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Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved
No part of this document may be used or reproduced by any means without the express written consent of the publisher.

Covenant Signature Publishing

There are four things about prayer that are very important and must not be overlooked. The first is that prayer is a gift that needs to be exercised every single day. No exceptions. Psalms 16: 7-8 Thank God always for His instruction and guidance, even in the dark seasons, and keep Him close to your heart so that you will not be moved. If you truly want a good life, then you need to seek God daily.

The second thing is that prayer must be from the heart and must not be vain, repetitious nonsense. Matthew 6:7-8 specifically tells us not to pray the same prayers over and over again. Prayer is actual communication between us and God, when we talk to Him and when He talks to us. This cannot be accomplished by idiotic babbling. Take, for instance, Matthew 6:9. If you look closely at this scripture it says, in this "manner" therefore pray. So, in other words: Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name . . . actually means to praise God. (Good morning, Father. I just wanted to spend a few minutes with you to tell you how much I love you and appreciate all the things you have planned for my life today. You are an incredible God, and I could not make it without you.)

Your kingdom come, Your will be done ... this means to recognize that He's in charge. (Lord, there are many plans in my heart today, nonetheless, I recognize that you are in charge of my life, so first and foremost, I pray Your will be done above my own. I follow wherever you lead.)

Give us our daily bread ... this means to go to God for all the things that we need. (Father, You know all the things that I'm facing today and You know that I can't face them alone. I need Your help.)

Forgive us our trespasses ... this means we need to ask His forgiveness and to also forgive others as well. (I confess any sin, whether I committed it knowingly or not and ask Your forgiveness of it as well as Your wisdom so that I will not be tempted into sinning in this area again.)

And lead us not into temptation ... this means to pray for strength and wisdom in order to successfully deal with the weak areas in our life. (Father, there are many situations that I will have to face today, some I've dealt with before and some I haven't. Please help me to be able to....)

For Yours is the kingdom ... more praise. (I end this prayer time, confessing once again that You are in charge. I trust in You completely because You are....)

And there you have it. Personal communication with God.

This "manner" of prayer was given to us by Jesus Christ Himself and you can better believe that an intense power lies behind it. Notice that Jesus did not say that this manner of prayer could not be rearranged either. Our prayer doesn't always have to be in this order. Personally, I like to pray first over whatever is heaviest on my heart at the time so that once I've given it to God, I receive peace about it and am then able to continue praying about other things, unhindered.

The third thing is that prayer does not have to be some long, drawn-out hoopla about this that or the other in order to be anointed. (Oh, yes, our heavenly Father God who is all knowing and all seeing, we just come into Your high presence with as much humility as we can possibly muster) Please!!!!!! The last person you want to bore is God. If all you have is a half hour, then pray for fifteen minutes. If all you have is ten minutes, then pray for five. Prayer does not have to be long. It just has to be real. God is looking at your heart, and if your holiness isn't coming from there, then no amount of pretty words will be able to help.

And finally, pray when you need to, no matter where you are. If you are shopping in a crowded grocery store and suddenly think of something that unsettles you, then as you move down the aisle pray silently about it for a moment, while you feel the anointing to do so. GOD ISN'T DEAF. Don't wait until you get home to do it. You may forget about it by that time or lose that precious anointing.

Remember, prayer is a gift. Use it wisely and it will take you places and do things for you that you never dreamed were possible.

Tee Michaels
April, 2007