If you are trying to follow Jesus or live a life in connection with God, prayer should be a part of it.
This is because prayer is a spiritual practice that allows us to connect and communicate with God.
It also allows us to humble ourselves and re-align our lives with his will.
In this prayer guide, we will review the biblical principles of prayer as well as learn from other resources and personal experiences on how best to pray and live a lifestyle of prayer.
What is Prayer?
What most people think when they think of prayer is a process of asking God for things they want in their life.
That some white bearded dude in the sky will grant your wishes.
Prayer is much deeper and more powerful than just asking God for things in your life.
Prayer is communion with God—a spiritual practice where we speak to God, listen for His voice, and align our hearts with His will.
It is an act of worship, faith, and dependence, demonstrating our relationship with God.
It can be done silently, spoken, and most importantly, can be a way of living.
I like to think of prayer as a way of getting back in alignment with God in our lives when we get out of line.
As humans, we can easily become stressed, worried, fearful, angry, confused, or disconnected from God and prayer is a practice that brings us back to center with the Lord.
The Biblical Foundations of Prayer
Prayer is deeply rooted in the Bible with clear instructions on how, when, and why we should pray.
Below are a few of the best passages on prayer in the Bible to learn from and use in your prayer life.
The Lord’s Prayer- Jesus’ Model for Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13: “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Principles:
- Approach and reach out to God in reverence and humility (our Father in heaven hallowed by your name)
- Align yourself with God’s will and pray for it to be done (thy will be done)
- Depend on God daily (give us our daily bread)
- Seek and extend forgiveness for sins and debts (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors)
- Ask for spiritual protection (lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil)
By learning from how Jesus taught us to pray, we can use these same principles in our own prayers by leading with reverence and humility, seeking God’s will in our lives, confessing our sins, presenting our needs, and asking for spiritual strength.
Praying Without Ceasing- A Lifestyle Of Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Principles:
- Prayer is a continual dialogue of being in communion with God not just a one-off event
- It should be rooted in gratitude even in difficult times
- Prayer and connection with God is the source of joy and faith
We learn from this passage that prayer is a constant communication and alignment with God not just something we do occasionally when we want something.
We need to bring gratitude in all situations and persistence in our prayer life. Ultimately, our lives should be in a constant state of prayer as prayer is a way of being in God.
Ask, Seek, Knock – The Power of Persistent Prayer
Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Principles:
- Be persistent in prayer– God honors persistence and faith in prayer
- Prayer requires effort & devotion from us– we must desire to know God and want his glory revealed in our lives
We can learn from this passage that we must be persistent in our prayer and we must desire to know and hear from God in our lives.
It takes effort on our part to reach out with authenticity, effort, and devotion to God.
If we are just throwing up a prayer here and there trying to get some good blessings it will not work.
Prayer that gets answered requires devotion, persistence, honesty, and an openness to humble yourself before the Lord and be open to his will in your life.
What this passage says is that if you are truly seeking God and his will in your life those who ask and seek persistently over time will find what they need, even if it is not what they wanted.
Gratitude, humility, and persistent patience are the keys to effective prayer.
Praying in Faith – Trusting God Completely
Mark 11:22-24: “And Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Principles:
- We must pray with faith and trust in God
- Doubt weakens our prayers
- We must trust that God will answer in the best way and give us what we need
We learn from this passage that for our prayers to be effective we have to have complete faith that God will deliver what is best when we pray.
Praying in doubt weakens our prayers and keeps us tossing around like waves in the sea.
It’s important to note that we can’t know how God will deliver or when he will and that we are maintaining our faith in his will for our lives.
Prayer of the Righteous – The Power of Repentance and Holiness
James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Principles:
- Prayer is the most powerful when we live righteously
- Confession and repentance make prayer more effective
- Intercessory prayer (praying for others) has a real impact
We learn from this passage that effective and powerful prayer that gets answered requires a commitment on our part to live in alignment with what God wants for us in our lives.
This does not mean that we are perfect (this is impossible) but that we are doing our best to live in alignment with God in our lives and are open to admitting our shortcomings and struggles.
If we expect to get our prayers answered but are not humbling ourselves before the Lord or making an effort to live a healthy life with him we will be disappointed, because prayer is the most powerful and effective when we are living righteously.
Praying with the Right Heart – Humility Before God
Luke 18:9-14 (The Pharisee & the Tax Collector): “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Principles:
- God listens to the humble, not the self-righteous
- Sincerity matters more than eloquent words
- God justifies the repentant heart
We learn from this passage that we must humble ourselves before God.
An egotistical self-centered asking of God will not result in powerful or effective prayer but instead a broken relationship with him where we do not feel his presence or see his work.
Opening your heart and being humble before the Lord in prayer is critical.
Intercessory Prayer – Praying for Others
1 Timothy 2:1-4: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Principles:
- Prayer should include intercession for others
- Praying for others also helps yourself and changes your heart
- Praying for others leads to peace
We learn from this passage that praying for others is important and leads to peace for both others and ourselves.
When you think of others and sincerely want them to be well you also open your own heart and reduce your own selfishness and sin. This is why it’s important to pray for others as we are all impacted by each other.
The Holy Spirit’s Role in Prayer – When Words Fail
Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Principles:
- When we don’t have words the holy spirit helps us pray
- God searches our hearts and aligns our prayers to his will if we allow the holy spirit to guide us
- If we just humble ourselves before God in prayer the holy spirit often takes over
We learn from this passage that if we can just humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer and align our desire with his will the holy spirit will take over and allow the words, emotions, or even just groanings to come out in the way they should.
We don’t need to overcomplicate prayer if we are truly showing up in humility and desire for God. Also, allow for a moment of silence before starting or during your prayers to allow the spirit to flow naturally.
Biblical Summary of Prayer
We learn from the bible and passages above that prayer is a spiritual exercise and way of living that allows us to maintain communion with God, especially in times when we get disconnected from him due to stress, worry, fear, fatigue, anger, selfishness, or confusion.
Prayer requires faith, persistence, and humility and we must be willing to live a life in obedience to the Lord if we want our prayers to be powerful and answered by God.
We need to remember that it’s not necessary to overcomplicate prayer because if we show up to pray with humility, a sincere desire to connect with God, and honesty about our shortcomings the holy spirit will intercede to help guide the prayer.
Effective prayer is aligned with God’s will (not our own) and includes intercession for others.
Overall, the power of prayer is transformational for us and others in the world.
Developing the Right Heart and Posture for Prayer
As some of the verses discussed above, in order for prayer to be powerful and effective we must approach it with the right heart and posture.
The following are the main principles that we need to develop in order to pray powerfully, effectively, and to get our prayers answered.
Gratitude- Acknowledging God’s Goodness
It’s important to acknowledge God’s goodness in our lives and in the world. This can be especially challenging at times when we are going through crap or the world is not in the best condition but we must remain grateful for what we do still have and what we can still do as any aliveness is a blessing.
Gratitude also works to open up your heart to the love of God when it is closed off from self-pity.
Starting a prayer in thanksgiving is always a good way to go.
Humility- Recognizing our Dependence on God
True prayer comes from a humble heart that recognizes our dependence on God and how we need his mercy and guidance in our lives.
If someone does not treat their relationship with God in a state of humility this means that they are taking a closed off posture that assumes they can tell God (the creator of everything) what to do for them.
Being in a selfish and closed off state will not create effective and powerful prayer that gets answered.
Repentance- Aligning Ourselves With God’s Holiness
The natural inclination of our human flesh is to sin or disrupt the peace between us and God.
Confession and repentance clear that barrier and allow our prayers to be effective.
Simply put, it’s harder to enter into the presence of the Lord when you are disconnected by Sin or selfish shortcomings.
Openness to God’s Will
Prayer is not about getting what we want but aligning our hearts with what God desires for us.
This is important to remember when praying because we can still ask for what we need but we must keep in mind that the answers may come from directions we had not thought about or be things that are altogether different than what we imagined were best.
This simply means keeping a mindset and openness to trust that God knows what’s best for you in your life and that he will deliver what’s needed at the right time.
Commitment to a Righteous or Obedient Life- Living in Honor of God
God answers the prayers of people who are genuinely committed to his will.
People who walk in obedience and righteousness in their lives will have stronger and more effective prayer lives because they are not in total disconnect from the Lord.
That being said, the most important thing is that you desire to know and follow God and are doing your best.
God is forgiving and also understands your problems and life so he knows what commitment and an obedient life is for each person.
Each person is on their own journey with God and he knows this so if you are doing your best to honor God in your life this is what’s most important.
That being said, each of us knows internally where we are at with God and if we are being careless and disrespectful based on our own knowing of God in our lives, it will reflect in our prayer life.
How to Pray Effectively- ACTS Model
While there are no rules for praying and often the best prayers are done spontaneously with the help of the holy spirit guiding our words and emotions, below is a simple method if you need some help learning how to pray well.
The ACTS Model for Prayer
A- Adoration (start with worship)
Start with worship or praise for God. Praise God for who he is, his power, his forgiveness, his love, and his creation.
Example: “Lord, You are great and mighty. You are faithful and sovereign over all things.”
C- Confession (repentance & surrender)
Acknowledge your sins and shortcomings asking for God’s forgiveness and purification.
Example: “Father, forgive me for my impatience and lack of trust. Help me walk in righteousness.”
T- Thanksgiving (Gratitude for God’s Goodness)
Thank god for blessings, answered prayers, his work in your life, or even that he is with you in your struggles.
Example: “Thank You, Lord, that you are with me even when I screw up and for your mercy and love.”
S- Supplication (Requests & Intercession)
Bringing your needs before God as well as prayers for others. Surrender them to his will trusting his perfect plan.
Example: “Lord, I lift up my family, my struggles, and my future to You. May Your will be done in my life.”
Over time as you learn to connect to God in your prayers you won’t need a method or a structure as it will come naturally with the help of the spirit.
The components above are all part of a powerful prayer but what really brings them together for impact is when they are lead by the holy spirit and your own intuition in the unique situations you are in.
You can even learn to pray without saying anything over time. Remember, prayer is also a posture and reminder to the heart to surrender to God and remove the blockages to his love and will.
How to Develop a Prayer Habit
Building a consistent prayer habit transforms your spiritual life and deepens your connection with God.
The Bible, Jesus, saints, and other spiritual leaders have provided key principles on how to cultivate a life of prayer.
Here are some of the best ways to develop and sustain this habit:
1. Set Aside Specific Times During Your Day To Pray
Jesus prayed early in the morning and in the evening as well as throughout his days.
Other saints have spoken about having a rhythm of prayer where you incorporate prayer at specific times throughout your day.
The key is to find consistent times throughout your day that you can set aside to pray. Whatever works best for you when you have a gap and some quiet time.
Morning and evening or morning, mid-day, and evening are good times to consider.
Also, dedicating a spot in your house or living area can help you keep the habit.
2. Pray Throughout Your Days In Micro Prayers Not Just At Quiet Times
Besides having set times in your day that you devote to prayer and solitude make it a point to direct your mind to God when things get challenging or your are dealing with uncertain situations.
This can mean just short little mind and body redirections to parts of prayers like “Trust in The Lord” or “Do Not Fear, I Am With You” to get you back into a posture of surrender and trust in God when you need his support.
Make prayer part of your lifestyle as a constant communication with God.
3. Start Small And Be Consistent
When getting started start with short heartfelt prayers and build from there.
Just deciding to pray and starting is often the key to developing a solid prayer habit and growing in your power and effectiveness with prayer.
Over time your prayers and ability to pray will naturally grow with the help of the holy spirit.
4. Use The Bible As A Prayer Guide
Don’t be afraid to open up a bible and use it as a prayer guide.
Jesus often prayed the Psalms or used scripture in his prayers and Saint Augustine often encouraged Christians to pray with scripture for deeper understanding.
It’s definitely not necessary to use the bible to pray but it can guide and direct your prayers with the power of scripture when you need it or are at a loss for words.
5. Keep A Prayer Journal
It can help to keep a journal of prayers, reflections, answered prayers, and notes from other people who you want to pray for.
By keeping a prayer journal it works to strengthen your faith when you remember past prayers answered and it also helps your remember certain prayers that you can pray at certain times as well as others who you want to pray for.
You can store this journal at the spot you typically pray at or take it with you during the day.
6. Pray With Others
Praying with others gives encouragement and necessary support.
It will help you to learn how to pray from people with different styles and enhance the power and love of God since more people are coming together to worship.
It also opens your heart even more as you hear about what others need and are forced to put others before yourself and focus a little less on your own needs.
7. Be Persistent And Pray When You Don’t Feel Like It
Lastly, in order to develop and keep a prayer habit that can transform your life it needs to be done in persistence and faith.
There are going to be lots of times when you don’t want to pray.
When you get angry, when others wrong you, when you are tired or at a loss for words, when you are sick, when you don’t know how God could allow something, or when you are anxious.
Paradoxically, these are the times when prayer matters the most.
During these times when you don’t want to pray this is exactly when you need to rely on God to help you come back to him.
Being persistent in your prayer habit even when you don’t feel like praying will make all the difference.
Encouragement to Grow in Prayer
So you may be wondering why we should pray or why we should devote energy and time to this practice.
There are a number of really amazing reasons why learning to pray and living a life of prayer will change your life for the better.
If anything, one should do this because it will make their life better. They will have more joy, more peace, more strength, more wisdom, more love, and more success.
1. Prayer Deepens Your Relationship With God
Prayer is not just about asking for things—it is about spending time with God, knowing Him more, and feeling His presence.
The more we pray, the more we experience His love, guidance, and comfort.
Ultimately, the more we know God and can abide in his presence the better our life will be because God is the creator of everything.
2. Prayer Bring Peace In Uncertainty
Life is full of uncertainty and prayer helps us to ground in god’s peace and strength.
In situations of fear, anxiety, or uncertainty if we pray and trust God his presence and peace will help us to move through these challenging emotions and situations.
Through prayer, we exchange our worries for His reassurance, knowing that He is in control.
3. Prayer Strengthens Faith And Trust In God
The more we pray, the more we learn to rely on God instead of our own strength.
Faith grows when we see God working through our prayers—even when the answers don’t come in the way we expect.
4. Prayer Aligns Our Hearts To God’s Will
Prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind—it’s about aligning our desires with His perfect plan.
The more we pray, the more we become sensitive to His direction and trust in His wisdom.
5. Prayer Transforms Us Internally And Externally
Regular prayer softens our hearts, convicts us of sin, and helps us grow spiritually.
It develops patience, humility, and a greater love for God and others.
Prayer will literally transform us internally as it will open our heart and purify our mind and body which will have an impact on our external view of the world.
6. Prayer Unlocks Spiritual Strength And Power
Prayer isn’t just about personal growth—it is a weapon against spiritual struggles.
If used effectively and in moments where we are being attacked or overcome by forces or temptations that are working to pull us away from God it can be a source of power and strength to defeat these forces and turn back towards God.
It gives us strength to resist temptation, wisdom in decision-making, and boldness to live out our faith.
7. Prayer Builds A Life Of Gratitude And Joy
The more we pray, the more we recognize God’s blessings in our lives.
This is because it directs our mind to see his goodness and opens our heart to his love in the world.
Prayer shifts our focus from what’s missing to what God is already doing and what we do have that is good—leading to contentment and joy.
8. Prayer Changes Circumstances And Protects
God hears and answers prayers, whether through guidance, provision, healing, or open doors.
Prayer doesn’t always change our situation immediately, but it always changes us—allowing us to approach and manage the situation effectively, preparing our hearts for God’s best.
Concluding Thoughts
Prayer is a journey, not a one-time event.
The more we pray, the more we experience God’s presence, wisdom, and power in our lives.
Even when we don’t feel like praying or don’t see immediate answers, we can trust that God is listening, moving, and shaping us through the process.
To keep prayer simple just remember that we should focus on coming to prayer in gratitude, humility, confession, and persistence.
We should also remember that we must pray with faith and trust that God will give us what we need when we need it.
A prayer conducted in doubt will weaken God’s ability to work.
Whether you start small or go deep in extended prayer, keep pressing into God’s presence daily—because a life of prayer is a life of transformation.
