In all my years preaching the gospels to the best of my ability, I was never taught how to pray properly. Most people are not taught at all. In other articles I have discussed both faith by itself and prayer by itself.

But I still feel like this article can give some good advice, pointers and real life examples based on my own personal experience. Jesus has told us that if we have faith and ask in faith we will achieve good things for his kingdom. (Matthew 21:21-22)

”Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” (Matthew 15:21-22)

Here we have a women who believed in Jesus and his ability to do the impossible. Casting out a devil is not something that can be done as an operation, it takes faith and asking to do so. The prayer was directly to Jesus, but Jesus tests her a little longer even though she does not get the answer she wanted right away.

”But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:23-24)

His apostles missing the real life lesson that many people who have obeyed God in the past have struggled through. Can you guess what it is? Patience, lots and lots of patience. In my other writings I mention people who waited years for an answer to prayer, the same lesson is for this women who Jesus not only rejects once, (which was extremely rare for Jesus, at least from the records) but twice and then proceeds to suggest that she is a dog.

”Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” (Matthew 15:25-26)

That had to have hurt, deep down I imagine her accepting what is said, sort of like gentiles accepting that we are grafted in but still worthy to be accepted. After being told she is an animal, she does a clever thing and tells her creator that what he said is true, but even dogs eat from the crumbs of their master.

”And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:27-28)

This is the kind of faith and prayer our Lord wants from all of us, not miracles for show or pleasure, but faith that he can assist us when things are out of our control, when things seem impossible. This women was persistent to Jesus. Something Jesus himself points out is that we should be as persistent too. In this parable he lets us know how we should pray and how constant we should be in prayer.

”And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8)

The actual title of this parable in the KJV version is named “How to pray.” The old widow constantly visited the corrupt judge once a day, its not explained to us how long she did this, but we can image that she did it for a long time. The judge says. “Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Then Jesus pauses right in the middle of the story and says, “And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.” Now why would our Lord put a focus on that point of the story? Jesus never has done that before in any other story.

The reason is because he lets us know that constant prayer and taking action, no matter how long it takes, is the key to getting answers to them. The widow took action, but also asked once a day. This is something everyone can practice, you may start small and have failures in prayer like I have many times, not all prayers are answered and in a lot of cases our faith is only the size of a mustard seed at first. But with every prayer answered your faith in prayer will be increased and then the cycle never stops after you have discovered God hears your prayers and then your faith being the size of the full grown mustard seed tree! Remember, the key is to not give up, even if it takes weeks, months or years and maybe decades.

From my own personal experience I have tested this type of prayer out myself and it works! It took me a while to find another brother who lives by faith without asking for money and I recorded the days. When I did find him, both of us rejoiced and were shocked that we found each other. Him and his wife have been living by faith for about six years and have not found anyone since then who wanted to serve the Lord. From my own experience before starting my own ministry, I would rarely find anyone who would want to preach the gospels for years as well.

Jesus would also practice praying constantly or consistently. In Luke 6:12-16 we see Jesus praying an entire night to eventually claim his apostles in person, a big decision that needed much wisdom and prayer to make.

James, Jesus´brother mentions Elias who was a man who “prayed earnestly” for impossible things to happen. Like it not raining on the earth for three and a half years. In Samuel 1:9-20, Hannah prays “in bitterness of soul” and weeps deeply for a child to have. This was not a one time prayer, she had been praying consistently through the years until she received an answer. There are many more old testament reverences that I wont list here.

My point is if it takes you 275 days to find one individual who lives by faith or wants to obey Jesus, just know everyone in Heaven rejoices! And that it is your responsibility to make sure the fruit God gives you stays fresh and doesn’t spoil so to speak.

Jesus tells us to pray or ask for laborers. (Matthew 9:37-38) We should be asking, looking and believing for all these things to come to pass. If we try to do these things in our own strength, we will most certainly fail. I know this myself. Without me asking the Lord for laborers, I would have never found another follower like minded as myself.

There are also a few verses to back up what I am saying. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul tells us to “Pray without ceasing.” Now as I have just explained this means to constantly pray until God tells you to forsake the prayer, or until you get an answer.

My personal advice for anyone who wants to practice exercising their faith in God is this, to get up as soon as you are able, early is the best time for God, there is a verse that says, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” (Proverbs 8:17)

Job was also one who would pray daily for the protection of his family and rose up early to do it. (Job 1:5) In Jobs story we see Satan complaining to the Lord about how God has put a spiritual hedge around Job and that he cannot test how sincere Job is if God is constantly protecting him because of Jobs prayers first thing in the morning. (Job 1:1-9) With all of this said, it is true, from reading all of Jobs story, that God can take away whatever he pleases for our edification, even if we do pray early every morning. That is something to keep in mind.

As I was saying, its best not to waste time for you were bought with a price. After getting up the first thing, you should read the gospels with other parts of the bible, it can be the old testament or the new. And it is important to take your time to read whats in front of you, not to have your mind turned off, but slowly ponder or think about the spiritual milk or meat you need and apply it to your life personally for God and change. After your spirit is refreshed and maybe that you received wisdom and knowledge from God, you should feel a calm state or happy one internally. Then you should pray for a good hour or close to an hour. You can ask God for specific requests about looking for more believers, financial help for assisting the poor or anything that relates to Christs will in the gospels.

There also needs to be praises, worship and thanksgiving to God every day, its important to reflect on what God has given you and thank him for it, because all good things come from God.

”We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-2)

One last point is to mark and keep track of how long it takes for you to have a specific prayer answered. If you dont keep track, you will lose your progress or simply forget what you are praying for and you wont see how long it took for the prayer to be answered losing the bigger picture.

I hope this will help you, and remember, exercising faith and prayer together is important and it is a gift all men can acquire.

”So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

”For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)