What are some Secrets to Effective Prayer? What are the secrets to real intimacy with God?

Question

The first secret to effective prayer is secret prayer. Jesus provided the ultimate example. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Unlike the religious leaders of his day, Jesus did not pray to be seen by men. He prayed because he treasured fellowship with his Father. Hypocrites gain their reward through public prayer. They may be rewarded through public prayer. They may be perceived as spiritual giants, but by the time they are finished, they have received everything they will ever get- their prayer's worth and nothing more.
A further secret is to recognize the connection between prayer and meditation. Our prayers are only as inspired as our intake of Scripture. Scripture feeds meditation, and meditation gives food to our prayers. Meditating on Scripture allows us to more naturally transition into a marvelous time of meaningful prayer.
A final secret is to discover ur secret place, a place where you can drown out the static of the world and hear the voice of heavenly God.

Answer 1

Effective vs. Ineffective Prayer
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By Jim J. McCrea



I have had experiences in my life of unanswered prayers and bitterness towards God over certain serious situations.

But at other times, I have had the most wonderful answers to prayer and have seen God's power work in the most striking way.


What is the difference?


To know the difference between prayer that does not work and prayer that does work, we have to understand what prayer is. I have learned this from experience and God's grace.

First of all, prayer is not a formula to get God to do what you want - to say so many Hail Marys and you will get such and such a result. Forget all those publications that say that if you say this novena in such and such a way, and then publish the success of your prayer, you will get an answer to what you want infallibly.

Prayer is in essence an opening of our hearts to God. The essence of prayer is heart to heart commune with God. All our rituals and formal prayers are only a means to that end. Real prayer is to become so united with God that we know what His will is, so that we can so much more effectively pray.


Of course we ask that God grant us our needs in prayers of petition. God has specifically instructed us to do that. That type of prayer is not a "force" we apply to God to make Him change His mind. People make this mistake in praying Rosary after Rosary in an attitude of applying sufficient "prayer power" to get God to do what they want. Such prayer is generally not answered. Such prayer can actually lead to greater problems in life.

If that is not the prayer of petition, then what is?


The prayer of petition is an opening of our hearts to God so that He can give us what He desires to give us. That may involve prayer in our own words, or something more formal like the Rosary. But the most important thing in such a prayer is not the words we say or the rituals we act out (apart from our duties as Catholics or Christians in obedience to the Church or other lawful superiors), but the attitude of heart we adopt. We must adopt the attitude: "I seem to need this Lord, but you know what is best, so answer the prayer in the way you see fit." Such prayer is done quietly and confident in the Lord's power and love, rather than rattling it off quickly and fretfully as if the Lord is deaf and reluctant (arm twisting prayer).

"Arm twisting" prayer can make things worse in a person's life because it is but another way of asserting one's own will over God's. Even thought it seems to be prayer, it can actually shut God out. Correct words alone do not make for real prayer. Prayer is a matter of the heart. If the lips are saying "thy will be done" but the heart is saying "my will be done," it is not real prayer and is not pleasing to God.

Even though the Lord can give us anything without asking and He knows all of our needs, He still wants us to ask Him for what we need. This is because doing that instills a sense of dependence on His providence thus facilitating union with Him. Union with God is the end of all prayer.

Of course, we can never get all that we want in life and cannot be relieved of all suffering in this life. The prayer of petition can never be directed to that end, but only to the carrying out of God's will - a will that leads to peace in this life, the supplying of all of our real needs, and perfect and eternal happiness in heaven.









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Answer 2

Secret #1: Don't ask for anything except to know God better.
Secret #2: Say thank you to God for all your blessings.
Secret #3: Mean it.
Secret #4: Don't waste God's time with a lot of repetition or fancy phrases. Just be thankful with feeling and then stop.
Secret #5: Pray before every daily event: beginning your day, before a meal, before driving, before sleep, etc.

Answer 3

Righteousness- James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Faith-James 5:15
And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Above all Christ-- John 16:24
Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Answer 4

I'm glad that you realized that you can hear the voice of God. Now how can we convince the rest of these guys how easy it is?

Are you a student of the course in miracles?

Love and blessings Don

Answer 5

If everyone would answer his/her own question like you Yahooanswer would be a better for people to earn points and save time. Thanks
May God bless you!

Answer 6

Effective prayer= Believe our prayer will be answered.
Also pray to him anywhere you like! He is always listening and always alert. Hes not busy :)

Answer 7

Fill those pews people! That's the key. Grab the little ones as well. Hook 'em while they're young.
Kind of like the tobacco industry?

Answer 8

You answer your own question..what is going on here...preaching ? You have just committed a sin..broken a rule here at Yahoo where you are supposed to operate on the honor system. I suggest you reexamine your goals. IF you really want to know something, ask. If you want to preach, get your own BLOG site.

Answer 9

Talk to him...I love to pray in the car as I am driving to work or wherever,,It gets me ready to get done what needs to be done in that day...

Answer 10

Key-point to receive the blessings of God___ is to become God’s dependent by all means____ through prayers_____ and patience ____ and trust in God.
God helps and guides aright to those who ask God for God’s help and guidance.
The people who do not believe God and lead a lustful life____ are always mislead to disaster.
Here is God’s taught prayer for those who want to secure the blessings of God in true sense.
PRAYER

By the leave of God,
the Beneficent,
the Merciful.

Praise be to God,
Lord of the worlds.

The Beneficent, the Merciful.

Owner of the each and the ultimate
Day of Judgement.
O’ Lord!
You alone, we worship;
You alone, we ask for help.

Show us always, the right way,
In each and every matter.

The way of those,
Whom You have blessed;

Not the way of those,
Who earn Your anger,
Nor of those who go astray.

Aameen!
HAVE FAITH IN GOD, BE PATIENT AND TRUST GOD AND BY THE GRACE OF GOD WHEN YOU BECOME TOTALLY DEPENDANT ON GOD FOR EVERYTHING GOD HELPS YOU AND SAVES YOU FROM ADVERSITY AND DISTRESS AS GOD IS SUFFICENT FOR GODS BONDSMEN IN THE HOURS OF TRIAL.
But, as the first & the foremost point, of the Prophets preaching, has been this very unique verdict alone. That “nothing is alike God” and God is free from every sort of order & composition and the state & stature. And God has warned, on the Mount of Sinai, that no one should dare to develop God’s image or imagination, by hand or by his intellect. So, the believers of One Alone God should remain well informed of the Real Belief:

REAL BELIEF

1.God is not a someone’s created god or a state or a stature or a person or a thing, instead God is an Absolute Creator.

2.God is the Creator of every system, state, stature, person & thing and nothing is alike God.

3.God is Supreme & Beyond of human intellect.

4.God is since ever and will remain forever.

5.God is the Creator of the cosmos and Ordainer of the Almightiness, Knowledge and the other Attributes.

6.God is the All-Alone Guardian of cosmic system, at all places, and at all times.

7.God is Infinite and Ever-Dominant over everything and everything is helpless and submissive before God.

8.God must be believed, in the same way, as God has commanded to believe.

9.None of the persons or things____ is God’s partner and God is the One Alone God. (Usage of the word “One” for God means, that no god is beside God. It does not mean that God is limited as “one” in terms of Mathematics).

10.God is Alone and the Beyond of everything. God is not some whole of certain components. Everything is creature and God is the Absolute Holy Creator of everything.

All of the human beings who claimed themselves a Prophets or Messengers of God___ they have always introduced God as the All-Alone God. The world has never been empty of such human beings, who had not been speaking of God____ the All-Alone God.

God has always been believed as One Alone God in every country and in every age. Prophets have preached about the All-Alone God. None of them has ever talked of duplicate or triplicate gods, or of a total or a whole of many gods, or of a man-god or of demigod, or of a creaturely-god.

Jesus (PBUH) said:
“No one is good except God alone”
(Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19)

And___ Muhammad (PBUH) said:
“There is no go save Allah”
(Al-Quran 37:35)

And___ God said on the Mount of Sinai:
“I ___ and I Alone____ am God
No other god is real”
(Duet 32:39)

If there had been some other god, or some creator of God, or some partner of God___ then___ the news of such a God would have been brought to us by someone. But the situation has never been like that, at all.
The Message of Monotheism alone has been repeated again and again, which is an undeniable proof of the fact, that there is no god but the One Alone God. God is our Lord and the Creator of the WHOLE but God is not a WHOLE or a component of the WHOLE___, which could be discovered by human intellect.

If to touch God through intellect___ had been a positive and a regular action___ then___ the question of “who created god?” would have been a reasonable question. But the situation has never been like that as nothing is alike God. God has always been believed as Supernatural and Super-Physical and Beyond of human intellect.

Those who believe in creaturely god and declare God as a whole___ as a father___ as a thing___ as a worshipper___ as a conjugal lover___ as a power of time___ as a living age___ as a person___ as an image or imagination___ and worship the same. They can, of course, tell that who created God or who is the creator of their creaturely God?

But if, even these people, did declare the question, as an unreasonable and absurd question___ then___ all of the people, must clear their minds from such type of questions and notions. By and by they must clear, all of the places of worship, from the idols and images of God. And___ they must immediately stop, their malpractice of introducing God, in creaturely terms, as the practice has already been declared, as hatred and enmity against God, not by some Prophet, but by the Lord, our God on the mount of Sinai:

“I ____ and I Alone___ am God:
No other god is real.
I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal,
And no one can oppose what I do”.
(Duet 32:39)

“Worship no god but Me.
Do not make for yourselves images of
anything in heaven or on earth or in the water
under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol
Or worship it, because I am the Lord your God
and
I tolerate no rivals”.
(Bible, Exodus 20:3, 4, 5)