better that is not within you. An example of this is love. Love is an expression that is not self-seeking. Love doesn’t want to be flattered or honored. It flows outward. Literally, it always looks to other people. True prayer is humbling because it focuses not on yourself, but rather on God.
Do Not Just Pray for Yourself, Pray for Others
If you want your prayers to be powerful, they must not be only for yourself. Pray for other people. Pray for their lives, that they experience grace, and for their salvation. The Bible is explicit that for God to increase, we, the people, have to decrease. This refers to John the Baptist on his attitude towards Jesus Christ. Our attitudes should be the same as this. For Jesus to grow within us, we ironically have to shrink. One way of doing this is to shift our prayers’ focus from ourselves to others.
Do Not Just Pray for Your Needs, Pray to Know More About God
It is inevitable that people have needs and problems with various practical issues. With this, we need to look into a bigger picture, which is us being here on earth, for some reason. That reason is to know God’s exceptional character. The plan of salvation and the Gospel are examples of God’s foundations that guide us in revealing His character. That is why it is crucial not just for us to pray for our personal needs, but to know more about God so that we can walk closer to Him. As Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God (literally, heaven), and all these will be added unto you.” If we’re worried about our income, our health, or our relationships, we can pray for these, and the prayers may be answered if we first seek to know God completely.
