Perfecting prayer is learning how to pray successfully. It is reaching for the closest possible relationship with God and for the most fruitful life.
Perfecting prayer sounds difficult. Probably all of us have experienced more failure than success in prayer. Our failure is typically the result of a few simple mistakes. The most significant of these is not realizing the central part of the Word of God in prayer. Perfecting prayer is not easy, but it is not as difficult as we might think. Consistent success may take a while, but results that exceed what we can imagine do not require a lot of time.
To perfect prayer we will have to:
come to a correct understanding of what prayer is and how it works
align our lives with how prayer works
overcome the forces working against prayer
The Word of God shows us what prayer is and how it works. It provides the power to align our lives with prayer and to overcome the forces working against prayer. The Word of God is the power that produces the results in prayer. Paul says in Ephesians 3:20 that God
is able to do super-abundantly, far over and above all that we ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams) - according to the power that works in us.
The power that God uses to produce the results of our prayers is the power that works in us - the Word of God. The real key is sowing the Word of God into our hearts and letting it bear the fruit of perfected prayer.
Why work at perfecting prayer?
to know God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in unity with them
to grow in the knowledge of God's will
to grow in maturity and fruitfulness
to better meet the needs of those around us
success in life depends on success in prayer
to build a foundation upon which our children and others may build
The following pages are included to help see how to get started in prayer, how to grow in prayer, and how to perfect prayer.