How should I pray effectively?

If not, why not? If we don't ask God for success, would it be a failure, a failure? It depends on how we view success. I find the following definition very good: To fulfill God's purpose for my life in faith, love and through the power of the Holy Spirit and to expect the result from God. For such a precious purpose in life we ​​should be able to pray with confidence.

"Oh, remember the promises you made to your servant Moses when you said: If you act treacherously, I will scatter you among the peoples" (Nehemiah 1,8 Quantity translation)

If you can not ask God for success for what you do, you will find four points in Nehemiah's life for effective prayer: 

  • Base our requests on the character of God. Pray knowing that God will answer: I await an answer to this prayer because you are a faithful God, a great God, a loving God, a wonderful God who can solve this problem!
  • Confess the conscious sins (transgressions, debts, error). After Nehemiah based his prayer on what God is, he confessed his sins. He said, I confess my sins, I and my father's house have sinned, we have acted wickedly against you, not kept.” It was not Nehemiah's fault that Israel was taken captive. He wasn't even born when this happened. But he included himself in the sins of the nation, he was also part of the problem.
  • Claim God's promises. Nehemiah prays to the Lord: Oh, remember the promises you made to your servant Moses. Can one call God to be remembered? Nehemiah reminds God of a promise he made to the nation of Israel. In a figurative sense, he says, God, you warned us through Moses that if we were to be unfaithful, we would lose the land of Israel. But you also promised that if we repented, you'd give the land back to us. Does God need to be reminded? No. Does he forget his promises? No. Why do we do it anyway? It helps us not to forget them.
  • Be very specific in what we ask. If we expect a certain answer then we should definitely ask for it. If our requests are general, how can we know if they have been answered? Nehemiah does not hold back, he asks for success. He is very confident in his prayer.

by Fraser Murdoch