Great Morning my brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray you’ve spent the week living intentionally and with purpose. It’s Self-Care Sunday here on Mindful Of Me Moments. As a rule of thumb, we should all be practicing good self-care techniques daily. I’ve chosen Sundays to be the day that I touch base and provide tips to all of you. As you know I’m currently working my first book. It’s a starter guide on how to establish a relationship with Yahweh. It’s something that I believe will be very beneficial for the “New Christian” or someone who knows Christ and may need to brush up on the fundamentals of their intimate relationship with Him. After all, we can’t have self-care without having a relationship with Christ first. I mean He is the one who knows what we need. For this Self-Care Sunday, we are going to be talking about one of the tips provided in my upcoming book. That tip being “How To P.R.A.Y.” As always I pray that it inspires you to self-reflect and make adjustments as needed. Blessings.
I remember being a young girl and not knowing how to pray. The very first prayer that I learned came from Matthew 6, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” You know the rest. If you grew up in church then this was probably your first prayer as well. I often times heard the elders in the church describe prayer as “having a conversation with God.” Was it that simple? I just open my mouth and talk to God like I talked to one of my home-girls? There had to be more to it than that. Surely, I would have to speak to Him with more depth and diction. Looking back now I probably spent more time wondering what He wanted me to say versus just speaking to Him. As my relationship with Him started to flourish there were some fundamental points that helped me in my prayer time.
Before we get into those points I thought it would be beneficial to understand why it’s important to pray. The bible says,
“Pray without ceasing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Ephesians 6:18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
There are many scriptures that explain the importance of prayer. In short, prayer is our display of faith, trust, love, and humility towards Jesus. It’s also a direct avenue to make our requests known to Him and a way to hear from Him. Ultimately, it serves as a catalyst in our relationship with our Father.
Now onto the fundamentals of prayer. Next time you P.RA.Y remember to Praise, Repent, Ask, & Yield.
PRAISE the Lord for who He is. He is wonderful. Marvelous in all His ways. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He is the one and only true God. He is Mighty, our Everlasting Father, the Prince of Prince. He is what was, what is, and what will be. He is Unchanging. He is our Redeemer and Way-maker. Start all your prayers off with giving Him the praise that is due.
REPENT unto the Lord. The bible says, “we all fall short to the glory of God.” True repentance is more than our verbal declaration. It’s our ability to turn away from things that are not pleasing to God. When we pray with a repenting heart we are acknowledging to Yahweh that “we have sinned and we are making a decision to turn away from that sinful act moving forward.” The Bible requires us to confess our sins to God. There may be times that we’ve sinned and are not even aware of it. Make sure you’re praying that God reveals any area that you need to repent and when He does repent then turn away from it.
ASK the Lord. There are three things that the bible says we ought to do when asking God for something. We are to make sure our request glorify God, are parallel to His word, and that they bring joy. See John 14:13, John 15:7, and John 16:23-24. Once you’ve checked all three of those then ask away. “We have not because we ask not.” It’s not good enough to stand on the fact that God knows the desires of our heart. His word tells us that we have to ASK HIM. Whether you’re asking Him to move in someone else’s life or your own. Make sure you’re specific. Don’t ask for God to bless you with the rent for next month. Ask Him to bless you with the wisdom to handle your finances. See what I did there? Lol.
YIELD unto the Lord. This is one of my favorite points in the P.R.A.Y. fundamentals. Yield means to produce or provide. Biblically, it means to wait on or submit to. When we yield to God we are literally giving Him the opportunity to provide or produce a response to our prayer. I know right. No one ever told you to wait for Him to respond after your prayers. Welp, now you know. For me, this is where meditation takes place. I pray then I meditate in silence. I allow His Holy Spirit to comfort me and I wait until I feel released to move. Sometimes He reveals things to me. Other times He just provides me with peace and a clear mind. Either way, I’ve provided Him free range to speak back to me as He sees fit.
So there it is people of God. Our Self-Care Sunday Tip. “How To P.R.A.Y.” I pray that it helped those who may not know how to approach praying. I pray it aides as a refresher for those who already know Christ. I would love to know your fundamentals of prayer. Drop a comment below. I love you with the love of the Lord. Blessings.
Mindful of Me 
Good post indeed. I struggled with prayers until I realised it was a sign of pride in me. When we don’t pray, we are telling God we don’t need Him. Prayer like you said is a sign of humility.
Right on point. I like to communicate–prayer is that part of my relationship with God where I am free to be me before Him — to tell Him the things I’m anxious about; speak about my dreams; to seek His direction; and more than anything–to draw nearer to Him!! There’s so much power in Praise-Repent-Ask-Yield – best of all: He’s Listening and He Cares!!
LOVE THIS!!!