Many teachings abound on ‘How to pray?’, often stating what to pray for in verbatim leaving the Christian stranded when he has to pray all alone in His devotional times. This series is however not concerned with explaining how to pray (as important as that may be), rather the focus is on our attitude in and towards prayer; of which very little has been taught on.
There is a right posture in communing with God, which is what prayer is, and these postures are responsible for an effective prayer life. In a study format, we will view the first of these three postures I call PRAYER ATTITUDES.
ATTITUDE 1: LISTENING PRAYER
This is communing with God with intent to receive a word of instruction, direction or prophecy. This is the heart of true prayer, a two way communion between you and God. It is one attitude many in the church have lost in our jet age, we prefer to mumble a few words of prayer (especially in tongues) then head for our daily schedule. Often we do some good praying (in this context, I mean ‘talking’), but do not receive the benefit of communion (that is being spoken to); which is the most important aspect to communion.How do we go about it?
1. Praying Alongside the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16)To some this sounds strange but if you realize that God is not going to do any communion outside the truth revealed in scriptures, you’ll be ready for unlimited insight.
Immediately, you’ll discover that the ever lived by tradition of closing your eyes when you pray (though may aid concentration) does apply here. Some of the leadings will be shown you right through the pages of the scriptures. I cannot recount all countless times God led me to a portion of the Bible, which answered my prayer.
Besides the first point of reference in hearing from God is His revealed will – the Bible.
2. Praying with your Spirit Man (Romans 8:16)
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children “; as stated in our above text is used frequently in referring to young Christians yet it is the most fundamental aspects of our Christian walk in so many ways than simply knowing one is born again.
In prayer, the Holy Spirit will always speak to you through your spirit man. It may come as a ‘knowing’ (intuitive knowledge), an ‘inner feeling’, or simply ‘hearing’ him in your heart. Saints, we have to learn to hear from God! By giving our attention to these inner promptings with expectation, recieving a leading by the Spirit of God through our inward man will become the easiest thing to do over time.
3. Praying with Quietness and Patience (Habakkuk 2: 1)
A posture of quietness is required to hear from God and it demands great patience because your flesh is sure to recoil especially if you’re new to it. Keeping quite and still in our hearts helps us to be sensitive to our spirit man such that we can pick up divine leadings.
I dare say it is the least practiced yet the most important for developing an attitude of listening prayer. These attitudes take deliberate effort and concentration to cultivate but its benefits far outweigh the effort.
Its Benefits
1. It Builds Spiritual Sensitivity (Hebrews 5: 14)An attitude of listening to God helps build up your spirit man to get sensitive to God and correctly interpret spiritual things; it is an indispensable tool in determining God’s agenda in our daily walk.
2. It Gives Direction (1 Samuel 23: 1–6, 9–13)
David never lost a battle because he always asked God whether to go for war and what strategy to use as the text above clearly shows us. We too can have 100% success in life if we learn to wait on God’s direction everyday.
3. It is a Confidence-Builder (Romans 8:13)
Paul said: “If God be for us WHO can be against us?”(emphasis mine). This kind of confidence comes by having a firm conviction that God has told you to do certain things. If you’re not sure, you’ll need to learn to build the attitude of ‘listening prayer’.