Four Stages of Prayer That Will Keep You Praying

I confess… I am late with the blog. I was caught up in wedding planning, gift registry, and dreaming with my daughter. I couldn’t get myself to sit behind the desk the past four days. Please forgive my delay. #mentormonday will be held on Tuesday because being a mom in this season is priceless, and I don’t want to miss a moment. Thanks for the grace friends.

What if we had eyes to always see God at work in our prayers? What if we could measure their progress? Would we stay in the fight to the finish line? I believe if we could identify God moving in our prayers we could reduce, and even eliminate, the doubt that sways us to stop.

When I felt God called me into ministry it birthed a burden to pray. Over time, the vision of what God showed me was tested. Many times I was tempted to just give up in prayer. In desperation I read scriptures to see what the Lord said, and it changed the way I prayed, but I still didn’t see an answered prayer. I remember coming to a place of surrender, where I wanted God more than I wanted the vision. In that moment an unbreakable connection formed between God and me. I simply trusted Him no matter what the outcome was. Looking back on that season I can see four identifiable stages:

• Timing
• Testing
• Targeting
• Trusting

Stage One: 

Timing: All prayer is awakened at a moment in time when a dream is realized, a crisis is encountered, or sorrow has overwhelmed us. A prayer is released from the hope of something better. Out of that hope, we begin to contend that God will move in our circumstances. When I received that vision of me in ministry, it fueled a passion to pray for things I had never imagined to pray before.

Stage Two: 

Testing: All prayers and their warriors are refined in battle. The vision received keeps the fight alive, but the testing perfects the process. It develops the character of the one who is praying, and reveals the character of the One who is leading the charge. The pressure in prayer creates an unbreakable connection between the two. When I was struggling to believe God for the vision, He was revealing my identity, and developing a level of faith that couldn’t be formed in any other way.

Stage Three: 

Targeting: When the answer is delayed desperation for breakthrough develops. As testing has its perfect work a prayer warrior becomes battle-wise and not battle-weary. A targeted plan evolves aligning their prayers to those in heaven. When God connected with me in the testing, I recognized His purpose in the battle. Knowing His will automatically aligned my prayers to His word.

Stage Four: 

Trusting: Breakthrough doesn’t come when victory is seen— no, it comes at surrender. Surrender is counterintuitive to a victory. But surrender to God brings about breakthrough. Targeting prayers to His word produces trust for His will. When I exchanged the vision that ignited my prayers for knowing more of who God is it surrendered my will, and ignited an unconditional trust for His — that’s when I saw real victory.

Being able to identify the stages of my prayers today keeps me in the battle, because even though I may not see the answer, I can see Him at work in the process. Knowing God is moving removes the doubt that temps me to quit praying.

Have you identified your stage? Share with me in the comments below what you discovered and how this changes the way you’re looking at your prayers.

Stay the course, God’s right there by you friend.

PS… Join me tomorrow for a live chat in Remade’s online community for #mentormonday at 3:00 p.m. PST. I will share how to get to the trusting phase. Next week on the blog, I’m sharing why we should journal our prayers and the effects it has on future prayers.