Many Christians desire to pray more but find it difficult to do so. They look at their prayer lives and feel they should be praying more than they are presently doing. They, probably, must have heard or read about men and women in contemporary times who were known as men and women of much prayer. But they just do not know how to join the wagon of such mighty praying saints.
If you are one of such hungry souls who long to pray much and more, be peaceful, God has heard your heart-cry by bringing this article your way!
Prayer is very, very important in the life of every Christian. It is so important that the Lord commands us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). You see? It is to be done unceasingly as you breath unceasingly to show that you are alive.
As a Christian you have an inherent ability to pray more and more because you “can do all things through Christ” who strengthens you but the ability needs to be developed.
A major problem with so many Christians is not that they do not pray, but it is that, they do not pray much and long, too.
Although little prayer is not encouraged as a Christian pilgrim and warrior, yet is is better than not praying at all.
If you pray little, you will enjoy little, experience little and manifest little of the blessings you are seeking for! A Christian full of prayers will be a Christian full of power. And, a Christian less in prayer will be a Christian less in power. You are not to be satisfied or settle down with little prayer. If you do, you won’t go far in your Christian journey. You may even fall out of the faith. You won’t make any impact on earth for Christ.
The time we are in does not require little prayer. It is not a time to pray little and then become tired. It is a time to pray more and more with fervency and zeal.
If you take a look at men and women in contemporary time and in Bible Day, who moved the world for Christ, they were all people of much prayer. They gave themselves to it regularly. They gave up everything just to attend to prayer.
Our enemy, the devil, is working harder and more than ever before to take souls with him to hell. We should, therefore, pray more than ever before to stop him from doing so. We must increase our prayer in other to succeed in this fierce battle for precious souls.
A very important question we may want to ask is, “How long or how much time should we spend in Prayer?” Pray as long as you have the chance to do so. Pray as long as the number of hours you have at your disposal to pray.
If, for instance, you have seven hours at your disposal for prayer, pray for seven hours. But seek to get more time for prayer, not less. Pray for as long as it takes for the answer to your prayer to manifest. Pray until you get assured by the Spirit of God that your prayer is answered.
Again, you may want to ask, “How do I pray more than I am praying?
CRUCIAL STEPS TO PRAYING MORE
There are seven very crucial steps you must take in order to position yourself to pray more. They are as follows:
Get Born Genuinely Again
Prayer is a spiritual activity. It is not a carnal or fleshly work. To engage meaningfully in it, there is need to become spiritual by becoming born again. To be born again is to be saved from your life of sin through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, the Saviour. If you are not born again, you may pray but your prayers will not be answered according to John 9 verse 31.
Be Genuinely Sanctified.
It is when you are sanctified, you become free from the root and Adamic nature of sin which pose a great hinderance to praying effectively and staying long in the Presence of God.
Be Genuinely Baptized in The Holy Ghost.
The baptism in the Holy Ghost is an experience that brings down the power to pray long. It enables you to speak in tongues in prayer, and gives you both the physical and spiritual strength to tarry long before God.
Hunger And Thirst For The Spirit of Supplications
There is what the Bible calls “the spirit of supplications” (Zechariah 12:10). That is nothing but the spirit of prayer. When that spirit comes upon you, your prayer life will enter into a new dimension. Hunger and thirst for it.
Set Prayer Duration And Stick To It
How long do you want to spend in prayer? Three, four, five or six hours? Stick to that. Once you start praying, don’t stop praying until you have hit the target time number of hours you set for that time.
Pray In The Absence Of Distractions
Praying and stopping every now and then to pick calls, talk to someone, pay attention to a particular sound, music or voice, will sap up your spiritual energy. You will not be able to pray long. Therefore, you must remove all forms of distraction to concentrate fully in your prayers. It is during such concentration, you are able to fly in the realm of prayer.
Change Postures During Prayer
You can begin by kneeling down, or standing, or sitting. Once you notice that posture is no longer comfortable or is making you to fall asleep, change to another posture that will help you pray more.
Set Longer Prayer Duration Target From Time To Time
You prayed 2 hours today. That’s good. Next time you want to pray, set a higher duration, say, 3 hours and beat the target. At another time, set 4 hours, and another time 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours, and so on. Then, stabilize on that highest duration reached. I read of a white man that prayed for 10 hours regularly before coming out in the morning. He stabilized on 10 hours, probably from 1 hour every morning.
Do Breathing Prayer Pattern
That pattern involves praying in every second, minutes and hour the same way you breath every second, minute and hour. In this pattern, you are prying and driving, eating, lying down on your bed about to sleep, walking, working, etc. That is praying without ceasing!
Join Prayer Meetings
Prayer meetings are good avenues to develop your prayer muscles and pray long. Prayers made in such meetings are usually lengthy which is good for your prayer life. Make sure you participate in any prayer meeting that is arranged by your church community.
Engage In Personal Prayer Retreats From Time to Time
Personal prayer retreats are periods of excluded and extended prayer times you observe by yourself alone. It helps greatly in becoming mighty in prayer.
Practice Lightness
It is true that, a heavy stomach will make a poor prayer warrior. It is because, if your stomach is heavily stocked with food, it has a way of weakening you from praying. So, be light. Don’t eat much or take heavy food that will energy your flesh so much that you will begin to struggle with sleep in during prayer. This also calls for praying and fasting.
Get A Lot of Prayer Points
When you gather a lot of prayer points, you will have much to pray about for a long time. But if you don’t have much to pray about, you will soon become tired and not know what to pray about. So, get prayer points that will take you through the number of hours you are spending in prayer before you start.
Pray In Tongues
It helps a lot to pray in tongues through the power of the Holy Ghost. Praying in tongues can make you pray for several hours because it is the Spirit of God that is praying through you.
Combine Prayer With Praise
Praying and praising God will make you enjoy the hour of praying. It will be as if you should not stop praying again. Praise brings down the enabling Presence and power of God into your prayer closet, thereby, fueling your prayer fire. Try it and see for yourself!
Having gone through this article, will you pray? Will you begin to pray more than you are praying before? Receive grace to pray more, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
