How to Pray: A Practical Guide to Answered Prayers

Have you ever wondered what prayer truly is? Or how to pray in a way that feels meaningful and brings results? We’ve put together a valuable guide that explores the heart of prayer and how to connect with God more deeply. This guide will help you understand what prayer means, offer practical steps for praying effectively, and show you how to align your prayers with biblical teachings to experience the peace and power of God in your life.

The prayer practices outlined in this guide have been tried and tested by many, and have proven to be highly effective.

We encourage you to read through to the end and put these methods into practice for yourself. With an open heart and a willingness to connect with God, you will be able to unlock the full potential of prayer in your life.

While the concept of prayer is familiar to many, true understanding of its meaning and purpose can be elusive. Today, there are countless places of worship where people gather to praise and pray to God, our Creator.

While the doctrines and practices of various religious and faith-based traditions may vary, the ancient pattern of prayer and supplication outlined in scripture remains unchanged. The timeless wisdom contained within these sacred texts serves as a guide for individuals seeking to deepen their connection with the divine through prayer.

Prayer is a powerful tool that has helped many individuals overcome difficulties, both in modern times and throughout history as recorded in the Bible.

The scripture serves as the foundation upon which we can rely and experience the overwhelming presence and transcendent light of God. Through prayer, we can tap into the divine energy of God, which can unlock the doors to blessings, success, healing, good health, upliftment, and spiritual fulfillment, among other things. Consistently learning how to pray and making it a regular practice can greatly enhance one’s spiritual journey and bring about positive changes in one’s life.

READ ALSO: 40 Powerful Prayers for Power of God in Your Life

What is Prayer?

Prayer is a powerful tool for connecting with the divine. According to Merriam-Webster, it is defined as an address to God in word or thought. It involves expressing gratitude, giving praise, and sharing our needs and desires with the Creator.

However, I also see prayer as a way to “tune up” our consciousness and align our inner selves with the throne of the Almighty. It is a means of attuning ourselves to the presence and will of God, and a powerful tool for spiritual growth and connection.

What I mean is that, when we pray, we tend to elevate our consciousness towards a more lofty existence than the one we are already in. When we pray, we are actually bringing ourselves closer to a communion with the divine; and when we have a communion with our creator, when we in a meeting with our maker, we have every opportunity to tender our request.

A good example to describe the instance of praying to God is one having a meeting with a king. Imagine you have the opportunity once a year to meet with the king of your land, won’t you prepare the best way you can and cherish every moment of the meeting. If we will do so for an earthly king and ruler, how much more we should do for the ruler of the whole universe. The most interesting part is that, the ruler of the whole universe desires and is ever willing to listen to our prayers.

 We talk to God through prayers while He talks to us through the scriptures.

There is no distinction to a class of people for whom prayer is made for. Everyone can pray depending on one’s understanding of actually what prayer is and what one needs.

The challenging vicissitudes of life cannot come to an end as long as this earth endures {Genesis 8:22}

The essence of prayer is to draw us closer to our creator and at the same time we can use the opportunity to entreat our creator to ease off our problems and grant us our heart desires.

It is written in the scriptures, thus: “A prayer of Moses the man of God” {Psalm 90:1}. Moses of the bible, the son of Amram and the greatest prophet of all, understood the efficacy of prayer, and he prayed. The entire Bible is one long story of the prayers of God’s people and how he answered them and is still answering them today.

Understanding Prayer Better

In the book of Genesis, it is stated “Jacob in his dream saw ladder plunged from the earth reaching the heaven. Angels were ascending and descending from it to earth. {Genesis 28:12}. It means that man’s pure thought (meditative prayer} and pure verbal statement (invocative prayer} to God, ascends through the gate (ladder) of prayer plunged from earth to heaven.

Prayer then can be said to be the request of whatever one needs with supplications to the almighty God; who in turn supplies it to him from the throne (store house) through the same ladder of request.

Service Of The Heart

The prime aim of prayer is to achieve the highest degree of closeness and unification with our creator. It is also the expression of one’s total reliance on God thus coming closer and closer to him. It is the service of the heart (Deut. 11:13). When trouble and calamity befall a person, he has only one perfect option – to turn to his creator (God). If one can understand that his trouble is a message from God, if one will understand that, sometimes God allows troubles to befall a man to draw his attention towards Him, he will immediately respond and seek closeness and unity with his primary source of his existence which is God Himself. When God allows certain troubles to befall us, He is reminding us the need to repent and return to Him. (Psalm 77; 79; 51 and 130)

It is obvious that to achieve closeness to God while praying, one should not be preoccupied with his/her daily problems. According to the great thinkers in matters of prayer; “when one wants to pray, he should walk a distance of two doors and only there should he pray”. This simply means that there are two steps preparation to prayer. One must move out of the road that connects him with his daily needs which impedes his concentration on his prayers. It’s only then that one can enter the roads bringing him closer to God.

Combining Effort and Prayer

Prayer is transformative. Distractions impede performance. Do not say I have prayed thereby abandoning the efforts of praying more. With effort comes progress, if not total success. One who is despaired will never advance. Also, as one prays, he should work hard in order to beautify his prayers.

Payer + Hardwork = Success

People rely solely on miracles these days. A miracle can only take place when effort complements prayer. (Exodus 14:21-23; 26-28)

The Commandment To Prayer

The law of prayer is not to render honour with the mouth while the heart is distant. But from the innermost heart should one supplicate for mercy from God. (Deut. 26:8-10 and Psalm 27:8). This is man’s greatest fulfilment and the only finest acquisition on earth he can strive for. The door is open and our inner self beckons for the priceless minutes of prayer; let us enter.

Problems and Need of Man

From the very day man sinned against his creator, his problems issued forth (Gen. 3:16-19). No one’s life is devoid of problems and needs. We need to strive with effort and prayer to excel in areas of work, good health, healing, success, peace, business, marriage, etc.

Every good thing is at the reach of man (Gen. 1:28-30).

God understands every language, it doesn’t matter the language you speak, nor how fluently you speak; only make sure you pray with the proper intention and focus. When you pray, free your mind and pour out you heart to God. If you feel like crying, cry, because a broken and a contrite heart God do not despise (psalms 51:17). Do not hold back your emotions before God. And do not forget that faith in God is the secret to answered prayers.

I have already written about the Biblical definition of Faith.

How To Pray to God

Now to learning how to pray to God.

1. Prepare your mind and heart.

Prayer is an action that requires the unification of the mind and the heart. Our heart harbours emotions while our mind nurtures thoughts and reasons. Our hearts create the emotions that spark thoughts and our minds decide how to express those thoughts.

To pray, one needs to unify his mind and heart, and that is when we say that we are in the mood to pray. To be in the mood to pray, means, we have aligned our minds to express our hearts’ emotions.

You do not necessarily need to go to the mountains to put yourself in the mood to pray, but you need to create the awareness of divinity around you before you can pray fervently. God is everywhere, but to feel His presence, you need to tune up the divine consciousness around you before we can feel it.

Some of the ways to prepare the mind and heart to pray to God.

• Singing praises and worships before praying: Doing this elevates our consciousness from the mundane to a lofty consciousness and realm of existence.  
• Meditation: This involves clearing the mind of every thought and focusing on one thought, which is the divine. Meditation will assist you to feel vibrations of higher frequencies that normally you cannot feel. In meditation your body will be there but your consciousness is somewhere else. Meditation is most times practiced by people who have mastered how to control their thoughts and emotions.
• Concentration: This practice involves clearing your mind of every distraction to give attention to a particular action. This is some worth like meditation. But meditation sometimes requires the use of certain materials to influence consciousness tune-up. It might also require you go to a quiet place; however, to concentrate does not necessarily need such. This is the practice that suits short prayers in an uncomfortable environment.

2. Start by Thanking God.

When you are in the mood to pray to God, the first action in prayer is to offer thanks to the creator for all He has done, is doing and will continue to do. When we appreciate Him for all He has done, He will be willing to do more.

Thank Him for the gift of life, health, business, food shelter, money, safety, etc.; remember that whatsoever you have is the gift of God, for riches and honour come from the Lord 1 Chronicles 29:12.

3. Ask for Divine Forgiveness.

The next prayer point after thanking God should be asking Him for forgiveness. The bible says “Blessed is the man whose sins the Lord does not count against.” Psalm 32:2.

It is also stated in the book of Isaiah 59:1-2 saying “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor His ear dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from God”. However, we do not need to panic as long as we have made up to repent, return to God and ask for forgiveness, “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord; repent and live.” Ezekiel 18:32.

The bible also says: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land” 2 Chronicles 7-14. From this portion of the bible, we can understand that asking and receiving God’s forgiveness guaranties answered prayers

4. Speak as the Spirit Leads

At this point you can table all your requests and supplications before the Almighty God, however, make sure you also ask Him for the grace to always draw close to Him and to always do His will. When you ask God for something, implore His grace and favour. “For His mercies endures forever.” Psalm 136-2.

Ask your needs from God with sincerity of heart. Say your heartfelt prayers with a broken and a contrite; heart for God does not despise such heart. Psalm 51-17. When you request form God of anything, do not ask randomly, be specific and give reasons why He should do what you asked of Him. For example, when you ask God for money, tell Him what you need the money for, e.g. education, feeding, charity, etc. Doing so will make you ask reasonably and for a reasonable course.

5.Thank God in Anticipation for a Favourable Answer

When you do this, it’s as if God is the one now owing you.  For you have declared to him that you have unwavering faith in Him.

6. Pray for Others

When we pray to God for others, our prayers get answered faster. So, consider praying for others as you pray for yourself.

7. Back up your Prayer with Events in the Bible

Reminding God how He helped others in the bible and why He should help you, because he never changes. Use the power embedded in the book of psalms and other bible portions to complement your prayers.

Spiritual Activities That Work with Prayers

1. Fasting

As a religious term, fasting can be defined as the process of abstaining from eating food during a prayer session. It is a ritual that was commanded by God in the bible Leviticus 23:32, and was practiced by a lot of people in the bible.

Fasting is a spiritual exercise that helps in spiritual growth and imbues spiritual discipline. Most times in the scriptures when people fasted, they did so as a penance intended to serve as reparation for the act of sin. 1Samuel 7:5-7, Nehemiah 9:1-3, Jonah 3:69. In biblical era, fasting is most sometimes associated with acts like wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on the head.

There is a mystical and spiritual benefit associated with fasting. When one fasts, he burns fat and blood, in this process; it is as if the person in question is already bringing himself/herself as a living sacrifice before God. Fasting is a very wonderful tool that can be utilised in prayer, especially when it is done with sincerity of heart as opposed to a show off fasting which the bible condemns. Isaiah 58:34.

2. Keeping the Laws of God

One cannot be in sin that grace may abide. If you love me keep my commandments. A lot of people, in the name of receiving grace, have rejected the laws of God. The laws of which God Himself said which “keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the lord.” Leviticus 18:5.

Ezekiel 18:9 says “He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps them. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

The book of proverbs 7:2 says: “keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. If we can adhere to the secular laws of man that does not guarantee eternal life, how much more the laws of our heavenly father who can destroy our soul. Obeying the laws of God as much as we can tells God that we care about Him to honour Him, He will in turn honour our prayers, for the bible says: “Those who honour me I will honour, but those who despise me I will disdain.” 1 Samuel 2:30.”

3. Giving Charity

Almsgiving is a very spiritually elevating gesture. Our soul feel immense joy when we remember an act of kindness we offered to someone else, so also does God feel. Everyone is God’s children, helping one of God’s children makes God happy, and no one ever loses by doing what is right. Yes! Temptation comes, trials come, all are for the good when we overcome them, and it’s just a matter of time.

It is written in the scriptures saying: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be open-handed toward your fellow Israelite who is poor and needy in your land.” Deuteronomy 15:11. The bible also says: the foreigner residing among you must be treated as a native-born. Love them as yourself…” Leviticus 19:34.

Giving charity after a prayer session is a very powerful gesture that can bring quick answer to a prayer. Also, when you are praying for a child, helping orphans will not be a bad idea as well as visiting the sick. Charity has a way of turning events around.

4. Use of the Book of Psalms

One of the books of the bible that is full of prayers and supplications on any topic you can ever think of is the book of psalms. Reading and singing the Psalms is one of the most ancient spiritual practices. Using psalms to pray will definitely enhance your praying experience. Praying God’s words back to Him is a powerful way to pray, and that is what the book of Psalms can assist you to do.

The Psalms are God’s own prayer book for us and are great way to God’s words back to Him. Within the Psalms, every human emotion is covered, from grief, despair, and confession to praised, joy, and thanksgiving. Timeless laments and evergreen praises words that have been sung and prayed for thousands of years; ancient words that still speak to us today.  The Psalms can help one develop a sound and well ordered prayer language.

Method of Using the Book of Psalms to Pray to God

• Read and pray one chapter each day.  This method entails reading one chapter of the book of Psalm each day, thereby working your way up from one chapter to another. This method will help you develop your prayer language and learn the book of Psalms. It will also help you broaden your prayers to include topics you may not have otherwise prayed for.
• Use topical Psalms as a base for your prayers. In the process of learning the book of Psalms, you may be drawn to certain ones for various needs. You may decide to pray certain psalms for certain days like grief, a psalm to comfort you in hard times, a Psalm for giving thanks, etc. It’s a good thing to memorize a psalm which you can sing any time the need calls, like Psalm 23 —“the Lord is my shepherd”, which is a popular Psalm. As for me, my favourite is Psalm 121.
• Sing the Psalms. King David sang the Psalms as songs. You can still do same today. You can find music for each of the psalms in various hymn books and contemporary worship songs. Sing them before praying; sing them in the middle of your prayers. Sing them at work, sing them while working walking. The bible says my mouth shall sing your praise all day long, if you form the habit of singing the psalm every time, you have succeeded in drawing your being closer to the divine being.

Short Prayers

Sometimes, some situations call for a short prayer that does not give the person praying the chance to make any prior preparations. For example, you are in an airplane and the pilot announces that there is a technical problem with the engine; in such a situation, you don’t have time for preparatory rituals, you just go ahead and make that pressing request from God for safety.

Many people did it in the scripture and it worked. Elijah did it at Mount Carmel 1Kings 18:36-38; Eliezer did it in Aram Naharaim Genesis 24:11-21.

Having learnt what prayer is and how to pray to God, it’s time to put them into action. This piece of writing is not to give you fish, but to teach you how to catch fish. The prayer practices listed below have been tried by many and they worked, you can also give it a try.

Few Prayer Points and their Prayer Guides

The following are some of the problems of man and prayers which can bring solutions and happiness in one’s life. Those who have practiced it testified of the answers the Almighty God offered, thereby relieving them of their problems.

Prayer for Multiplying One’s Business and Wealth

Recite Genesis 30:37-43 (x7) in the morning, afternoon and evening for 7 days consecutively with immense concentration. Add midnight prayers with Psalms 20 and 121, for it has been known by the masters of mystics that the heavenly doors of blessings are always open during the watch of the night. After the 7 day period of prayers, give charity to the less privileged and orphans.

Prayer for Success in Academic Pursuit

Do not rely on magic pens and exam malpractices as most people do. There is no magic that can see you through but your efforts in reading your books with prayers will always carry you on. No one is created to be a failure. It is laziness and distraction that bring many down in their academic pursuit.

If you are having problems in your exams or academic pursuit, the following prayers will see you through.

Recite Psalm 45 and Ezekiel 36:24-28 hourly. This should be done for 4days conclude the prayer by reciting 2 chronicles 6:38-40.

Prayer for Healing the Sick

Repentance from one’s bad ways and returning to God almighty for mercy is the first step. Then recite Exodus 34:6-7, Psalm 51 and 67, followed by psalms 20,6,9,18,55,69,90,91,102,103,116 and 142.

If the sick person’s name has a meaning that does not pertain to life, change it to another that pertains to life if necessary. Call on the angel – Rafael for healing. Conclusively, recite Isaiah 38:4-20 and Numbers 12:13.

Also Read: Powerful Prayer for Family Healing, Protection & guidance

Prayer for Court Case

Firstly, make sure you are not guilty of the crime you are accused of. If you are guilty, then go and make peace with the person you have a dispute with. If you can avoid going to court in the first place, please do so, there is no gain in dispute.

NOTE: If you have a police/Court case and you are passing through injustice in the matter, do the following:

Observe some hours of fasting for 3 days. On each day, recite Psalms 1, 2, 3. Invoke the angel who rules on the pillar of justice – Atsalyah (53x). Conclude with Jeremiah 50:29-34.

Note: Where you see the names – Babylon and Chaldean, replace with the names of your accusers, the police or court judge. Do this for 3 days; you will experience true justice and victory. Conclude with Psalm 7.

Prayer for Disappointments

It could be that every of your appointment turns out bitter in the end, and you go home disappointed. Don’t worry; every problem has a cure and its end will be the beginning a joy.

Recite: Isaiah 51:9-11; Psalms 40; 54; 57; 77. As you pray add this statement:

He redeemed my soul from going down to the grave. It’s not in me that walk to direct my footsteps but in the God that created me. He has made my way straight and has levelled mountains before me. There shall I walk and not stumble and I shall rejoice in his presence (7x).

Prayer for Barrenness

Have you been barren for years after marriage? The law of the almighty creator says: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth exceedingly

This is a positive commandment but its only sin that breech this not to happen. The bitterness of barrenness can be compared to that of the death of a beloved. Hannah’s prayer changed her situation. Yours can change too. Do the following:

1. Pray for forgiveness of sin reciting Psalms 51 and 130.
2. Observe 7days of midnight prayers especially between the 7^th and 15^th day of the appearance of the new moon. Recite psalm 113 and 1 Samuel 2:1-5.
3. Give charity to motherless babies and joy will follow you for the barrenness will no more.

Prayer for Connection and Uplift

Success comes through hard work and prayer; there is no magic that can withhold you from attaining your goal if you go for it. The following prayer steps have proved to be efficacious in providing divine open doors to many that applied them.

Observe four (4) days chain prayer, chain prayer means bringing your supplication before the throne of the Almighty timely; it can be one hourly, two hourly or three hourly throughout the prayer period. The chain prayer should start from morning to sunset. It might seem to be a big challenge, but remember that that every good thing comes with a sacrifice, in this case the sacrifice you are making is having a communion with your creator, and I don’t think there is any companion better than that. In those periods of your prayer, avoid talking to anyone until your prayer is over.

As you pray, tell the Almighty why He should uplift you and tell Him what you will do in His name when He gives you the connection you are asking for. Recite psalms 8, 65, 113:1-8 and 1 Samuel 2:6-10. At the conclusion of each day’s prayer say the following:

The God of hosts, praise worthy is the man who trust in you. Oh God save me, may the king of kings answer me as I call. Let light, Love and power of God, restore His plan for me on earth. Say this three (3) times.

Prayer for Marriage

The book of Genesis said that Adam woke up and saw Eve, therefore he said:

“This is the bone of my bones…” (Genesis 2:23-24). To find one’s spouse is easy as surely as the process is committed into the hands of the Almighty Creator. The scripture says “And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi, for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field (a house of prayer) at the evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw…” {Gen. 24:62-65}

It’s all about lifting up of your spiritual eyes toward the throne of the maker of all; you will behold your spouse. Take the following steps in other to achieve positive result.

1. Be punctual and regular to the house of God praying for 7 consecutive days. Also in the evening, never forget to be in God’s house for your prayers for it was at the time of the evening prayer that Elijah the prophet received the answers to his prayers at mount Carmel.
2. Recite psalms 32, 38, 70, 71, 121 and 124 each day of your stay in the house of prayer.
3. Try as much as possible to visit a marriage ceremony and give gift to the couples.

Prayer for Help in Troublesome Times

The following steps will help you out of your troubles.

1. Reflect on your past ways, observe total repentance and return to your maker in whole heartedness. Confession of sins helps to reduce, if not totally remove troubles.
2. Observe some days of fasting (if possible) and pray with the following psalms 16, 20, 25, 38, 54, 81, 85, 86, 87, 102, 130 and 142.

NOTE: Fasting can atone sins quickly; for the one who fasts, burns his/her fats and blood as if he/she brought a sacrifice upon the alter of GOD.

• At the end of your prayers for at least 4 days, give alms to the poor, destitute and widow, with faith and trust in God, all your problems will vanish.

In all your prayers always make this divine biblical in all your prayers always say this biblical verse: three times “O Lord God, master of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear oh God of Jacob Selah.”

The will of the almighty creator who is blessed forever, is not that man he created in his image should perish but, that man should live and serve Him. God bestowed upon man, the power to control the forces of nature and bring nature to his service. This includes both seen and unseen forces and demons.

Genesis 1:27-30, made us to understand that our God wants man to exercise control over nature. He has given us dominion over He created. With prayer we can move mountains and perform miracles. Joshua son of Nun, prayed and the sun stood firm and the moon stayed still until the Israelites got victory. Joshua 10:12-14.

No problem in life is permanent, it will dispel when we invite our creator, so, turn to God in prayer and your problems will be solved.

ASIDE

It is written in the book of Jeremiah 51:62-63, thus:

“Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.’”

This part of the article is an aside; it is for people who desire to know more and make the best out of the bible. The bible we have is a very great tool we can use to solve all our problems if we know how to use it.

In the passage above, we read about a ritual Jeremiah performed against the enemies of Israel as He prayed. As he threw the scroll inside the river he said: ”So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her.” The reason why God allowed that to be recorded in the scriptures is because he wants us to make good use of it.

However, because of feeble minds that will read this article, we did not talk about mystical acts that initiate quick answers to prayers. Remember that when Moses parted the Sea of reeds, he was praying and God told him to stop praying and perform a ritual by striking the water. Some problems in life need rituals and actions and not only prayers.

So, if you would like to know more about the various rituals of the bible and how to use them to obtain quick answers to prayers, read this article titled “The Rituals & Secrets behind Quick Answers to Prayers and how to use them“.

Kindly comment below and share this post if you find it helpful, don’t understand something, or any prayer point you would like us to write a guide on, or if you wish to understand the deeper meaning of certain things discussed in this article.