"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  - Matthew  21:22           

One of the greatest privileges of being a child of God is being able to speak to Him. A great preacher once said; " Tragically, many of our prayers are so vague that if God were to answer them, we wouldn't even know it." Sadly, a lot of Christians do not have a strong prayer life. If you are a child of God, you need to pray and to pray often.
It is the portal in which God hears your hurt, your joy, your gladness, your fears, your praise, and your worship. Try it today. Clear everything out of your mind and talk to Him for a while.

The Bible teaches us a lot about prayer. Below are some guidelines and a model to go by!!!
5"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  6"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.  8"So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9"Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.10Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  13And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]' 14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15"But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  - Matthew 6:5-14

Jesus teaches us that we shouldn't pray just to put on a show. If we want to have a real prayer life, we must get alone with God. Go somewhere where nothing draws your attention away from prayer and just simply pour your heart out to God. The Bible teaches us that prayer is simply talking to God. You don't need to try to impress God (He knows you too good for that anyway.) God knows you and He knows your needs, just be humble, open, and honest and you will see results. Verses 14 and 15 are verses a lot of people like to skip over but I believe they are very important. You must come before God with a pure heart. God is holy and doesn't compromise. If you are holding something against somebody, you are holding it against God.  Let all this worldly stuff go and just focus on God and yourself.

Can You Remember the Word "ACTS"

One structure for prayer is given by the acronym "ACTS", representing adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (or intercession.)  This is one order, where we start off focusing on who God is, and praising him for that. Others find a CATS pattern helpful, beginning by clearing out of the way the things that sadden God in our lives, before we can go onto praise him.  Let's look briefly at each in turn: 

Adoration is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfill the commandment to love him with all of our heart, mind, and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer.

Confession allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between you and God which are displeasing to Him.  All of us have sinned. St John writes in his epistle: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”     I John 1:8, 9

Thanksgiving.  From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone does something for us, or gives us a gift.  Each moment God is blessing us, every minute we can recall the wonderful things that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given. And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings. In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."    1 Timothy 2:1.

Supplication or Intercession. Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so we need to choose, and to be specific. Pray for others.   In the epistles of St Paul, we read of him praying for those he has led to faith, and asking them also to pray for him. So, you too can pray for other Christians, and encourage them to pray for you. Pray for your family members, and for neighbors and friends. It's also good to pray for those who don't know Jesus to come to faith - many Christians have come to believe in Christ through the prayers of others. Pray for world issues: for peace in difficult situations, for leaders and those in influential positions, for global issues such as care of God's environment, justice for the poor, relief of suffering in less developed countries, and other issues that come to you. Pray for your own needs too. It's easy to neglect this, but Jesus encourages us to do so in the Lord's Prayer - the model for prayer that He gave us.