The Power of Simple Prayer - How to Talk With God About Everything

233 Pages·2007·1.1 MB·English

by  Meyer Joyce

© 2007 by Joyce Meyer
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Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version.
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First eBook Edition: April 2007
ISBN: 978-0-446-19453-2
Contents

Copyright

Introduction

1: Lord, Teach Me

2: The Simple Privilege

3: Just Like Breathing

4: The Power of Prayer

5: Praise, Worship, and Thanksgiving

6: Consecration and Commitment

7: Petition and Perseverance

8: Intercession and Agreement

9: The Word and the Spirit
10: Keys to Powerful Prayer

11: Above All

12: Fourteen Hindrances to Answered Prayer

13: Sure Victory in Prayer

14: Staying Strong through Prayer

In Closing . . .

Notes

About the Author
Introduction

I
f someone asked me, “Joyce, if you could make only one comment
about prayer, what would it be?” I would have to respond by talking about its
simplicity. I have been praying for many, many years and I can say a great deal
about prayer, but if I could only emphasize one thing, I would tell people that it
is so much easier than we think.
As God began to teach me to pray, I was surprised to learn that He has not
made prayer complicated, but that it really is simple. Sometimes people make
prayer dry and difficult; sometimes our religious mind-sets and “systems”
present prayer in such a way that it seems out of reach for many of us. I tell you
the truth when I say that God desires our prayer lives to be natural and
enjoyable. He wants our prayers to be honest and heartfelt, and He wants our
communication with Him unencumbered by rules, regulations, legalism, and
obligation. He intends for prayer to be an integral part of our everyday lives—
the easiest thing we do each day.
I suspect many people pray much more than they know and that they have
more effective and successful prayer lives than they realize. They do not always
recognize when they are praying because they have been taught that prayer
requires a certain environment, a certain posture, a certain form, or that it must
strictly adhere to certain principles. Prayer is simply talking to God. The truth is
that we can pray anytime, anywhere—even just directing a thought toward God
qualifies as silent prayer.
Whether you have been praying for years, are just learning to pray, have hit
a “slump” in your spiritual life, or simply want your prayer life to improve,
know this: God wants you to learn to pray more effectively and He wants your
prayer life to be more fulfilling. Because you have opened this book, I am sure
that something inside you wants to increase your intimacy with God through
prayer. I believe you know that prayer is powerful, and that you long to see its
tremendous power released in your life, the lives of those you love, and the
situations that concern you.
Short, simple prayers can be mighty beyond description, but that does not
take away from the fact that prayer is also a grand mystery. Watchman Nee, a
Chinese Christian who wrote many profound books while imprisoned for his
faith, writes, “Prayer is the most wonderful act in the spiritual realm, as well as a
most mysterious affair.”1 I believe the greatest mystery of prayer is that it joins
the hearts of people on earth with the heart of God in heaven. Prayer is spiritual
and it goes into the unseen realm; it brings things out of that unseen realm into
the realm we can see and into the world around us, right where we live. It ushers
spiritual blessings into our natural, everyday lives and brings spiritual power to
bear on our earthly circumstances. We human beings are the only creatures in
our known universe who can stand in the natural realm and touch the spiritual
realm. When we pray, we connect with that spiritual realm, which is where God
is, and which affects our daily lives more than we often realize.
The fact that we want to pray—and that we believe that our prayer lives can
be better—is evidence that we know the spiritual realm exists and that we
believe what happens there affects what happens on earth. It proves that we
know deep in our hearts that there is more to life than meets the eye and we
value the things that are invisible more than the things we can see, just as Paul
writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18: “We consider and look not to the things that are
seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal
(brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and
everlasting.” When we understand that there are invisible, everlasting spiritual
realities that affect our earthly lives, we long to comprehend those things. We
begin to perceive that God is inviting us to interact with Him, to perceive things
spiritually and to partner with Him to accomplish them on earth—and that only
happens through prayer.
I like to say that prayer opens the door for God to work. As we partner with
God in the spiritual realm through prayer, we bring things out of that realm into
our lives, into our world, into our society, and into the lives of other people.
These things that come from heaven, these gifts of God, are already stored up for
us, but we will never have them unless we pray and ask God for them. He has
put together so much for us in the unseen realm; He is doing such wonderful
things for us, things we cannot see with our natural eyes or perceive with our
natural minds—and we receive and enjoy those things through the power and the
privilege of prayer. The Bible says that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard
and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and
keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence,
promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has
bestowed]” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Prayer is part of an obedient lifestyle. The Bible says that we do not have
certain things because we do not ask God for them (see James 4:2), and part of
the great mystery of prayer is that He requires us to ask for what He already has
in store for us. God—who is sovereign and can do anything He wants to do,
anywhere, anytime, any way He wants to do it, and does not need anyone’s
permission—wants us to ask Him. He has set in motion a spiritual law, which He
Himself abides by, that says He will not do anything on earth unless someone
prays and asks.
God has always said to His people and is still saying to us: “You and I are
partners. You are My body in the earth today.” What does that mean? We are
His body; we call ourselves “the body of Christ.” Jesus Christ does not have an
earthly body anymore. We are the representation of Who He is and what He
does on earth. We are His mouth, His hands, His feet, His face. We are the ones
who express His heart, demonstrate His love, and reveal His power to those
around us. And so, we need to pray. We need to access the wisdom and the
resources of heaven for ourselves and for others. We need to partner with God so
that His purposes will come to pass in our lives and in the lives of those around
us.
I believe you will find within these pages some extremely helpful
encouragement for your prayer life. Everything in this book is related to prayer;
not everything is necessarily specifically about prayer, but it pertains to
developing and maintaining an easy, fulfilling, effective, never-ceasing lifestyle
of communion with God.
I encourage you to begin this book by asking God to teach you to pray more
effectively, and I pray that He will use these pages to help answer that request.
As you go along, you will find out how to pray as an individual before God, free
to express yourself to Him in ways that are natural and that suit the unique
person He has called and created you to be. You will realize that prayer is not
only an enormous privilege, but that it is indeed much simpler than many people
think. You will discover how to uncomplicate your prayer life and understand
how to be set free from any preconceived notions that prayer has to subscribe to
any “rules” or that it must sound a certain way. In addition, I hope simple prayer
will become so much a part of your daily life that you will be liberated from ever
again feeling that praying is something you have to do, but something you can
look forward to and enjoy.
I will also share with you that prayer is as easy as breathing and help you
learn how to develop a lifestyle of prayer—praying all the time, everywhere you
go, in the midst of your daily routine. As you read this book, you will be
reminded of the awesome power of prayer, which is unlike anything else known
to man, and you will be encouraged to experience its power in your everyday
life, in your ordinary circumstances. As you read about the many aspects of
prayer, you will learn that different seasons and situations of life call for
different kinds of prayer—and you will learn about those various types of prayer
so that your effectiveness in prayer will increase.
As a quick preview, here’s an example: you will discover that simply
saying “Thank You, God” is a type of prayer when you realize you could have
been in a car accident, had you reached an intersection one minute sooner. Other
types of prayer about which I will share include: consecrating your life to God,
committing your problems to His care, asking God for what you need and want,
persisting in prayer until an answer comes, interceding for others, agreeing with
others in prayer, praying the Word of God and praying in the Holy Spirit. In
addition, you will discover and begin to understand the keys to effective prayer
—some of the heart attitudes that pave the way for your prayers to be answered.
Finally, I will address fourteen hindrances to answered prayer so that you will
know what to avoid if you want your prayers to be successful. All in all, I have
endeavored to present you with not only a thorough look at prayer, but also with
teaching that will really help you as you pray.
I believe you are reading this book because you really want to know your
prayers make a difference, you want to see God’s power at work in your life and
the lives of those around you, you want to enjoy your communication with God
and grow in your relationship with Him. I assure you, that’s exactly what He
wants too and He is eager to help you. Be blessed as you embark on this journey
toward more intimate, more exciting, more effective prayer!
—Joyce Meyer
1
Lord, Teach Me

I
want to ask you a question: do you believe your prayers are really
making a difference? Think about it: deep in your heart, do you ever wonder if
God is hearing you when you pray? When you finish praying, are you convinced
that your prayers have accomplished something? Are you satisfied with your
prayer life? Do you really know how to pray? Are you longing for a deeper,
richer, more dynamic relationship with God through prayer?
If you are like thousands of others I have encountered in more than thirty
years of ministry, you are saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” As I have traveled and
interacted with people, I have discovered that people really want to pray; they
want to know that God hears their prayers and that their prayers are being
effective. People want to grow in their prayer lives and to see their prayers
become more powerful as they pray for others and for themselves. In fact, a
2005 survey of more than eight hundred pastors in the United States revealed
that only 16 percent say they are “very satisfied” with their prayer lives. That
leaves an overwhelming 84 percent who feel their prayer lives could definitely
be better. Like the pastors in the survey, there are countless others who are not
satisfied with their prayer lives.1 They are not sure God is really listening when
they talk to Him; they do not understand why some prayers seem to go
unanswered; they wonder if they are praying “right” or praying enough. They
are generally frustrated in their prayer lives, eager to know what to do to feel
more connected with God and to gain confidence that their prayers really do
make a difference. If ministers feel this way, what must their congregations say?
One of the most important, most life-changing prayers a person can ever
utter is: “Lord, teach me to pray.” It is not just, “Lord, teach me to pray,” but,
“Lord, teach me to pray.” You see, knowing about prayer is really not enough;
we have to know how to pray as individuals who are in an intimate, dynamic
personal relationship with the God to whom we pray. Although there are
principles of prayer that apply to everyone, we are individuals and God will lead