First begin with a clean heart before the Lord. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”(Psalm 51:10-12). Any unconfessed sins will hinder your connection with the Lord. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2). You don’t need to
confess your sins to man, but to the Lord. Unless you have done something wrong against someone then you need to try and go to that person and make things right and ask for forgiveness. If they don’t hear you or forgive you, at least you have done your part, because if they don’t forgive then God won’t forgive them
either. “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”(Matthew 5: 23,24).“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5). “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may
be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16). “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13). There is a time to confess your faults to others, especially when you need prayer for something. Fervent prayer means to
be sincere and even desperate. There is a time when you really need to get desperate with the Lord. Remember the most important, and valuable thing you have is your relationship with Jesus, and you need to guard it at all times, and at all costs. We need to work on our relationship with the Lord. We can’t earn
salvation by our works, but we can work on our relationship with Jesus. The devils main job is to destroy your relationship with the Lord. Sometimes it’s good to just say a general prayer asking God for his forgiveness for all our sins, even the ones we are not aware of, but God is. “ mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head:” (Psalm 40:12b).

Praise and thank the Lord for all his goodness, and mercies, and blessings. “ I WILL bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”( Psalm 34:1). Instead of just jumping into prayer asking God to do this and that. We need to show some respect and honor to the King of Kings. You wouldn’t just wondering up in front of a King and demand him to do things. How much more respect should we show to our Almighty Lord and Savior. It is good to praise the Lord, it’s like priming a pump to
get the water flowing. We need to get Gods Spirit flowing. We need to be humble before the Lord. “He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8). “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” (Proverbs 22:4).

Pray for others before praying for yourself. Pray for the  Missionaries who are God’s front line soldiers on the battlefield against the devil. Pray for lost souls. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” ( Matthew 9:36-38). Pray for those who are in prison for the Gospels sake. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;” (Hebrews 13:3a). There are many people and situations to pray for before praying for ourselves. The Lord
will lead you, just ask him.
Next pray for yourself and your needs. “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” ( Matthew 7:7). “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 4:19). “Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give
thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4). “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4;3). God always answers prayer. He says yes, no, or wait. Waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest lessons we all have to, and need to, learn. We need to have faith when we ask the Lord for something. “But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6). Take a stand of FAITH on God’s promises in his word. You have got to quote the terms of the contract (The BIBLE) to the contract maker (God ) ! “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32;27). “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, (JESUS) and his Maker (GOD). Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” (Isaiah 45:11). “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs3:5,6). The Lord wants you to grow spiritually in faith in him, and not lean on your own understanding or
someone else’s faith. But have your own faith in him and his Word. Here are some good verses that you can claim and even quote them to Jesus when you pray. “As thou hast believed , so be it done unto thee.”(Matthew 8:13). “Jesus saith unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23). “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”(Luke 1:37). “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”(James 1:1-6). Don’t doubt and be double mind with your prayers if you want God to answer them. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”(Mark 11:23), Don’t doubt in your heart. “verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”(Matthew 17:20). The purpose of this class is to help give you some basic lessons about prayer. For those who already know
all of this information. I hope this will be an inspiring review. I know it is for me. The Lord knows that you can’t always go exactly by these seven guidelines. Sometimes time and circumstances just wont allow you to follow all of these important points, but when you do make time for the Lord to pray, its good to remember this class and follow it as best as you can. Remember to “Pray without ceasing.” (IThessalonians 5;17). Prayer is something you can always be doing no matter what else you are doing. Also
don’t forget to listen to the Lord. “Be still and know that I am God.”( Psalm 46;10a). The Lord often speaks in a still small voice You’ve spoken your peace, let God speak his. “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire; a still small voice.” ( I Kings 19:12). “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”. ( Isaiah 30:21). It helps to get quiet and listen to hear the still small voice of God.
Finally don’t forget to pray in the name of Jesus. There is wonder working power in his name. “whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you.”( John 15;16 b). “And whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name that will I do,that the father may be glorified in the son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14;13,14 ). “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me.” ( John 14:6 ).

Say this prayer if you want to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. I believed you died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen.

Some of you may need to know more about prayer as I do, I hope this will help. First when you come to God in prayer you should begin with a clean heart, ( Psalm 51:10-12) “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

Any uconfessed sin will hinder your relationship and connection with God.( Isaiah 59;2) “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. “ Some sins you need to confess only to God. Some sins you need to also confess to others, if you have wronged them or held something in your heart against them especially if they know about it.( Psalm 32: 1,2,5) “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah “( Matthew 5: 23,24) “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” If you have any bitterness, hatred, jealousy, envying, strife, or anything evil in your heart toward someone else you need to get right with God about that, and right with that person or persons you may have hurt or offend and get that cleared away so you can come into God’s presence with your prayer. Holding bitterness or evil in your heart will choke you out spiritually and even physically.( Hebrews 12:15) “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”

Also if you don’t forgive others it’s like destroying the bridge over which you yourself must cross.(Matthew 6: 14,15) “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” In other words your only going to be forgiven by the way you forgive others. Sometimes it is good to just say a general prayer, asking God to forgive you for all your sins even the ones you don’t know about, things you might have done or said, or even thought that displeased the Lord.(Psalm 40:12) “For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth me.” ( Jeremiah 17: 9,10) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it. I the Lord search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”( Isaiah 64:6) “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. So you see that really in our hearts there is no end to the badness and evil. So if we tried by our own works to get our hearts right with God it would never end. That is why we need Jesus.( Isaiah 53:6 ) “All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  ( Ephesians 2: 8,9) “For by grace are you saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast.” Remember you can’t keep the birds from flying over your head (the devils evil thoughts) but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair. It is good to have a communion with the Lord and others often, it’s a good time to get our hearts right with the Lord and each other. ( 1 John 1: 7) “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.” The next important step in prayer after getting our hearts right with the Lord and coming to him with a clean heart is to find a place to pray in private with just you and the Lord.(Matthew 6: 5,6) “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Of course it is not always possible to do this, that is why the Bible says to “pray without ceasing”.  (1Thessalonians 5:17)  You should always be praying no matter what you are doing and taking to the Lord and listening to him and seeking him for his answers. But you should definitely take some private quite time with the Lord in prayer everyday.

The next step in prayer is to come to the Lord with a thankful heart full of praise. ( Psalm 34:1) “I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” You have to prime the pump to get the water flowing it is the same with prayer, you need to praise the Lord and even raise your hands, this helps to get the Spirit of God flowing. The Lord dwells in the praises of his people. Speaking in tongues really helps too, it is when your spirit is free to praise and speak to the Lord, ( 1 Corinthians 14:5a) ” I would that ye all spake in tongues.” If you don’t have the gift of tongues just ask God for it, and it shall be given you.

There needs to be some times when you have desperate prayer with strong weeping and tears, crying out to the Lord, or maybe sometimes even on your face, or prostrate yourself. This means laying down your whole body and on your face This can be done privately with just you and the Lord or with others in a group.( James 4:7-10) “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ,ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord , and he shall lift you up.” Maybe if we got more desperate with the Lord we wouldn’t have so many desperate situations come up. What do you think? ( Isaiah 55:6) “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,call ye upon him while he is near.” ( Jeremiah 29:13) “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Remember to always have faith when you ask God for anything. ( Hebrews 11:6) “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” You have to quote the terms of the contract ( The Bible) to the contract maker JESUS. Always pray in the name of JESUS and end your prayers in the name of JESUS . ( John 15:16b) “Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he may give it you.”

Say this prayer to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things and I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. I believe you died on the cross for my sins ,and rose from the dead. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen