Short prayers: A small change to power your life (Updated)

pocket watch at 3:55

I love instigating things. It can be dangerous if I am daring my brother-in-law to climb through the McDonalds play land, but at the same time simple changes can make a big impact on our lives. This is true of short prayers. Short prayers become the punctuation of our life and the space that fills our moments with power. We can even make it a little game. Missionary Frank Laubach made the challenge to have a “Game with minutes.” The goal was to see if he could turn his thoughts to God even one second for every minute of the day. Do you think you could do that? Here are 3 quick ways to improve your score.

Shoot your prayers up.

Nehemiah was about to have an important meeting with the king and so he shot a prayer to heaven. As you go through your day try to bring every challenge that you face and launch it heavenward.

Bring every challenge that you face and launch it heavenward

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Shoot your prayers through people.

Author Mark Batterson in speaking of Frank Laubach brought up an idea I really like. He suggested as you go through your day shooting people with prayer in your mind as if they were arrows. Next time at the Wal-Mart checkout line send short arrows of prayer through the people in front of you or the person helping you check out. It might be the prayer that pushes them over the edge to run to Jesus.

Shoot Bible prayers inward.

In church history we read about what I like to call “breath prayers”. The idea is simply holding some scripture in your heart all day long as a source of prayer. For example I could pray the prayer Jesus taught, “Have mercy on me a sinner.” As often as it comes to mind pray that simple sentence over your life. Pick short prayers from the Bible or come up with your own like: “Lord help me to live today as if it was the Super bowl of my life.”

Each time you steal moments with God in prayer you are connecting to the source of true power. Today, how many minutes could you give God at least one second? Tomorrow you can try to beat your score from today. And I bet that if you ever get to a full day of minutes you would write to me to say thanks. Are you game?

Each time you steal moments with God in prayer you are connecting to the source of true power

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11 Leaders Give Advice To Have Your Best Prayer Life Ever

What if Christian leaders could come alongside you and give you a piece of advice or encouragement to help you have a great prayer life? What would they say? I asked these Christian leaders and here is what they had to say:

I believe a good prayer life comes from “recognition”- recognizing God for who he is- our creator, savior, and salvation. And us recognizing our deep need for Him. It’s important to set aside a certain time of the day to pray for a while. But it’s also important to “pray without ceasing” throughout our day in things that we “recognize”.

Mac Powell -Third Day

www.thirdday.com Twitter: @macpowell

I am a big believer in praying consistently for the people I am discipling. I use my iPad to keep photos of the people I pray for weekly. I have photos of my family, close friends and the Timothys I am mentoring. During my prayer time I flip through these photos to pray for them. I have found it to be a powerful and effective way to pray for the people I care about!

Lee Grady- Charisma Magazine and Mordecai Project

www.leegrady.com Twitter: @LeeGrady

The plans of God are only revealed in the presence of God. We don’t get our marching orders until we get on our knees! But if we hit our knees, God will take us places we never imagined going by paths we didn’t even know existed.

Mark Batterson- New York Times Bestselling Author of The Circle Maker

MarkBatterson.com Twitter: @MarkBatterson

We don’t get our marching orders until we get on our knees!

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It may sound simple, but the best advice I can give anyone regarding improving their prayer life is to Pray about Prayer. In other words, if you need help with your prayer life (and who doesn’t?), then why not ask for help? When it comes right down to it, none of us are really that spiritual. If I want to be a man of prayer, I am going to need the Lord’s help. Pray about prayer!

Dave Butts- Chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee

www.harvestprayer.com Twitter: @hpmdave

Want to have an incredible prayer life in 2016? Then start and end each day with thanksgiving. Thank God for the blessings and for getting you through the trials. Having a heart of gratitude will change your life. I know, because it changed mine.

Tracie Peterson, best-selling author of over 100 Christian fiction novels

TraciePeterson.com

Having a heart of gratitude will change your life.-Tracie Peterson

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Relentlessly set aside margin in your week for prayer. If you’re struggling with a daily time, just do it as often as you are able – whenever you can get away. And if possible, give yourself enough space in your schedule to pray & worship as long as you feel like it.

Matt Brown – Author of Awakening: How God’s Next Great Move Inspires & Influences Our Lives Today

www.Thinke.org Twitter: @evangelistmatt

Remember that it’s never about obligation; it’s always about invitation. Jesus invites us to be much with Him. The moment this feels like an ‘ought to’ or a ‘should do’ I know I’ve lost sight of the fact that He loved me first and I remind myself of His love and I marvel afresh at the miracle of my salvation. That keeps my prayer life alive, a delight, and full of expectancy. The star-breathing God invites me to partner with Him in the greater Kingdom story and He moves when I pray. What else could be a better use of my time? So grateful.

Susie Larson- Talk Show Host- Live the Promise

www.susielarson.com Twitter: @SusieLarson

The star-breathing God invites me to partner with Him in the greater Kingdom story -@SusieLarson

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Ron Auch-Why did Jesus pray so much? This used to concern me because I thought, If anybody had God figured out, Jesus did, so why did He need to pray so much? One day the Lord just spoke to my heart and said, “Jesus did not pray to figure Me out. Jesus prayed because He had Me figured out.”

Ron Auch- Pray Tell Ministries

www.pray-tell.org

Prayer is getting Gods ideas without the stain of human logic.

Dave Williams- Dave Williams Ministries

www.davewilliams.com

Too often, we make prayer exceptional rather than normal. Make it a habit to end your time with people in prayer. When you share a meal, a meeting, or a conversation with someone, close with “Do you mind if I pray a blessing for you today?” You’ll be surprised how often that turns into a God moment! Even non-believers like to receive prayer.

Rod Loy-Pastor First North Little Rock

www.firstnlr.com Twitter: @PRodLoy

Spend time with Jesus. Intimacy with Jesus creates boldness in prayer. Ask Him to reset your life and bring a reset to this nation.

Nick Hall- Pulse

www.reset2016.com Twitter: @NickHall

Want to have a great prayer life? Think that prayer maybe should first be a “get to” before it is a “have to? Then we are here to help you on your journey. Sign up for an email and let’s go on a journey toward God together.

5 Surprising Results of Not Praying

These things may be surprising but they are each a result of not building your prayer life:

1. You will not appear as smart.

James says that if we lack wisdom we should ask God for wisdom and He will give it. The reverse of that is that if we don’t ask for wisdom we may not get the insight we need. Are we not getting the benefits of asking for wisdom?

2. You have to overcome more temptation than needed.

This may seem surprising, but it seems clear from Jesus’ teaching on prayer. He encourages his disciples to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” This would imply that if we don’t pray that we may face more temptation than if we had. I think I will pass on unneeded temptation, thank you very much!

3. You have less of the things that you need in life.

With the same teaching on prayer about temptation Jesus teaches them to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” As Mark Batterson says, “The greatest tragedies in life are the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.” We shouldn’t miss out by not asking.

4. Your life will be more boring.

Again this may be surprising but true prayer helps to prevent boredom in life. Part of the life of prayer is listening prayer. When we pray God promises, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalms 32:8 NIV) I have found that when I listen He often sends me on an adventure that gets my heart pounding. What adventure in life will we miss by not giving Him that space?

5. God may seem further away.

It should be no surprise, but sometimes it is, that spending time in prayer makes us more aware of the presence of God. Henry Blackaby in his classic book Experiencing God says that, “True prayer does not lead to an encounter with God; it is an encounter with God.” How often has God seemed far away when He wouldn’t if I have pressed into a time of prayer?

This post is not to make you feel guilty, but rather encourage you to take advantage of turning each of these negatives around by building your prayer life.

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