Prayer is essential to a relationship with God. How can there be a relationship without communication? And we say that praying as a family is also critical. But unfortunately, many people consider praying to be challenging, unsettling and even intimidating. Especially when you add in the in the fact that praying as a family involves an “audience.” We hear parent say things like, “I don’t know how to pray, how can I pray in front of my kids?”
Here are some simple keys to effective prayer, straight from the Bible, to help you and your family foster a strong relationship with Jesus.
1. Pray to the Father.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
This reinforces our relationship to God. He is our Father and we are His children. Praying like this gives recognition to Him and shows our adoration for Him.
2. Pray in the name of Jesus.
Jesus said in John 16:23-24 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
3. Pray by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
One of the many blessings of the Holy Spirit is that He not only gives us assistance with our moral and physical weaknesses but he also helps us with our mental weaknesses. The Holy Spirit will inspire us with what to pray.
4. Understand your rights and privileges.
John 14:12-14 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
In these verses, Jesus is illustrating the concept of the Christian’s “power of attorney.” He teaches that as His followers, we can act as agents in divine affairs on His behalf or “in His name.” We can act with full authority, because we are authorized as much as the One who gives us this authority, Jesus. All believers have full, legal, blood-bought, and family rights to use the name of Jesus.
5. Pray in harmony with God’s word.
1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
In His holiness, God cannot deny His Word or Himself. If we pray according to His will, we should consider the answers as sure as if we already had them.
6. Pray in faith.
James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
7. Pray with praise and thanksgiving for the answer.
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word “gives” is both present and future tense. That means that we thank Him before we receive the answer in full expectation that victory is forthcoming! This is contrary to what most are accustomed to doing; giving thanks after receiving.
