7 Steps to Prayer

A How to Guide!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come
before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us,
and we his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with
thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues
through all generations.
-- PSALM 100

Step 1 : Place and Time

Pick a quiet place that you can go to every day where you will not be disturbed
by outside distractions. Also try and find a consistent time that you can pray
every day. Start off small, say 10 or 15 minutes and work up from there. The
most important thing is to develop a pattern where you can pray on a daily basis.

Step 2: Worship and Praise

Start off you prayer time by giving praise to God for all of the good things that
he has done. Praise him for who he is, for his gift on the cross, for the things that
he is doing and has done in your life. An easy way to start out is to say "I praise
you Jesus for..." Examples include: You are the Lion of Judah...You are my Hiding
Place...You are my Joy....You are my Provider...You are the Alpha and the Omega...You
are all I need. Use the Psalms to help you out. They contain many passages of
worship. This is also a great time to sing to the Lord. Use songs of praise.

Step 3: Repent and Surrender

Because we are all human we make mistakes and fall short of the glory of God.
By admitting our mistakes and asking for forgiveness we put ourselves back into
a right relationship with God as his blood covers over our sins. We then
surrender our lives to God so that he has the ability to most us into righteous and
godly people. Here is an example prayer for a book entitled "Miracle Hour":

"God, I am sorry for the times that I have hurt other people, I repent for any
stealing, lying, gossiping, envy, hatred, jealousy, or lack of love, and especially
for ______________. I bring these to you and ask your forgiveness. I ask you to
transform me so that I might avoid these sins. I surrender my life to you. I love
you Lord. Thank you Jesus."

Step 4: Guidance of the Holy Spirit

After Jesus left this earth he promised us his Holy Spirit to help us in our
Christian walk. It is important for us to ask for the Holy Spirit to continue to
work in our lives. Pray for the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22: Love,
Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-
Control. Pray for the gifts of the Spirit, some of which are found in I Corinthians
12: Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Faith, Miracles, Prophesy, Tongues
and Interpretation of Tongues.

Step 5: Read the Bible

The Holy Scripture is the primary way that God communicated to us. Spend a
few minutes each prayer time reading scripture and let God speak to you
through his word. Start with the New Testament in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John). They are the easiest to understand. There are also study books that
help you go through the bible. Look at your church, many times there are study
books for free there.

Step 6: Listen

Yes, God does speak to us. Spend some time in quiet and listen for the voice of
God. Reflect on what he was saying to you in scripture. If you are not sure how
to tell when God is speaking than ask God to show you. He will speak! It may
take some time, maybe more than a few minutes or more than a day but if you
ask God will make his voice clear to you.

Step 7: Intercession

This is the time to pray for your needs and the needs of others in the community.
Pray for healing, for God to touch a situation or for a person in need and for the
needs of the day. Make sure to remember to pray that God would be with you
through the day and that he would protect you from temptation and the "flaming
arrows of the evil one". It is a good idea to end with the "Our Father".