Robert Keena Ministries

Discipline

Developing a prayer life must start with discipline. This is not always a fun topic to talk about, but it is necessary to develop a powerful prayer life. When we first start regularly spending time with God, it will take discipline to remain committed to it. There will be times when we want to sleep in that extra hour, or when our mind becomes preoccupied with the day’s activities. We must discipline our body to get up out of bed; we must discipline our mind to stay focused on God in prayer. Discipline will help us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) even when we don’t feel like it.

Desire

Once we’ve disciplined ourselves to pray daily, we move from the place of “making” ourselves pray to actually “desiring” to pray. The more time you spend with God, the more you want to spend with Him. It becomes easy to pray – you like it! That’s because attention follows desire. That’s a spiritual principle. Whatever you give your attention to long enough, is what you will begin to desire. We should obey Colossians 3:2, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth“.

Delight

Now that you desire and look forward to your time communicating with God, you are doing what the Bible says in Psalms 37:4 -  you’re delighting in the Lord. The reality of Isaiah 58:2 becomes ours. This is where real powerful prayer comes from, because it is something that is birth from the heart. Prayer is no longer a religious ritual to you, or a daily discipline; it is a heart felt delight. God can show himself strong to someone who has their heart fully toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).