Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.” While praying for yourself is biblical, many believers hesitate when it comes to such prayers thinking they are not being humble. Others believe praying for themselves means they are taking attention away from God and placing it in their own direction. Yet, we are told in Scripture that it’s ok to pray for ourselves. We should call on God and make our petitions known to Him. Here are seven ways to pray for yourself everyday.
Pray For God’s Love
God wants to lead you to all the good things He has in store for you. He loves you and wants to be involved in even the smallest details of your life. Each day you should pray to be reminded of God’s love for you. John 3:16 is an incredible reminder of God’s love for us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” No matter how silent He seems, His love is incredible and it never ends, even when we can’t always see what God is doing. God’s Word tells us to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6). When we acknowledge God, we acknowledge that we care what He is thinking. When we trust God, we accept His love and influence in our very lives.
Pray For Patience
Praying, especially for yourself when you haven’t spent a lot of time doing it, requires patience. Some days, it is a lot harder to be patient. When we’re bringing our concerns to the Lord again and again, we grow tired of waiting. It soon begins to feel like our prayers are falling on deaf ears. Often our desire is to take control because it is our human reaction to the silence. We know Galatians 5 lists patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, so we confess our desire to rule our own lives. We ask the Spirit to fill us, empowering and directing us even as we continue to wait on the Lord.
We receive this strength by being filled with the spirit. As Christians, we know that the ultimate source of patience lives within us. Our role is to trust that the Holy Spirit does live within us, and ask Him for strength to persevere in whatever situation we find ourselves in. This a provision we can claim by faith as taught to us in Romans 5:1-5.
Pray For a Humble Heart
When we pray for ourselves and our own human needs, it’s not always easy to hear God’s voice. One thing hearing His voice requires is having a humble heart. The Bible tells us, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:12-13). We are not in a position to make demands of God. Yet, we can ask, seek and knock, and the Bible promises that God will open the door. God will reveal Himself to those who seek Him humbly.
Pray For Guidance
Praying for God’s power in your life requires guidance. Through Christ, and the power of His Holy Spirit, God wants to speak to you one a one-on-one basis, every day. If you believe that God doesn’t want to speak to you, it’s likely you won’t be able to hear His voice. However, when you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send us, hearing God’s voice becomes a natural way of life. The Bible tells us the Father will give His Spirit to all who seek (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit will help you understand the Bible so you will know how to apply its wisdom to your life. As Christians, we each have the ability to hear from God and be led by the Holy Spirit daily.
Pray For the Power to Listen
It’s easy to talk and present our requests to God especially when we have our own personal needs, but it’s a lot harder to listen to what God is telling us. Trusting that God is at work in your life requires training and discipline. It’s very difficult to trust in His power when we are tuning into forces that aren’t God.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we can train our ears to recognize the voice of God above all the noise. “But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). When we practice, by reason of use, we are able to discern whether what we hear is of God, our flesh, or the Enemy. It’s important that we hear the Holy Spirit and recognize the ways He is speaking and working through us. Jesus said, “He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing” (Matthew 13:9). Pray that God will give you a heart to not only listen but also to obey.
Pray That Nothing Blocks You From Him
It’s time to examine your life. Ask yourself is there any unconfessed sin in your life that may be blocking you from receiving the power of prayer? The Bible tells us, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). Doing this requires us to look deep into our own hearts and lives. Begin by asking yourself: Do I have bad motives? Is there anything or anyone that I love more than God? As these things come to light and you become more aware of what’s separating you from God, ask Him for His forgiveness. The act of repentance pleases God and restores our fellowship with Him.
In addition to these seven points, we should always pray for the forgiveness of our sins. We should never be afraid to make our sins known to God. Call on God and receive His forgiveness. Once we seek God and ask Him for our forgiveness, He can begin to restore and strengthen us.
