Too busy not to pray                       Bill Hybells Bill Hybells is a pastor of Willow Creek Church, knowing for reaching out to the unchurched in the Chicago suburbs. Willow Creek's "seeker sensitive" approach to worship has had a major impact on churches across the United States and throughout the world. Bill has authored a number of books including "The God you were looking for" and "Who you are when no one's looking"

God's presence, God's Power

Prayer is an unnatural activity. Prayer is alien to our proud human nature.

The most intimate communion with God come only through prayer

I know more about prayer than I ever practice in my own life. Without praying I wanted to find out out what prayer is all about. 

The greatest fulfillment has not been the list of miraculous answers to prayers I have received. The greatest thrill has been the qualitative difference in my relationship with God

When we work we work, but when we pray God works

Prayer is the key to unlocking God's prevailing power in your life. If you are willing to invite God to involve himself in your daily challenges you will experience prevailing power.

God is willing

We think it is best not to bother him unless it is really important, but God is willing to listen
Don't try to find the secret of attracting his attention. Just say "Hello, Father" he loves to hear your voice and willing to listen. No one's voice sounds sweeter to God than yours.

God is able

God is not only willing but is able. Most of us have to admit that we don't pray that often about our deepest needs. we get fainted-heart. we begin to pray and begin to wander and doubt.
The real reason my prayers were weak was that my faith was weak. somewhere deep down, I don't believe he can do anything about them. but God is able and eager to meet your needs.

Heart-building Habits

Before we talk about habit of prayer I need to warn those people who is very discipline and want to make a to-do list . do you need more habits or more effective ones? do you need to weigh yourself down further or bring your heavy load to Jesus? For many believers spiritual discipline becomes a heavy burden. but habit of prayer is not something like that.
Maintaining good prayer habits is nonnegotiable. I know that no discipline will create a relationship between God and me. at the same time I know that I will not develop a rich, rewarding prayer life if I try to do it without discipline. Don't wait until you feel like praying.
Pray regularly, pray privately, pray sincerely, pray specifically.
It is important to have a regular time for prayer because without regularly prayer will never become a habit.

Praying like Jesus

Mean what you say. don't fall into the habit of using meaningless repetition.
bad example 1. "dear lord, please be with me as I go on this new job interview". Why do you ask God to do what he is already doing. Instead we need to pray that we will be aware of his presence, that we will be confident because of it.
bad example 2. when people have junk food or unhealthy food, "dear Lord bless this food to our bodies and grant us strength...." Don't ask God to bless junk food and miraculously transform it.

Pray from the heart. God doesn't want us to pile up impressive phrases. He wants us simply to talk to him as to a friend or father, authentically, personally, earnestly. Don't make your prayer like theological sounds.
Pray specifically. God-honoring prayers are not simply shopping lists. They are more than cries for help, strength, mercy and miracles. Authentic prayer should include worship, submission, requests, confession.
Christ's followers don't grow, its because they do not make a habit of evaluating their lives. No evaluation no growth. each day try to honestly assess my soul's condition.

A Pattern for Prayer

Developing prayer fitness is like developing physical fitness. We need a pattern to avoid becoming imbalanced. without a routine, we will probably fall into meaningless repetition.
ACTS : Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication

Adoration: Entering into holy space. adoration reminds us of God's identity and inclination. adoration purifies the one who is praying.
Confession: Naming our faults. We throw all our sins onto a pile without so much as looking at them. when I lump all my sins together it's not too painful or embarrassing*. we need to be specific to our sin in order to be forgiven.
The benefits of confession: your conscience will be cleansed. and then you will be relieved. I don't think many of us Christians take confession seriously enough. when you are totally honesty about your sins, something happens.

Thanksgiving: Expression gratitude. there is a difference between feeling grateful and expressing thanks*. good example (Luke 17:11-19) story about ten leprosy. God is our Father and he too is moved when we express our thanksgiving.
Supplication: Asking for help. if you have adored him, confessed your sins and thanked him for all his good gifts, you are ready to tell him what you need.　
Good prayer example, if what I am asking for isn't good gift, if the time isn't right, if I am not ready to receive it, no problem. your ways are higher than my ways and your thoughts than my thoughts. If you have different plans, we will go your way.

Mountain Moving Prayer

Our prayers are more than wishes, hopes or feeble aspirations, but only if we pray with believing, faith-filled hearts. that's the kind of prayer that moves mountains.
Faith comes from looking at God, not at the mountain. Don't focus on the mountain. When I began to focus on God instead of the mountain, he was able to work through me.
God gives us faith as we walk with him. Take the first step. this will take a bit of courage. When people of Israel took the first step the Red Sea was split two.
You can walk with God by shifting the focus from the size of your mountain to the sufficiency of the mountain mover, and by stepping forward in obedience.

The Hurt of Unanswered Prayer

Didn't Jesus say, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, know and the door will be opened to you? I have been praying for a long time but God didn't answer. I wonder God is even listening to my prayer.
There are 4 ways of God's answer. 

Inappropriate request. Once Peter asked Jesus on the mountain. "Jesus let us build shelters up here for you and Moses and Elijah. we will be happy to stay on the mountain with you and bask in your glory". Jesus' immediate response was "no"
Too loving to say yes. if your request is totally self-serving, patently materialistic, shortsighted, immature the he will answer your prayers, but he will say no
The importance of motives. The most famous wrong request is this: "O God, please change the other person"
He has reasons for his not yet response. 
sometimes God delays in order to test our faith. we think of God as a vending machine that we should kick if we don't get an instant response.
sometimes God delays so that we can develop character qualities such as endurance, trust, patience, submission.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8~9)　

Prayer Busters *

The greatest prayer motivator is answered prayer.
When prayers are not answered, most people want to know what's wrong with God. It is a lot easier to blame God than to look in the mirror and say "maybe I am the problem"
It is unlikely that all your requests are inappropriate. It is unlikely that your timing is always off. It is more likely that some malfunction in your life is blocking your prayers.

The most common cause of unanswered prayer is prayerlessness. Why isn't God answering your prayer? because you have not prayed purposefully, fervently or expectantly.
The second reason for unanswered prayer is the most obvious, Unconfessed sin. it cuts off our communication with the Father. If you are tolerating sin in your life, don't waste your breath praying unless it's a prayer of confession.

The third prayer buster is unresolved relational conflict. There is no point in trying to pray if we are engaged in ongoing conflict with a family member, a coworker, a neighbor, a friend. "anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother in still in the darkness" (1John 2:9)
The fourth prayer buster is selfishness. most of time, our prayer is like this, "keep me from trial or tragedy or pain. just give me a convenient, happy satisfying, problem-free life"
The fifth prayer buster is uncaring attitudes. Proverbs 21:13 says "If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard"  If your ear is open to the afflicted, God will keep his ear open to you.

the sixth prayer buster is inadequate faith. ask in faith and never doubt. if your prayers have clouds of doubt hanging over them, they won't get anywhere.
Nothing motivates people to develop their prayer lives more than answered prayers.

Cooling off on Prayer

The prayerless season. On e reason we stop praying or let our prayer lives fade is that we are too comfortable.
Forgetting God. we pray like college kids who phone home(collect) only when their money runs low.
Ole-fashioned sin is plenty strong enough to create an ever-widening gap in our relationship with God. The wider the gap, the less likely we are to pray. and the less we pray the wider the gap becomes.

Slowing down to Pray

We must cultivate in order to pray effectively. But the information about prayer will do us no good if we never slowdown long enough to pray. and most of us are far too busy for our spiritual health.
Authentic Christianity is not learning a set of doctrines and then stepping in line with people all marching the same way. It is a walk, a supernatural walk with a living, dynamic, communicating God.
Christian life is learning to hear God's voice and developing the courage to do what he tells us to do.
Journaling. this is a way to slow down your speed. Be still and know that God is God. We don't know why we are here or where we are going. One benefit of journaling is to force us to examine our lives.
The archenemy of spiritual authenticity is busyness. It's time to slow down, reflect and listen.

The Importance of Listening

You can't build a relationship on one-way speeches. If the essence of Christianity is a personal relationship between the almighty God and individual human beings, it stands to reason that God still speaks to believers today.
Some people expect Holy Spirit too much to do every detail of their lives and actually doing nothing. these people are so heavenly minded that they are of little earthly use. This is not Holy Spirit's leading, it is a very human form of irresponsibility.
Why is it important to be interested in the Holy Spirit's leadings in your life?

How to hear God's leading

The discipline of stillness. people who are really interested in hearing from God must pay a price. they must discipline themselves to be still before God.
No one can become an authentic Christian on a steady diet of activity. Power comes out of stillness, strength comes out of solitude. decisions that change the entire course of your life out out of your times of stillness before God.
When God is silent. He is a living Being, not an answering machine, and he speaks when he has something to say.
Listen and obey. the other reason we may not hear God's voice is that we don't plan to do anything about it. But if we don't follow up on the Holy Spirit's leadings, he may see no reason to continue speaking.

What to do with Leadings *

What are you going to do about the leadings you receive? and how do you know that leading comes from Holy Spirit or not?
all leadings that come from God are consistent with his Word, the Bible. Our rationalizations are often very sophisticated but the bottom line is always the same. people want to divorce in order to marry others who seem more attractive or to be freed from marriage covenant.
God's leading is always consistent with the person he made you to be. God is purposeful. if your decision is not consistent your gifts then think about it again.
God's leadings usually involve servanthood. If a leading promises easy money and fame, you better watch out. Prosperity has ruined more people than servanthood and adversity every will.
Many of God's leadings will require you to choose between being comfortable and building a godly character. God led Jesus to a cross, not a crown.　

Living in God's Presence

The purpose of prayer is not simply to draw up one's request and praise and present them in an acceptable fashion to God. The purpose of prayer goes deeper than that. Prayer is a way to maintain constant communion with God the Father and God the Son through God the Holy Spirit. It is the means of living out the intense relationship.
Prayer and God's presence are two sides of the same coin. Awareness of God's purpose comes as the result of taking time to speak and listen to him through prayer.
Forgiver, Lord and Friend. Sometimes God seemed lifted up far above his creatures and worshipers and the distance between us often seemed unbridgeable. It is because we maybe understand Jesus only as the forgiver of our sins. But Jesus called himself "Friends"
Enjoy him forever. Prayer is the way to turn dry theological description into warm, living personal realities