Cultivating a Heart of Prayer

Cultivating a Heart of Prayer

I’ve prayed my whole life. Even before I knew Christ, I prayed.

I said the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer at bedtime when I was little. And as I grew, I’d speak to God as if He were a fancy king, eating elaborate meals in the sky while we scrambled to make it through each day.

I didn’t know the love of Christ and I hardly scratched the surface of God’s love and intention for prayer.

Fast forward several years, I heard the gospel and accepted Christ’s love and forgiveness. I was a new Christian with a still small understanding of prayer.

I’d heard many “no’s” over the first years of my faith and, to me, prayer was nothing more than a conversation with a distant Father.

Sure, I believed He loved me and I was willing to go where He called, but I expected my prayers to be rejected. And so I stopped asking.

Have you ever been afraid to ask for something in prayer?

Cultivating a Heart of Prayer

It wasn’t until years later, when I was surrounded by those dedicated to fervent prayer, that I began to question my feeble grasp of understanding how prayer works.

It was through this time that I learned that prayer is so much more than a task in our faith.

Prayer is a fundamental part of the foundation of our faith.

[bctt tweet="Prayer is a fundamental part of the foundation of our faith." username="NicoleAKauffman"]

Without prayer, we would be just another name in the Book of Life.

Prayer is the foundation for our relationship with God and it allows us these 3 things.

Prayer Allows Us Connection with our Savior

 

God wants to hear our hearts. Just like a relationship with a parent, a spouse or a dear friend, Christ wants to know our hearts even more so.

Through prayer, we can bear our hearts to the Lord. We can share our sorrows, our joys, our worries, our excitement. When we share these with Him, our relationship, our faith, grows stronger.

When we connect with our Savior, we find peace and strength to walk through every day.

When we share our hearts with God, we grow in our trust in Him.

Connection with the Lord is essential to a growing faith.

[bctt tweet="Connection with the Lord is essential to a growing faith." username="NicoleAKauffman"]

Do you share your heart, your innermost feelings with God? Do you allow yourself to be vulnerable before Him?

It’s hard to be vulnerable, especially if you’ve been hurt.

Trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve felt abandoned by God and wanted to hide my heart from Him. I did for a time and it was one of the most difficult times in my life.

God is with us in our hurt. Remember that as you share your deepest desires and fears with Him.

He will never use you, never mistreat you and never abandon you.

He loves you and cares for you even more so that you can ever imagine.

Trust Him and take time to connect with Him.

Prayer Opens the Door to Transformation

 

When we invite God into our hearts, we open a door to His transforming love and power. He wants to bring us to a place of wholeness and healing, but He won’t barge in without permission.

He waits for us to open the door to His healing touch. He waits for us to let Him into our brokenness so that we can be restored.

There are so many Christians living in bondage and pain. I was one of them for several years. I still am to some extent. Letting God into your heart is a lifelong process.

[bctt tweet="He waits for us to let Him into our brokenness so that we can be restored." username="NicoleAKauffman"]

When you pray, your eyes will be opened to the parts of yourself that you are keeping from the Lord. And as they are revealed to you, you have the opportunity to surrender them to the Lord.

In surrender, there is transformation.

In humility, there is power.

In weakness, there is strength.

Are you allowing God to transform you into the redeemed and healed child that He so desperately wants you to be?

Are you stepping into surrender in order to be restored?

I encourage you to take time to open the door to the Lord’s healing hand. If it is hard to trust, start small. He will reward you as you offer all that you are able.

Prayer Provides Power

 

There is power in prayer. Prayer is one of our greatest weapons against Satan.

When we spend time in prayer, God provides us the strength to stand up to the lies of the enemy.

 

Find the strength to stand up to the enemy

When we spend time in prayer, we learn how to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit.

In prayer, we can discover healing, transformation and strength.

In that strength we find the power to stand up to any area of our life that threatens to pull us away from the Lord.

We find what parts our our lives Satan has webbed his lies into. We can combat the enemy in prayer.

[bctt tweet="When we spend time in prayer, God provides us the strength to stand up to the lies of the enemy." username="NicoleAKauffman"]

One of my all time favorite movies (that is sitting on my living room table right now to be watched again) is War Room.

This witty and yet eye opening movie awakens the wonder and the understanding of the power of fervent prayer.

In my small apartment, I have no closet or room to set aside for prayer, so I have created a journal that I’ve used as my “War Room”. I record my prayers, praises and Scripture to fight the lies of Satan.

In doing this, I have discovered freedom in so many areas of my life.

I encourage you to watch this movie if you haven’t already!

Find a place and commit to praying. God will provide power through prayer.

Have you discovered the power of prayer in your life?

Preparing Your Heart for Prayer

 

One thing that I have discovered in my quest for a transformed and dedicated prayer life is the need to prepare my heart for prayer that works.

So often, I was going to the Lord with selfish desires or an unwilling heart.

I discovered the 4 characteristics of a heart that is prepared for effective and transforming prayer.

I want to share with you my free email challenge that I created to help you prepare your heart for prayer.

In this course, you will find encouragement, instruction and exclusive resources to ready your heart for prayer that works.

In this 5 day email course, you will find that as your prepare your heart before the Lord, your prayer life will transform.

To sign up for this course, enter your email below.

I would love to have you as a part of it!

Prayer is one of the most powerful and transforming tools we have in our faith. I encourage you to spend time cultivating a heart of prayer and seeking the Lord’s will for your prayer life today.

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31 Comments

  1. Prayer is so key! I for so many years didn’t give it my heart. It is our communication with God. He can’t come to know you if you don’t talk to him! Beautiful post!

  2. So many good points here!
    I love War Room! It’s one of the few movies that I’ve ever seen and wanted to own the DVD so I could watch it over and over. It’s that good!
    I wrote a post that was mostly a prayer right after watching it the first time. You can find it at: https://plantedbylivingwater.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/war-room-prayer/
    I also have a prayer category you can click on if you have time.
    May the Lord bless you and keep you and fill you with His joy as you dwell evermore closely in His shelter and walk in His ways.

    1. Thanks for sharing, Ruth! And yes, I’ve rented War Room so many times, I’ve put it on my list to buy soon! Love it!

  3. Hi Nicole,
    I’m your neighbor today at Coffee for your Heart πŸ™‚ and I liked these thoughts on prayer. It’s hard to develop the discipline and it’s hard to persevere, but when it flows from a heart that truly yearns to know God, then it’s a savored communication time and I’m eager to get to know him more! Thank you for pointing us to God!

  4. Prayer is so important! I especially loved this: When we spend time in prayer, God provides us the strength to stand up to the lies of the enemy. Shared with my friends on Twitter and Pinterest.

    1. Thank you so much, Sarah! It’s amazing what God reveals to us in prayer and the power we can discover over the lies in our lives! πŸ™‚

  5. Ahhhh, I love seeing God unite believers in prayer! I too am talking about prayer this week. This tells me the Lord is trying to get the attention of His Church. He longs to MOVE through prayer. Heaven and earth MOVE when we pray. Blessings to you. Happy to visit from #raralinkup

  6. Prayer is such an important part of our daily lives, if a day is so busy that I accidently by-pass my prayer time I feel so weighted down and disconnected. Thank you so much for this post and your faithfulness. God bless you.

  7. “It was through this time that I learned that prayer is so much more than a task in our faith.
    Prayer is a fundamental part of the foundation of our faith.”
    I absolutely agree ! When we kneel in prayer,we find strength to stand up to any trials we face

    God bless
    Diana @ http://dianasdiaries.com

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