…Steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer (Romans 12:12-J.B. Phillips).
The Father wants us to develop our intimacy in prayer with Him. He wants prayer to become a habit. The prayer habit will be one habit that can transform the atmosphere of your life.
E.W. Kenyon in his book In His Presence says: Prayer should be as natural as breathing and as enjoyable as eating. Prayer should be as unconscious as our communication with one another. He goes on the say: You can’t spend any length of time in prayer without being affected by it. The quietness, the unshaken faith, the deep unsounded peace that pervades the Godhead, will overflow into the prayer’s life.
Many people find prayer a great challenge. The flesh struggles with relating to a God you can’t see. But God is the Father of spirits. He relates to our spiritual nature, not to our mentality and emotions. Here are some tips to help develop the prayer habit.
First, we must know that the Father sees us as righteous; that is, as though we’ve had never sinned! Our sin debt has been completely paid by Jesus, and God sees us as pure as Jesus before Him! It’s as though we have never committed a sin!
Secondly, we must know that the Father loves us as much as He does His own Son. In John 17:23, Jesus prays that he Father will reveal to us the fact that You have loved them as you have loved me! We must know that we are endeared to the heart of the Father, and that He wants our companionship and fellowship.
Then we must begin to develop our fellowship with Him based on our right standing with Him according to the Word; not according to our feelings. We should take some time to get alone and just tell Him that we love Him and tell Him how glad we are to be saved from sin and redeemed from hell.
Then, we remind Him of what His word says about us, and of what His word says about answered prayer. We talk to Him in specific terms about every single concern we have in life, and ask Him specifically to help us. Share your heart life with Him. Bear to Him your thoughts and feelings and ask for His aid.
Take time too to pray in the spirit, in other tongues. Our spirit, in communion with the Holy Spirit will pray God’s perfect will in all areas of our lives.
You should start slowly.You may pray to begin with for five or ten minutes. That’s just fine. If you keep it up every day, you’ll find the need to pray longer. You’ll find it easier and easier to express your heart and you’ll begin to want to take more time.
Life will become a partnership between you and the Father. You’ll begin to talk over every problem, every challenge, and every circumstance good and bad with Him. And before long, you will have developed and unconscious communion with Him that will erase fear and worry from your life.
Prayer will become an unconscious act of communion throughout your day. Daunting impossibilities will turn into opportunities for your Father to show Himself strong in life. You’ll begin to fulfill Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.