Practical Tips
Introduction
Somebody once said that “Christianity has been studied and practiced for ages, but it has been studied more than it has been practiced.”
Unfortunately, that’s very true. A lot of people know about Christianity but have never put that knowledge into action. They haven’t let it change their lives for the better.
The same thing could be said about prayer. Many Christians have read what the Bible says about prayer but haven’t applied—at least consistently applied—those principles in their own lives. I know that’s the case in my life, and maybe it’s true for you too.
That’s why we’re going to briefly review what we learned last week and then build on that foundation. Prayer is that important.
Last time we studied Matthew 6 where the Lord taught His disciples to pray. We learned, among other things, that Believers are to:
Respect and have reverence for the name of God;
Yearn for His kingdom to come to earth—that is, ask for souls to be saved and for the Lord Himself to return to earth;
Pray for God’s will to be done, in both our lives as well as the lives of others;
Ask God to meet our basic needs;
Confess and repent of any sins in our lives, as well as forgive the sins of others;
Ask God to deliver us from temptation and evil—to keep us far away from sin or satanic activity.
We also looked at a prayer of Daniel’s and saw some of those same principles in that prayer. In this article we’re going to look at two more prayers, both from King David. Hopefully we can learn from them as well. Then we’ll end up by talking about some very practical things we can do get our prayer lives started. Or, if we already have a prayer life, to make it even better.
David’s Prayer In 2 Samuel
Let’s begin with 2 Samuel 7:18-29. By the time we get to these verses, God has promised David several things: First, He has promised to make David’s name great (verse 9), provide a safe home for the Jewish people (verse 10), and give the Jewish people rest from their enemies (verse 11). Finally, in verses 12-16, the Lord promises to establish David’s son, Solomon, on the throne after the king dies, and will see to it that David’s throne will be established forever.
In awe and overcome by these promises, David then prays to the Lord in verses 18-29. Let’s read it.
2Sam. 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
2Sam. 7:19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?
2Sam. 7:20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD.
2Sam. 7:21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
2Sam. 7:22 “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.
2Sam. 7:23 And who is like your people Israel -the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?
2Sam. 7:24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.
2Sam. 7:25 “And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised,
2Sam. 7:26 so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you.
2Sam. 7:27 “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer.
2Sam. 7:28 O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
2Sam. 7:29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
In verses 18-20, we see that David’s really humbled by God’s promises and blessings. He can’t believe how fortunate he is and says “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
We can do the same thing in our prayers. How has God blessed us? Good health? Job security? A spouse that sticks with you through thick and thin? Whatever it is, thank the Lord for how He’s blessed you.
In verses 21-22, David acknowledges that his good fortune and the good fortunes of his people has not come by anything they have done or haven’t done. David says that God sovereignly and graciously chose to bless them. In fact, the word sovereign is used five times in the first five verses of this prayer! David knows that God’s in complete control.
From there, in verse 23, David recites all of the great feats of God. He went out of His way to redeem Israel for Himself and performed great and awesome wonders when He led the Jewish people out of Egypt.
We can do the same thing in our prayers by remembering the wonderful things He’s done in our lives, and by appreciating the things He’s done in Scripture.
In the rest of the prayer, David accepts God’s blessings and promises and says, in essence, “let it be.” And why should God follow through on His promises? Verse 26: “So that your name will be great forever.”
Our prayers—our lives, for that matter—should always be yearning for God to glorify Himself. He deserves the glory because of who He is and what He’s done. As John the Baptist says in John 3:30, “He must become greater; I must become less.”
The final thing we can observe in this prayer is that God is always faithful in keeping His promises. He has promised us many things: to provide for our needs, to protect us, to never leave or forsake us, to forgive our sins, and to give us eternal life. And those are just a few of His promises.
David’s Prayer In 1 Chronicles
Now let’s look at another prayer of David in 1 Chronicles 29:10-20.
This is the end of David’s reign as king of Israel. As a man after God’s own heart, David has wanted to build the Lord a temple. God, however, wants David’s son, Solomon, to build it.
So David draws up the plans, donates much of his personal fortune and seeks voluntary gifts from the people themselves. With that as background, let’s read verses 10-20.
1Chr. 29:10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
1Chr. 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
1Chr. 29:12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
1Chr. 29:13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
1Chr. 29:14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
1Chr. 29:15 We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
1Chr. 29:16 O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
1Chr. 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
1Chr. 29:18 O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.
1Chr. 29:19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, requirements and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”
1Chr. 29:20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the LORD your God.” So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.
In verse 10, David begins this public or corporate prayer by praising the Lord. That’s a great pattern for us as well—praise God for who He is and what He’s done. First David says that God is the father of Israel.
Then, in verses 11 and 12, he really pours it on—this is some great praise.
1Chr. 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
1Chr. 29:12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
David acknowledges that God is all powerful, majestic and sovereign.
Not surprisingly, David’s humbled after talking about how awesome God is. In verse 14 he says who are we to be able to do this, Lord? And he shows a proper attitude towards riches and possessions—whatever he and his fellow Jews have has come from God. Whatever he has is really the Lord’s and he’s just a steward of it. That goes for us as well, by the way.
In verse 15, David’s humility continues as he says in essence that he and his people are nothing without God.
As David contemplates the relationship between men and God in verse 17, he’s very much aware of how God searches our hearts and knows our motives and all of our secrets.
In verse 18, David prays for the Jewish people to continue to love the Lord. He wants them to continue to put God first in everything and to remain faithful to Him.
After praying for the Jewish people as a whole, David then prays specifically for his son Solomon in verse 19. He wants Solomon to express his love for God by keeping the Lord’s commands. That’s a great prayer for us as well, isn’t it? We can pray that they are faithful to the Lord.
Then in verse 20, David’s prayer ends on the same two themes: praise and humility. All the Israelites praise the Lord and then fall to the ground in worship.
As we’ve seen, both of David’s prayers have several things in common. David is humble, and God is praised for His sovereignty, mercy, grace, power and promises.
Humility, praise and thankfulness. Those are three consistent themes in David’s prayers and should be evident in our prayers as well.
Practical Tips On Prayer
Now let’s switch gears and try and answer some questions that we might still have regarding prayer. Let’s also talk about some very practical things we can use to get started on—or how to enhance—our prayer lives.
In all, we’ll talk about 20 different short topics, in no particular order.
1. God answers prayer
David’s prayers were answered and God will answer your prayers as well. Be aware, however, that the Lord’s answer may be “No” or He may choose to wait awhile to respond. Listen and watch for His answer. And don’t forget to thank Him for whatever answer you get. Even if it’s “No,” God loves you so much that He listened to and considered your prayer. Listen to Matthew 7:9-11.
Matt. 7:9-11 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread,will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
2. If we don’t ask, we won’t receive
In order for God to respond to our desires, we have to ask. If we don’t even bother to ask—if we don’t even bother to pray—we deprive ourselves of potential blessings.
Matt. 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
James 4:2 …You do not have, because you do not ask God.
3. Pray using Jesus’ name
Jesus said that we can use His name when praying.
John 14:13 …I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
Ending our prayers with “in Jesus’ name, amen” doesn’t mean our prayers are extra special and it doesn’t guarantee we’ll get what we ask for. Praying in the name of Jesus means that we’re identifying ourselves with Christ, as His children, and that we’re praying in accordance with His will.
4. Pray specifically
While sometimes we pray in general ways because there’s no other choice, it’s a good idea to pray specifically whenever possible. Otherwise, when God answers and responds we’re not sure if it was Him or if He answered at all because our prayer was so general-”bless this church.” When we can tell that God has answered prayer that gives us a chance to thank Him and praise Him and give Him the credit that He deserves. Praying specifically allows God the opportunity—if I can use that word—to glorify Himself because we can clearly see that He’s answered a specific prayer.
5. Believe you will receive what you ask for
When we pray, we must believe that what we’ve asked for—wisdom, for example—will be given. We must believe not only that God can but will respond to our prayer. James 1:6-8 says this:
James 1:6-8 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
6. Pray with pure motives
James 4:3 says this:
James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
If our motives aren’t right, God may decide not to respond.
7. Tell others about answered prayers
This is a great way to motivate yourself and others to keep track of your prayers, and here’s where praying specifically really comes into play. When God answers, tell other people. We’re all more apt to pray when we hear that God has answered somebody else’s prayer.
8. Pray boldly and persistently
Listen to Luke 11:5-8:
Luke 11:5-8 …”Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
This doesn’t mean we have a license to badger God. If the Lord says “No” we should accept His answer, And yet, we’re encouraged to be persistent and bold.
9. Don’t make fleeces
Gideon made a fleece in Judges 6:36-40 where he tried to determine God’s will by establishing certain conditions. God honored his conditional request, but that’s not how the Lord normally works. Jesus probably put it best in Matthew 4:7:
Matt. 4:7 “‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
10. Avoid marital problems
Guys, if you’re married make sure you and your wife are getting along okay. If not, your prayers may be hindered. Listen to 1 Peter 3:7:
1Pet. 3:7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
Now let’s talk about some real practical things we can use to start or enhance our prayer life.
11. Pray at least once a day for 10-15 minutes
I encourage you to spend a minimum of 10-15 minutes each day in prayer and Bible study. God wants you to talk with Him much more and at anytime and anywhere, but try and commit to this in the beginning.
12. Pray at the same time and place every day
Again, God wants you to pray unceasingly, but establish a regular pattern and stick with it. After awhile it’ll become a natural and accepted part of your regular activities. I would strongly encourage you to pray first thing in the morning because you’re more energetic and more apt to follow through on the commitment.
Besides, after a long hard day, it’s hard to motivate yourself to do anything that you absolutely don’t have to. At least I have that problem.
13. Expect Satan to put up obstacles
The devil doesn’t want you to pray and Jesus said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So don’t be surprised when there seems like a million reasons why you shouldn’t bother to pray that day. Discipline yourself to follow through despite all of the good excuses that come to mind.
14. Keep a prayer list and journal
We’ve already touched on this briefly. Write down what you need to pray for, what you’ve already prayed for, and any answers that you’ve gotten. That way you can be organized and better monitor answered prayers. It’s also great to look back on down the road, especially if you’re beginning to doubt God’s presence in your life.
15. Memorize the ACTS acronym
Sometimes acronyms can help us remember things better. If that’s true with you, you might want to memorize ACTS. It closely follows the Lord’s teaching on prayer.
“A” stands for adoration
“C” stands for confession
“T” stands for thanksgiving
“S” stands for supplication
Adoring God means to tell Him how much you love Him. It also means praising Him.
Confessing our sins is critical—we must come clean before God.
Thanking the Lord puts us in the right frame of mind. And it’s also the right thing to do—He’s done so much for each of us.
Finally, supplication means to ask God to meet our needs, and for anything else that might be on our minds.
16. Look for opportunities in which to pray
Be on the lookout for new ways in which to pray, both individually and as a church. Start a prayer chain. Hold a prayer meeting. Find a prayer partner and meet on a regular basis. There are lots of things you can do. The sky’s the limit.
17. Pray for our leaders
Don’t forget to pray for our government and its officials. Start with local officials, then state or provincial officials, then the federal officials. For those of you who are ambitious, foreign leaders and their governments also need our prayers.
1Tim. 2:1-3 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
18. Pray for each other
Ask someone else what you can pray for them, and then follow through. Pray for spiritual growth for each and every person. We all need prayer. Everybody needs prayer.
19. Pray for your local church
Pray for Godly leadership. Pray for unity. Pray for each member to discover and use their spiritual gifts. And pray that God will use your church to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
20. Pray that Jesus Christ is exalted.
I’ve saved the best for last. Pray that everything that your local church does brings glory and honor to our Lord. And pray that the church never loses its first love, Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
As we close, let’s look at one more prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19. As you continue to implement what we’ve talked about in this two-part series into your prayer lives, don’t forget to use the Lord’s prayer as a guide. You can’t go wrong doing that.
But also don’t forget to study other prayers of the Bible, like the ones we looked at today, in order to build on those basics.
One of the great prayers to pray for yourself and others is found here in Ephesians 3. Let’s read it.
Eph. 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
Eph. 3:15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Eph. 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph. 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Eph. 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Eph. 3:19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
This is a great passage. My prayer is that you will take a moment to pray these verses for yourself right now, before you leave this article. The words have been altered slightly to make it more personal.
Eph. 3:14 …I kneel before you Father,
Eph. 3:15 from whom your whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Eph. 3:16 I pray that out of your glorious riches you may strengthen me with power through your Spirit in my inner being,
Eph. 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. And I pray that I, being rooted and established in love,
Eph. 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Eph. 3:19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
Eph. 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen