Perhaps you have already set your New Year’s resolutions in committed stone for this year; however, I encourage you to consider weaving one or more of these powerful prayer resolutions into the mix as you seek to be more like Jesus, the One who lives to intercede for us! Utilize them to help you successfully implement your other resolutions. Only our God can give us the wisdom and strength to successfully carry out the desires expressed through the pledges we make each January:

“Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

It has been a “noisy” year for me…perhaps for you as well. What better way to begin my year than spending some time devoted to being still before my Creator and allowing His perfect Presence to become more full and rich within my heart, healing my weary soul and renewing me from the inside out.  Take some time to shut out the noise and activity that clamors to take the hectic pace of this year and continue it right into the New Year. Instead, begin listening to His quiet invitation to stillness. Allow yourself opportunities to trade busyness and noise with a listening prayer that offers the opportunity to hear from the great I AM.

“…pray continually…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Would you like this to be the year when prayer becomes like breathing to you? Take time to invite God into your every thought, word and activity so that the likeness of Jesus can become more fully formed in you. As you pray, consider what the prayer of Christ for you, for others, for circumstances, etc. might be in the moments of life you experience this year.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18

As we pray for other believers, it is important to seek what is on the heart of God for them. As our teacher, the Holy Spirit has such knowledge and will impress upon us how we should intercede – if we look to Him. Lifting up the needs of those who love Jesus is a privilege and an important way to “pray continually.” Ask God to show you believers who need a touch from Him through your prayers.

“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. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  1 Timothy 2:1-4

Praying for and giving thanks for “everyone” is not an easy task – especially those we don’t agree with who may be in authority over us. I would suggest making a very personal request of the Father: “Lord, place on my heart a burden to pray for those who need to come to a knowledge of the truth! Show me their faces or place their names before me so that I might be aware of their need for you. Give me great love for all those in authority over me so that we may all live peaceful, quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. I want to please you God my Savior.”  After you pray, listen carefully for the prayer assignments God gives to you and be faithful to complete them!

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”  James 1:5-8 

There are so many times when wisdom is needed in my life and I have forgotten this amazing promise. I try to “fix” things in my own strength rather than through the wisdom that God wants to generously give me…if I will ask. This promise does come with a condition – I am to believe and not doubt when I ask. My pastor put it this way, “When you ask for wisdom, you must believe that it is on its way.” Sometimes I want wisdom immediately, but there may be things God wants to do in me to get me to the place where I can receive and utilize the wisdom He gives me. In this new year, make a habit of asking the Father for His wisdom and then believe that it is “on its way.”

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16

No one likes confessing sin, which is perhaps why it is so important that we do it. Keeping short accounts with God is vital to our spiritual health and to our work for the sake of the kingdom. If you don’t have an accountability partner, or a spiritual friendship that allows for each of you to confess sins and pray for one another, that would be a transformational life goal for this new year. Ask God to connect you with at least one other person with whom you can share the dark places in order to be healed, allowing your prayers to become powerful and effective for His glory.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem…” Psalm 122:6-9 

Has there ever been a year in recent history when praying for the peace of Jerusalem has seemed more urgent? The nation close to the heart of God is surrounded by enemies and turmoil. Press in “for the sake of the house of the LORD our God” (v 9).

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:41

I am often tempted by things that I could avoid completely if I was watchful! It is when I am not paying attention that the enemy creeps in to mess with me! It is so easy to say or do something that harms another person or damages my own soul when I am careless about watching what is going on in and around me as I pray.

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. ” Mark 11:25   

“…bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:28

I am convinced that a lack of forgiveness is the root of much sin in life! Saying we forgive someone is very different from actually forgiving from our hearts. The redemptive work of God can only take place when we let go of bitterness, anger and/or a desire for revenge. Prayerfully ask God to show you if you are holding anything against anyone as you begin this year. As you pray blessings over them, He may also show you some tangible ways to bless their lives as well.

 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

Is prayer a delight for you…or a duty that you feel compelled to do as a believer? In this new year, ask the Father to give you an extraordinary love for prayer. Again, we are told to be watchful and thankful as we dedicate our hearts to His plans and purposes expressed through our prayer lives.

 As you weave one or more of these prayer resolutions into your life this year, you can be encouraged by this wonderfully encouraging promise from God: For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…” 1 Peter 3:12

Prayer is the deepest love connection with the Father, made possible by the sacrifice of His Son. It is an awesome privilege, and our deepest connectivity with the heart of God. His Word says that if we seek Him, He will be found by us. If Jesus is to be the central focus of our lives, how do we enthrone Him there? By prayer! Worship Him, delight in Him, give Him thanks, petition Him, share your concerns and needs with Him, come before Him on behalf of others…share with Him heart to heart. Prayer is the connective tissue between our human hearts and His divine purposes! It is the place where our hearts encounter His Presence.

Scripture clearly shows multiple promises for seeking the Father wholeheartedly:

 If you seek Him, You will find Him!

• “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with     all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 4:29).
• “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me find Me” (Prov. 8:17).
• “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
• “Come near to God and He will come near to you…” (Jas. 4:8).

 If you seek Him, you will rejoice!

• “But may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, ‘The LORD be exalted’” (Psa. 40:16).
• “Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice” (1 Chron. 16:10).

 If you seek Him He will never forsake you!

 • “Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You” (Psa. 9:10).

 If you seek Him you will lack no good thing!

 • “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (Psa. 34:10).

 If you seek Him you will be blessed!

 • “Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart” (Psa. 119:2).

 He rewards those who seek Him!

• “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
• “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him…” (Lam. 3:25).
• “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33).

May your heart encounter the fullness of His presence as you seek Him!

(c) Harvest Prayer MInistries

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:13-15).

If you are a follower of Jesus, and have a personal relationship with Him, at some point in your life, you prayed a powerful, life-changing prayer that has forever altered your spiritual condition. I remember prayerfully inviting Christ to enter my life. There was a transitional moment when I wavered between unbelief and complete faith that Jesus is who He says He is, and that He could and would forgive all of my sins and usher me into the unwavering hope of eternal life.  I had questions; maybe you did too: “Do I really have eternal life?” “Do I have enough faith?” “Did God really answer my prayer?”  John was assured that God always answers the repentant heart with a resounding, “Yes!” This truly is a “blessed assurance!” (Note: Wow – I was listening to instrumental piano on Pandora and just as I was writing the previous sentence, the hymn Blessed Assurance began to play. What an incredibly affirming moment of “Amen” from the One who loves us most)!

My moment of salvation was also the moment when my prayer life “officially” began. Oh, I had prayed before, but never with the knowledge that God was really listening. This foundational and formational moment in my spiritual life has birthed every faith-filled prayer from that point on. As I matured in faith, I was astonished to realize that Jesus, living in me, is also interceding for me, with me and through me! Pretty powerful realization!

If you ever have a lack of confidence in approaching God, remember back to that most important prayer of faith you prayed when you asked Jesus to be Your Lord and Savior. If you had enough faith to believe then, you most certainly have enough faith to believe that He will hear and answer now!  It is always in God’s will to receive our broken lives into His forever kingdom, and to forgive our sinfulness whenever our repentant hearts bow before Him. In this same way, Jesus said that even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed we can “…say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:5-6).

Are there some mulberry trees in your life right now that need to be planted in the sea? Do you feel that your faith is wavering to believe that God will respond when you ask? Pray as the apostles did: “Increase our (my) faith” (Luke 17:5)! The God who answered your first prayer of repentance is poised to hear and respond to your request for faith with a “Yes!” You can always have the confidence to know that the power of His Spirit resides within the faith-filled prayers of your everyday life.

“Whatever is natural in you will come out of you in a crisis…and crisis will reveal the true state of your heart.”

I came across this teaching from Allen Hood, Associate Director of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO, as I was considering what will happen on November 7^th in America. Right now, Christians are in crisis mode – praying earnestly that God will save our nation from total destruction; yet, many have focused their attention on which person will be in the White House rather than placing their hope in God alone. It is the people in God’s house who hold the future of America…not governmental leaders. We are called to pray for those in authority…but not to depend upon them for the healing of our nation.

God has been filled with grace and mercy towards a nation characterized by a lack of biblical truth. Believers know the truth, but it does no good if that truth doesn’t live fully within them and if it is not expressed in their everyday lives through words and actions. If, on the day following the election, or whenever the result is finalized, God’s people ease back from the earnestness of our prayers, whether due to relief or resignation, the Father will see the true condition of our hearts.

Crisis in our nation will not be averted or brought to bear through an election, but because the people called by His name have humbled themselves and prayed, sought His face and turned from their wicked ways (see 2 Chronicles 7:14). If our dependence on God is true, then we will continue to seek Him on behalf of our nation after the election is over. The Church has been impotent and silent before heaven, as well as within our culture. We have been relegated to the position of irrelevance…and therefore, so has our God. His people have not represented Him in the fight for biblical truth in America…and we are now reaping what we have sown. But God! IF we, His people, called by His name, will truly humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways…then He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land. What an incredible promise to us that has been left unclaimed in this generation!

It’s time to blow the trumpet and sound the alarm! (Joel 2) Believers must not stop seeking the face of God until revival is poured out upon a repentant people and His kingdom is unmistakably established within our nation once again!

I believe the future of America is teetering on a precipice…and our response to this perilous moment in history will reveal the true condition of our hearts. May our God find us faithfully about the work of earnest and focused intercession so that He will hear the prayers from His humble, broken people…pour out His merciful forgiveness…and heal our land!

Seeking ways to become more deeply attached to God should be  a lifelong pursuit for all believers. Prayer provides the most profound attachment we can form with our Father, and recently this quote by Frank Bianco came my way: “If you begin to live life looking for the God that is all around you, every moment becomes a prayer.”  It adds fuel to my own prayer that we will all see how the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray continually,” is accomplished through prayer becoming a lifestyle. It is an increased awareness of being in the presence of God moment by moment.

Paul lays the groundwork for us in Romans 12:1-2 in the Message:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

How can this kind of attachment to the continual presence of God be done in a practical way, you may be asking? Here are some steps to ponder and pray  through this Scripture in order to walk it out day by day and moment by moment:

1.    Prayerfully place your everyday, ordinary life before God as an offering. One way to pray this is, “Father, take all that I am and all that I do today. I lay it before you. Please take it and turn my ordinary into Your extraordinary!

2.    Embrace what God does for you. Live out your gratefulness with continual prayers of gratitude, even for the smallest things. Being thankful will help you to recognize and embrace His nearness continually.  Take time to notice things you don’t normally think about and thank God for them regularly. As you cultivate a heart of appreciation for all that has been created around you and for all of the blessings you have been given, you will become more intimately connected with the Presence of God the Father.

3.    Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Our culture is separating us from spending time with God, much less being continually aware of His presence. The distractions are compelling and tempting unless we are able to see and sense Him moving and working all around us. Leaning into His purposes will keep us from the purposes of the enemy of our souls.

4.    Fix your attention on God. Whenever possible, give Him your full consideration and attentiveness. Spend much time reading and meditating upon His word. Listen for His voice. Tell Him that in these moments all you want is to know Him more deeply.  A. W. Tozer speaks about believers who have cultivated the practice of “gazing upon God.”  He describes them as those who, “without giving much thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs there is within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to God again.” He speaks of the importance of spiritual habits and rhythms in our lives and continues:  “But at the bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be the inward habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes (so to speak) will develop within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are seeing the scenes of this passing world.”  Tozer says this is not only for the super saints, but for each one of us who deeply desires to fix our attention upon God. Spend time in prayer asking the Father to develop this new set of eyes within you.

5.    Readily recognize what He wants from you. Quickly respond to it. It is important that we are always prepared to become the answer to the prayers we pray. Often, when God burdens our hearts, He is preparing us to respond to our own prayers. James says, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2: 15-17). Ask God to keep you aware and available and He will use you for His kingdom purposes.

Paul shares two promises from God if we will focus on the things above. First, we will be changed from the inside out. Secondly, God will bring the best out of us and develop well-formed maturity in us.  What believer doesn’t want this kind of transformation?

“If you begin to live life looking for the God that is all around you, every moment becomes a prayer.”  – Frank Bianco