Praying Acceptably

Prayer is a vital part of our spiritual life. It should be as natural as the urge to breathe, but its use is often neglected. God wants his children to talk to him in prayer. There are at least 650 definite prayers in the Bible. 450 of these have recorded answers. We can rest assured that God answers prayer.

The prayer of all prayers is found in John 17, the Lord’s prayer, when he prayed for his disciples that they might all be “one” (cf. John 17:21-23). This is the real Lord’s prayer. Jesus is our great high priest who intercedes for us (Romans 8:34; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1).

This great spiritual privilege of prayer makes Christians the salt of the earth, as they pray for civil leaders (Matthew 5:13; 1 Timothy 2:1-2). We as God’s prayer warriors are to be at our posts constantly as a great deterrent to evil in this present world (Matthew 26:41; Luke 18:1; Romans 1:12; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The following are four questions regarding prayer:

1) What Should Our Prayers Express?

2) What About Our Attitudes In Prayer?

3) Of What Should Our Prayers Consist?

4) How Should We Pray?

Here are the scriptural answers to the above questions.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets