Keeping Focused in Prayer
Luke 18:1 “ . . . Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”
I Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
I. Distractions from Concentration in Prayer.
A. The Days Activities
B. Work or Domestic Problems
C. Things that need to be done
D. Wrong Thoughts
E. Solutions to Problems
II. Steps to Effective Concentration in Prayer
A. Understand prayer can be a struggle.
1. Romans 7:14-15, 23
2. Romans 8:23-27
B. Prepare your mind to be in the right state.
1. Have readiness of Mind (ready to Fellowship with God)
2. Acts 17:1
3. Readiness of mind is to earnestly want or hunger for the very presence of God. It is to want more than answers to requests and the supply of needs.
4. James 1:5-8
C. Practice the Presence of God
1. Understand that God is with you.
2. Realize that this is a biblical truth not based on emotions or feelings.
3. Matthew 28:20
4. The air which our body requires envelops us on every hand. The air of itself seeks to enter our bodies and, for this reason, exerts pressure upon us. It is well known that it is more difficult to hold one’s breath than it is to breathe. We need but exercise our organs of respiration, and air will enter forthwith into our lungs and perform its life-giving function to the entire body. The air which our souls need also envelops all of us at all times and on all sides. God is round about us in Christ on every hand, with his many-sided and all-sufficient grace. All we need to do is to open our hearts. - O. Hallesby in Prayer. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 9
5. The most holy practice, the nearest to daily life, and the most essential for the spiritual life, is the practice of the presence of God, that is to find joy in his divine company and to make it a habit of life, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly with him at all times, every moment, without rule or restriction, above all at times of temptation, distress, dryness, and revulsion, and even of faithlessness and sin. - Brother Lawrence
5. Romans 8:26-27
D. Worship in Prayer
1. “In worship we lavish all our attention and affections toward Him.”
2. Worship both revives and refreshes the worshiper.
3. Worship is seeing what God is worth and giving him what he’s worth.
III. Practical Pointers to Help Concentration.
A. Journal your prayers
B. Eliminate Distractions - get alone, get comfortable,
C. Have a note pad - jot down “To Do’s” or other things that press on you.
D. Pray aloud
E. Vary your praying postures
F. Vary your praying style by interspersing praise in your praying.
