"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise." Psalm 100:4
Do you lose track of yourself and God when you pray? Some even fall asleep probably because they are experiencing peace with God! Even wondering in thought, undisciplined, aimless, and undirected or unfocused? You are admonished to stay alert in prayer which means be watchful for prayer opportunities and needs of others first and then yourself. Prayer does have a purpose and it's not to get God to see things your way or to change His mind or to get Him to do you a favor or grant your every wish or whim. Successful prayer changes you, not God!
It is an honor just to be able to go directly to the Father in Jesus' name and to boldly approach the throne of grace to ask God what He is already predisposed to do! Contrary to some, prayer is not just asking God to do things for you and He is no genie! The purpose of prayer is prayer! That's right! We learn to experience God and have an intimate encounter with the Almighty; bare your soul!
It's a privilege to pray as a child of God to the Father and have His attention and audience! When we gain access to the throne room and get into fellowship with God, it's its own reward! We come as we are in prayer but will not stay that way! We should enjoy prayer and our ongoing dialogue with God! We must beware of what breaks this beautiful relationship: unconfessed sin in our lives. First order of business and Job One is to come clean with God and confess known and unknown sins in general. God will then cleanse us of all unrighteousness, even the sins we are not aware of.
We ought to have a divine and spiritual purpose for our prayer like a petition or request, intercession for others in need, praise offering, thanksgiving, or confession. That would be the primary reason for going to God and all the rest is incidental but we must stay focused on our purpose and not get sidetracked or lose our focus. Prayer without purpose (like reading without one) is like going by feelings and they are as variable as a weathervane. We must not worry about anything, pray about anything, and thank about everything! As the spiritual say: "Take it to the Lord in prayer!" Just like when you read the Bible to get a word from the Lord, you must ask yourself: "What is occasioning the prayer; why and for what?
Do you ever wonder why your prayer life seems anemic and you are out of your league compared to the prayers of preachers who get plenty of public practice? Don't give up and figure out and ponder what interferes with your prayers: apathy, lack of prep, lack of Bible interest or reading, sin in your life, negligence, easygoing life with not concerns, no emergencies God forbid! Don't let prayer be your last resort but your fist call for help! You must learn to go directly to God and not first to your friends or family! God is your Provider and has promised to see to it all our needs are taken care of; we just need to learn to lean on Him and trust and obey!
A problem some have is that they give up too easily and accept a "No!" for an answer when God is just asking you to wait or telling you He has something better. You must realize that problems come to drive us to our needs and this is good when we have no place else to go. We ought always to pray and not to give up; praying as if it all depends on God, but living as if it all depends on us! Don’t forget to seek the prayer support of others for urgent causes and needs and be willing admit your own.
Remember, prayer is dialogue with God and God speaks to us primarily through His Word and reading it is meant to put us into the mood to pray and to know what our needs are and what to pray for in a godly manner. The formula or format is to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 3:12). In sum, it is paramount to pray “in the Spirit” being attentive to God’s will to be heard and to look for needs to fulfill by your intercession and petition. Soli Deo Gloria!