How do you approach God in prayer? What mindset or spirit do you have as you enter into worship? This isn’t something I personally thought much about until about a couple of years ago. Nor did anyone teach me this as I learned how to pray. I was never intentional about mindfully getting myself in a good space – a holy space – before addressing God until I read Charles Spurgeon’s book “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life.” The opening chapter of that book completely altered my approach to prayer, literally, in that Spurgeon challenged me get very intentional about how I approached God.
Spurgeon suggests in this book, that…
“If we should always regard prayer as an entrance into the courts of the royalty of heaven, and if we are to behave ourselves as courtiers in the presence of an illustrious majesty, we are not at a loss to know the right spirit in which to pray.” — The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life, p.17
Spurgeon then describes six specific ways that you would come to God with the right spirit. They are as follows.
You would have a spirit of…
- Lowly Reverence
- Devout Joyfulness
- Complete Submission
- Enlarged Expectations
- Unstaggering Confidence
- Deepest Sincerity
I’ve discovered he is absolutely correct. When I seek to come before God with these six different demeanors present in my heart (or even if just a few of them) my relationship and experience with God is radically altered. My since of reverence and intimacy with God dramatically increase.
Listen to the podcast, to find out what Spurgeon means by each of these phrases. Then I would highly encourage you to get intentional about how you come into God’s presence, if you don’t already.
NEXT TIME YOU PRAY
Next time you begin praying remind yourself that you are approaching a king upon a throne, and not just any king. You’re approaching His Divine Majesty who has created all that has been, is, or will ever be. You are coming into the presence of the One who could cast you into eternal judgment, but elects to call you His child. May your heart, mind, and emotions be overjoyed by that privilege.
LINKS MENTION IN THE PODCAST
The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life by Charles Spurgeon
The 5 Day Purpose Challenge by John Arnold – A free short course of quick easy lessons on discovering and living out your God-given purpose.
p.s. If you’ve ever struggled with prayer and just wished someone could make it easy for you to build a better prayer life, then check out “Tips On Prayer, A QuickStart Guide to Improving Your Prayer Life.” I struggled with prayer for years, but you don’t have to. In this guide I take the best of the best practices and break them down into easy to follow steps. If you’re longing to have a better relationship with God, click here now.
