Ten steps to prepare for prayer

How to offer effectual prayer

Am I in a position to approach God in holiness? Examine your own life, have you been involved in things that are contrary to the word of God? Not so obvious, for example, let us not give up coming together as some are in the habit of doing Heb 10. 25

1. Appropriate Gods Grace

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness 1. John: 9 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear Isaiah 59: 2 Sometimes Im not aware I am sinning hence, Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Psalm 19:12 like King David prayed

Why?

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Psalm 103:11-13

Behold!

God is serious about holiness, to be holy means to be one. One in the sense of integration. Integrity. Holiness is understanding that what God says and what he does are the same thing. Fixing your gaze on God and not being influenced by people who are not set on his word

Remember

and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 Put on the breastplate of righteousness Ephesians 6:14 Thus first understand that you need to walk in the righteousness that is available to you through what Christ did for us.

2. Put on righteousness

You cannot reach God of your own merit For example do not try and do right acts as a means for God to accept you yet you live a life contrary to the word Put on the breastplate, be pure in the vital areas of your life. So that If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

Remember

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 So God begins to adorn you with righteousness even as you seek after him with a heart that is pure before him

Finally

Leviticus 16: 4 He is to tie the linen sash around him The sash covers the inmost parts, the private life

3. Put on Truth and Honesty

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place Psalm 51: 6

Do we desire truth? Do we fear God enough to? Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness Ephesians 6:14 So that we are transparent and clean before God

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully

Psalm 24:1-10

He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Psalm 24

The Lord, Strong and Mighty, the Lord, Mighty in Battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of Glory!

Who is this King of Glory?

Selah

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11

4. Cleanse with the word

Ensure that you have read the word when you come before God, that you have the word in you, mostly that you obey the word. The word begins to wash you so completely that it revisits your attitudes changes the way you think, and eventually the way you feel without you even realizing it

Read the Word

You become what you listen to You become what you think

You become what is in your mind

Thus, if your mind is filled with the word, then you will start becoming what it says

Remember

Incense is the symbol of worship in the bible Thus when your sins are forgiven, and your heart is pure, when you are honest and your motives are right before God, and you are being cleansed by the word,

Now worship

5. Worship and Praise God

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:23-24

Honour my name first

Worship me

Aaron, put some incense on the fire first

Thus

Separate yourself from your normal activities From your normal environment

You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord... Jeremiah 29:13-14

6. Separate yourself

There is a place where God meets you. Not in you, not in a physical location, but in him as you worship him
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the Glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:8

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:8

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

7. Believe

Fat is a symbol of glory because fat is excess I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them. Isaiah 42:8-9

8. Give God the Glory

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. Isaiah 48:11-13

Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together

Because the first use of the word is washing

The second use is appropriating his promises do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

9. Wash in the Word

To enter Gods presence we must remain in a state of preparedness for prayer. We need to enter Gods presence on his terms We have the privilege of continual fellowship with God because of what Christ did for us, atoned our sins. Now:

10. Remain in the Anointing

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,

"Abba! Father!"