Do you know that prayer is an act of communication?

Yes, prayer is an act of communication between God and man and it is meant to be a two-way communication. However, what many people consider as prayer today is not what prayer is. Many have turned prayer to a one-way communication. They only pray to God to dump their requests and refuse to wait and hear what God has to say in return.

Imagine how your earthly father will feel if you go to him with barrages of complaints and you refuse to listen to what he has to say. This same goes with our Heavenly Father. He is always willing to talk to us as well but we are always in a rush to leave.

God calls everyone to a daily and consistent communication with Him. He longs to hear our voices as much as He also wants us to listen to Him.

It is essential we create time for Him. The truth is that it is only in the place of prayers we receive revelations, win battles, get clarity, etc.

Dear teenagers, you can’t afford to be lazy in the place of prayers. No one is too young to communicate with God. Even a baby communicates with his/her earthly mother and father, so why should we be small to talk and hear from God?

Let us quickly look at a teenager whose lifestyle was characterized with prayers.

His name is DANIEL in the Scriptures.

Daniel was a teenager when he was taken away from his home in Palestine to Babylon.

There in Babylon, he was faced with different temptations but he stood his ground.

He purposed not to defile himself neither did he bow to worship the strange God of Babylon.

And we could see how God gave him the gift of interpretation of dreams and understanding of visions.

He also stood out among his colleagues and became famous in the government of Babylon. Eventually he became the trusted adviser of King Darius. Not only that, he was able to get revelations of what will happen in the end time.

One of the things that made Daniel achieved all these was because he was a man of prayer. His habit was to pray three times a day, kneeling by a window in his room (Daniel 6:10).

Daniel is an example to us today that we all can also be people given to consistent prayer life no matter the age or location.

We can also knock on Heavens doors and they will be opened. We can also ask and receive answers.

However, there are some principles we need to engage in in order to receive answers to prayers:

1) Praying in faith: Mark 11:24 says “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Many pray fruitlessly without results simply because of their unbelief.

They doubt God in their hearts. They are not sure of what God can do. Doubt and unbelief hinder a believer from receiving answers to prayers.

2) Praying aright: It is essential that we pray aright. Many people pray for selfish reasons. Some pray ignorantly.

James 4:3 says “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

3) Praying with concentration: Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Seeking God with our heart means giving him all our undivided attention. Many go into the place of prayer with their mouth only while theirs hearts are far away.

4) Praying humbly: God resist the proud. When we pray with pride in our lives, God will not hear.

James 4:10 says Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

5) Pray with a holy heart: Our God is a holy God. Therefore, to approach Him and hear from Him means we must be holy too.

“…but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15‭-‬16 KJV”

I hope today we will learn to pray aright, in humility & holiness, with concentration and without doubt.

Also, remember that PRAYER IS A TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION. Learn to listen as much as you speak too.