Putting Power & Passion in Your Prayer Life

"You need to call home!" That was a comment I heard from time to time while I was in college. Honestly, my schedule would get so busy with classes, social service clubs, work, study and sports that I often forgot to call, talk with and thank the ones who were supporting my college experience - my parents.

Well, it didn't take me long to notice that the same is true with post-college life. It's so easy to become consumed with daily demands that carving out a few extra minutes to pray can feel like another task on the to-do-list. But since prayer is essential to every aspect of our lives, we must create a daily sabbatical to unplug from life, 'call home,' talk with and thank the One who is making this life-experience possible - your Heavenly Father.

So how do you step directly out of a daily grind and into a sincere and productive time of prayer? For me, I use a prayer-plan so that my mind can focus while my spirit connects, keeping my prayer-time from feeling plastic, empty and unproductive. Here is the "prayer-plan" I personally use and teach at Free Life Chapel:

P - Praise
     Start-off your prayer with a party! Call God every Name in the book (Provider, Way-
     Maker, Friend, Strength, etc.), and then tell Him how He has been that to you. Reflect 
     on His blessings, favor and goodness in your life, family, finances and health. And 
     please smile while you praise Him... that's right, smile! You will be amazed at how 
     praising God with every natural gesture of joy you can humanly express will make your 
     prayer-time a more real experience instead of just a spiritual exercise. Clap your hands 
     for His faithfulness! Lift your hands in surrender! Bow in honor of His glory! Make your 
     praise real - to God and yourself.

          Psalms 22:3 (WBT)

               "But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel."

R - Request
     Now that the atmosphere if filled with your declaration of His greatness, use God's
     divine resumé as a weapon against every issue in your life. Invite His power and glory to 
     invade your challenges and situations. ASK BIG! Until you ask God to handle the things 
     that are 'impossible' for you to deal with, then you haven't even properly accessed His 
     power in your life. Your request for God's involvement is proof that you believe that He 
     is the Answer to every need in your life. God is awaiting your request to make you and 
     He a team in overcoming life while building His Kingdom! Ask big... I dare you!

          John 14:14 (NIV)
               "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

A - Anticipate
     Many times our prayed 'requests' seem like a forgotten grocery list that we dropped-off for 
     God to fulfill. But when we add 'anticipation' to our requests, something amazing happens... 
     we develop vision for our lives. We suddenly start expecting God to show-up and show-off! 
     What does the act of anticipation look like in prayer? This happens when I change the 
     direction of my prayer from earth to heaven (requesting), and start praying from heaven to 
     earth - celebrating heaven's reply! Start seeing, declaring and celebrating your life through
     the view of answered prayer and what it will be like once God meets the need. This is where
     you build confidence in the hope that God has heard and is responding to your prayer.

          Mark 11:24 (NIV)
               "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, 
               and it will be yours."

Y - Yearn
     Although, God's response to our request is a wonderful reality, the greater purpose and 
     benefit of prayer is our opportunity to know God. The thought of having a true 
     relationship with Almighty-God is staggering, but this is exactly His heart's desire. Tell 
     Him you want to know Him. Express to Him your hunger to change. Admit to Him the 
     void in your life without His Presence. As you do, your own awareness of Who He really 
     is and how much you desperately need Him will increase. Beyond His blessings and 
     favor, you and I must keep in mind that His Presence is the true Source of our lives and 
     must be the ultimate yearning and desire of our hearts. Prayer makes this possible.

          Psalms 16:11 (ESV)

               "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of 

               joy; a your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Reschedule your life to make prayer a celebrated priority. It is the gateway to everything you need in life, because God assures us that He hears us when we pray (1 John 5:14). I guess M.C. Hammer said it best in his 1990 hit... "you've got to pray just to make it today!"