Prayer 101

For the past year I have been praying for something pretty specific for my family. This prayer has so far gone unanswered, as far as my worldly eyes can tell anyways. I know God answers prayers in ways we can't even imagine and sometimes in ways we don't understand. It's so easy to become frustrated when prayers seem to go unanswered, especially because I often have a very different time table than God and expect prayers to be answered when I want them too. Sometimes feeling that God is not even listening. Have you ever felt this way? As I thought about my "unanswered" prayer this past year I began to question the way I was praying. Was my prayer aligning with God's will? Was I concerning myself with God's will at all or did I have tunnel vision just waiting for my answer? Had I really been devoting myself to prayer on this matter or had my prayers been half hearted? Sometimes I think I get caught up in the way books, studies and people suggest to pray and forget about the simplicity, honesty and humility that God is asking for from His WORD when we pray.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the very same weekend I began questioning my prayer life our pastor began a sermon series on The Lords Prayer. He titled it Prayer 101, breaking down and unpacking each verse one by one. It was as if God was saying, "I AM listening. Now let's look at they way you're communicating with me." I am going to be digging deeper into the way I pray, not with the hope that my prayer will be instantly answered, but with the anticipation of improving my communication the Lord. To know Him better. To seek His will in every prayer and every answer or "non answer." And I'm going to be sharing what I learn here, using my pastor's same title for this new series of posts.

Is there something in your life that you've been praying for that has seemed to go "unanswered"?

Have you changed the way you approach prayer? 

Has God revealed new things to you through your new approach?