How to Use Prayer for Healing!
I've entitled this post "How to Use Prayer for Healing!" but healing injuries or illness is not exactly all I'm referring to. When you pray for healing, you can be asking for many different things: being healed of a sin you've committed, your lifestyle, healing in your mind, emotions; healing can come in many forms and many different areas of your life, so keep that in mind as you continue.
Although I'm not a prophet, a preacher, a teacher, a leader (except leading non-believers to Christ), I am a servant, a slave, a believer, and a follower of Jesus Christ; who has lead me to the greatest relationship of my life with God the Father. I will do my best to relay to you all that I know about prayer and how to use it, in fact, I would like to open up this post with a prayer of my own as an example to you of how I use prayer on a daily basis.
"Father I come before you again today in full confidence and faith that you will hear my humble request and answer it by pouring out your blessing and grace upon me. As you know I'm in the middle of writing this post as an example to others, of how to go about praying in their daily lives, how to use it, what to ask for, correct and incorrect methods; God I just pray that you would fill me up with your Holy Spirit and speak through me, use me as your tool, that I may guide others in the right direction and not in a way that a false teacher would. Lord I thank you for your blessing, I have full confidence that you'll reach many people through this message today and it won't be because of what I've written, it'll be from what you've laid on my heart to write. I give you all glory, honor, and praise; I ask that all this would be done in Jesus name, amen."
How to Pray to God
After reading that prayer, was there anything in it that stuck out to you, something that may have struck you as odd or out of place? If so, I can guarantee with almost 100% certainty, that you do not pray or approach God correctly in your daily life. Here's why, when you approach the Lord, you cannot approach him with a desire to pursue your own personal ambitions, or with selfishness, greed, or envy; this will never, and I do mean never, get you anywhere.
When you approach God, you must first approach him with a clear conscience, if there is anyone that you're holding a grudge against, your prayers will not be heard (Mark 11:25). In all honestly, while writing that last sentence, and I kid you not, I feel that I was just shown that I may still be holding a grudge against an old friend. There have been many things that I've prayed for recently and feel I've never gotten an answer, and this may be the very reason why. This right here is a perfect example that God can work in mysterious ways, and now I can provide you with a second example of how to use prayer, in asking for forgiveness.
"Father, how great and magnificent you truly are! I've read this verse twice already today, once earlier while considering what to write, and a second time as I was applying it to the message; yet not until after I've written it down and seen it on screen myself did you allow me to see the error of my ways. (Pay Attention to this) God, I'm not sure exactly how to pray for this, and I know that he already will, but I ask that the Holy Spirit would intercede and plead in harmony with your will on my behalf; that he will pray with and for me, so that my requests will be answered by you. God, please forgive me for holding a grudge against this person (Who I won't name), how they choose to live their life is their decision and not mine; nor is it my place to judge them on what kind of lifestyle they live, what they do, or how they act. Come into this place in my heart and in my mind, heal me of these emotions and thoughts, replace them with a burning desire for you instead of ill will. Thank you Father for having mercy on me, thank you for forgiving me, give me strength that in the future I may not make the same mistake again; and if I do, use your Holy Spirit to point this out to me, that I may again ask for forgiveness and strive to overcome this sin. I ask that all this would be done in Jesus name, amen."
After reading this prayer, which was quite long I know, what stood out to you in particular? Probably the part right after where I told you to pay attention correct? Have you ever heard of someone asking for the Holy Spirit to step in and take control of their prayers? If you open up your Bible to Romans 8:26-27, you'll come to realize exactly why I did this. Here is what you need to understand about prayer, I urge you to pay close attention to this and commit it to memory, it must be in line with God's will!
Ask yourself this, when I pray, am I asking for things that I need or that I want? Am I asking for things selfishly or for the purpose of furthering the Kingdom of God? Am I asking for strength to fulfill my own desires or to overcome sinful things? These are all questions that should be taken into consideration when approaching God in prayer. 1 John 3:21 and 22 talk about being in line with God's will, you'll know that you are when you obey his commands and do what pleases him, only then will you receive what you ask for; if it's in line with the Will of God.
When you approach God, you must first approach him with a clear conscience, if there is anyone that you're holding a grudge against, your prayers will not be heard (Mark 11:25). In all honestly, while writing that last sentence, and I kid you not, I feel that I was just shown that I may still be holding a grudge against an old friend. There have been many things that I've prayed for recently and feel I've never gotten an answer, and this may be the very reason why. This right here is a perfect example that God can work in mysterious ways, and now I can provide you with a second example of how to use prayer, in asking for forgiveness.
"Father, how great and magnificent you truly are! I've read this verse twice already today, once earlier while considering what to write, and a second time as I was applying it to the message; yet not until after I've written it down and seen it on screen myself did you allow me to see the error of my ways. (Pay Attention to this) God, I'm not sure exactly how to pray for this, and I know that he already will, but I ask that the Holy Spirit would intercede and plead in harmony with your will on my behalf; that he will pray with and for me, so that my requests will be answered by you. God, please forgive me for holding a grudge against this person (Who I won't name), how they choose to live their life is their decision and not mine; nor is it my place to judge them on what kind of lifestyle they live, what they do, or how they act. Come into this place in my heart and in my mind, heal me of these emotions and thoughts, replace them with a burning desire for you instead of ill will. Thank you Father for having mercy on me, thank you for forgiving me, give me strength that in the future I may not make the same mistake again; and if I do, use your Holy Spirit to point this out to me, that I may again ask for forgiveness and strive to overcome this sin. I ask that all this would be done in Jesus name, amen."
After reading this prayer, which was quite long I know, what stood out to you in particular? Probably the part right after where I told you to pay attention correct? Have you ever heard of someone asking for the Holy Spirit to step in and take control of their prayers? If you open up your Bible to Romans 8:26-27, you'll come to realize exactly why I did this. Here is what you need to understand about prayer, I urge you to pay close attention to this and commit it to memory, it must be in line with God's will!
Ask yourself this, when I pray, am I asking for things that I need or that I want? Am I asking for things selfishly or for the purpose of furthering the Kingdom of God? Am I asking for strength to fulfill my own desires or to overcome sinful things? These are all questions that should be taken into consideration when approaching God in prayer. 1 John 3:21 and 22 talk about being in line with God's will, you'll know that you are when you obey his commands and do what pleases him, only then will you receive what you ask for; if it's in line with the Will of God.
Conditions for God to Answer Our Prayers (The Musts of Prayer)
- Must be a believer
- Must not be holding a grudge against another
- Must not pray for selfish motives
- Must be for the good of God's Kingdom
I know this has been a long post, but I hope that it has been an eye opener to many of you, I know it has for me. If you enjoyed this article, please consider giving it a +1 which is located just below, there are also share buttons which are also located at the top of each page. Thank you for visiting, feel free to leave me a comment and check back in soon, I'm always adding new content.
God Bless!
God answers to all the prayers. But a person must pray with a believe that whatever he is praying to God will be answered. So the prayer must have a sense of thanksgiving also.
ReplyDelete