You can pray powerful prayers!  I want you to get this truth:  God wants to respond to you and to your needs and this is one of the reasons that prayer conversation with God is so important!

Yesterday we discovered Step One in praying powerful prayers.  The first step is the Step Of Integrity!  If we are going to pray powerful prayers, then we must be people of honor, people who’s walk and talk match up to bring glory to our Creator and Sustainer!

We are taking our learning from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 where we find “The Prayer Of Jabez!”  This little tucked away prayer was made popular a few years ago by Dr. Bruce Wilkerson in his book entitled by the same name.  The scripture says: “9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

Today we are going to discover the second step!  The second step is The Step Of Godly Focus!  The Scripture says “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel.”  It is very important when we pray, that we know who we are talking to and listening for.  Our prayer needs to be to someone who can do something about the things that we are praying about!  God is that Someone that can do that something we are needing done in our lives!

Take some time today to talk to and listen for God!  Don’t just say you are.  Don’t pretend you are.  Don’t be satisfied with just going through the motions.  Actually take some time to talk with God, your Creator and Sustainer!  Make some time to listen for His still, small voice.  What is it that you need to say to God?  What is it that God is saying to you?  This is the kind of real conversation that allows God to be powerful in your life and that enables your life to be powerful in this world!  You can do this!  Take some time and have that conversation!  You’ll be glad you did!

Several years ago, Dr. Bruce Wilkerson helped a lot of people to discover a prayer that was tucked away in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.  It has become widely known today as The Prayer Of Jabez!  All Scripture is powerful and meaningful for our lives.  This particular Scripture is very meaningful to us, because it gives us the words that we want to say, but are just never quite sure how to say them!

This is what those two verses say: “⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

There is much to learn from these two verses of Scripture.  Let’s see if there is anything that we can learn that might help us to grow in our relationship with our Creator and Sustainer!

The first things we see is that Jabez was an honorable man.  In fact the Scripture says that he was more honorable than all of his brothers.  This means that he was a man of his word.  His words and actions complemented one another.  His walk and his talk matched and gave him a reputation of integrity!  If we want to pray powerful prayers we must seek to be honorable men and women, whose walk and talk match!  Take a moment and think about some of the steps that you need to take, so that your walk and talk can match in a way that will honor God and open your life to growth and blessing.

Tomorrow we will take a look at another step that we need to take, if we want to pray powerful prayers.  Until then, work on being a man or woman of honor, by making sure that your walk and talk match up for God’s glory!  Remember James 5:16 “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Every now and then I will get the question:  “How do you come up with some of the stuff that you come up with?” I usually answer:  “If I come up with anything good, then it most likely is not me, but the Holy Spirit!”  This answer tells you where the good stuff comes from, but not how to open up your life to receive it.

I was thinking this morning about how I hear, feel and receive from the Holy Spirit and here are five things that I do, that I believe help me to be in touch, in tune and in step with the Holy Spirit!

1.) I take time to pray meaningful prayer everyday! I don’t just mean that I pray!  I pray on purpose and with a purpose!  I want to talk to God and I want to hear from God!  Meaningful prayer is much more than simply going through the motions of prayer!  In fact, I usually begin my day with prayer and pray all throughout the day as things come to mind.  This ongoing conversation with God often reveals amazing things and brings comfort and strength on a continual basis!

2.) I make time to reflect on a regular basis! One of the things that will slip out of your life is the time to think about what is happening and why.  We experience opportunities for growth almost continually, but we miss out on the growth, because we fail to take the time to reflect, think and learn.  I have found that if I don’t make the time, then I won’t take the time!  This reflective learning is so important that I make time to slip away and ask the question:  What is the Spirit trying to teach me?

3.) I study and learn new things all of the time! I learned a long time ago from John Maxwell that leaders are readers.  I have books, magazines and printed articles all over the place.  If I have a still moment, then I try to fill a part of that moment with reading that will allow me to learn something new!  I now am blessed to have an iPad and Kindle, and I use both of them to enhance my reading and often share thoughts as they flow into my head and heart via Twitter and Facebook!

4.) I serve others and give the glory to God! One of my favorite things in life is getting to spend time with others.  I love to sit down across the table from someone and listen to their story, struggles and victories, and then encourage them to head into the even more amazing stuff that God has for them.  Time is the most valuable commodity that any of us have on this earth and one of my greatest pleasures is being able to use the time that I have to help serve others by helping them to find and travel in the right direction!

5.)  I submit and am accountable for Kingdom glory! I have a small handful of very close friends, who I talk with on a very regular basis.  I trust them completely and share with them every part of my life, especially the parts that you can’t see, that float around in my mind and heart.  I listen to what they have to say and use it to help me understand God’s guidance and direction.  Many times this changes the direction that I am traveling.  Often I don’t want to change my direction, but have to submit, because ultimately it is not about me, but God, His glory and His Kingdom!

I hope these five will help you in your journey toward right direction!  God Bless, Press On and G3!  (Give God Glory!)