PRAY Method

Do you ever feel like your prayers seem to be misguided, or disproportionate? Or how you sometimes spend all your time in asking God for things and entirely forgetting to thank Him?

This is something that happens often, but one of the ways we can avoid wandering prayers or disorganized prayers is through different prayer outlines, or methods.

One of my favorite is a method I learned through the National Bible Bee this year which is an acronym called "PRAY."  I have used it over the course of the summer, and I have found it to be very helpful, not only in my own life, but also as I taught younger siblings and some girls I was discipling how to pray.

The acronym stands for:

Praise
Repent
Ask
Yield

 1. Praise

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits," ~Psalm 103:2

In my own prayer life, I have found that it is easy to rattle off a list of requests and forget the splendor of the One I am praying to.  I ask and ask and ask, but forget ever to say "thank you."  This is the time to express gratefulness for the things He has already done for you before moving on to share what is on your heart with Him.  He is so worthy of our praise, but if we don't schedule in our times of praise we often forget, since praising God is so opposite our self-centered nature.

2. Repent

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~1 John 1:9

Confession is also something I tend to let slip, if I don't choose to make time for it.  Remembering God's holiness through praise helps us to remember our own sinfulness by comparison.  God promises that if we confess our sins before Him, He will forgive us.  We must first break our hearts over our own sins, before we have the right attitude to ask Him for things.  It is fitting and proper to confess our sins before the holy and just Judge.  God already knows them.  But He has asked us to spell them out before Him and ask forgiveness.  And when we repent (or turn the other way), resolving no longer to allow that area of sin to control our lives, then the Lord will forgive our sins.  This time of confession and repentance prepares our hearts so that we have the right heart and attitude about the next section:

3. Ask

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." ~Philippians 4:6

After we have worshiped and adored our King for Who He is and acknowledged our own sinfulness before Him, we have the right heart to ask Him for the things that we desire.  When we remember how faithful God is and how unfaithful we are, we'll be less likely to ask Him for a new car and a easy school/work day and more likely to ask for faithfulness in obeying His commands.  We have the right attitude to pray in faith as we remember all the ways that the Lord has already been faithful.  And so we bring our requests before Him.

4. Yield

"And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”" ~Mark 14:35-36

This is why I love the PRAY method so much. Because after we have finished praising Him, and repenting of our sins, and bringing our requests before Him, we spend a few quiet moments in yielding our lives into His hand. This is a time of surrendering ourselves to His desires. We have asked the Lord for the things we want, in "Ask," but here, we must lay down those expectations and rights and place ourselves once again into the Father's capable hands. Just like Jesus did.

Although this method is just a guide, and by no means perfect, it is helpful to add some sort of structure to our prayers.  This way we are best able to bring our requests before Him, while praising Him and surrendering our lives into His hands.  Try it out this week and sooner than you know it you'll find your prayers naturally fitting into this mold as you talk to the King of kings.