How to Pray for Yourself with Reckless Abandon...Continued from page 2

Pray for yourself to decrease and Jesus to increase in you.  Ask God to help you surrender your ego and personal agenda to God’s purposes for your life.  Pray for freedom from the desire to gain glory for yourself from your work in God’s kingdom; focus on humbly serving in whatever ways will bring God the glory.  Ask God to help you be content doing any type of task that He calls you to do.  Pray that you would never boast except in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for you.

Learn the Bible well.  Enhance your prayers by saturating your soul in Scripture so it will naturally come to mind when you pray.  Read the Bible often, meditate on it, and memorize it.

Practice spiritual breathing.  Praying should become as natural to you as breathing.  The more you learn to pray with ease and consistency, the more you’ll find that you’re filled with the Holy Spirit.  Exhale by confessing the sins that pollute your soul and seeking God’s forgiveness, healing, and restoration.  Then inhale by asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, which gives you spiritual life.  Practice your spiritual breathing regularly throughout each day so you don’t get too much junk accumulating in your soul or go too long without the Holy Spirit empowering you.

Practice fasting.  Adding fasting to your prayers humbles you, increases your mental and spiritual awareness, shows God that you’re serious about what you’re praying for, and helps you better tune into what God wants to tell you.  Pray for the desire to fast.  Read about fasting, ask some friends to pray for you as you fast, start small, and give yourself some grace throughout the process.

Worship often.  Ask God to give you a strong desire to worship Him.  Praise God regularly for who He is and what He has done for you.  Pray for God to set your heart free to love and adore Him.

Adapted from Faith Set Free: Pray for Yourself with Reckless Abandon, copyright 2009 by Will Davis, Jr. Published by Revell. 
Will Davis Jr. (DMin, Southwestern Seminary) is the founding and senior pastor of Austin Christian Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Pray Big, Pray Big for Your Marriage, Pray Big for Your Child, and Why Faith Makes Sense. An avid hiker, mountain climber, and water-skier, Davis and his wife, Susie, have three children and live in Austin, Texas. 

Original publication date: June 23, 2009