It’s wonderful finding Christians in the marketplace. For many years I felt a bit like Elijah – the only one left. That has changed considerably over the past decade, as more and more Christians are making their faith known on the job. Last week a business associate and friend, Jim Green, suggested I write a blog on prayer. We e-mailed back and forth, several times, and the end result is this collaborative effort.

Prayer is a powerful tool of the Christian in our daily walk and communion with the Lord. Without it we are disconnected from our true Source of life, strength, wisdom and power. If you are a new Christian, prayer is an excellent topic to study, after understanding that you are saved by God’s grace through your faith in Christ and his death on the cross.

Prayer is simply talking to God. And yet it is so much more than that. Through your daily conversations with Him, you have a tremendous opportunity to know Him better, and to make an impact on the world around you. John Wesley said “God does nothing except in response to prayer.” Do you see something wrong in the world around you? (And who doesn’t?) Don’t complain about it, pray about it. Complaining doesn’t change things, prayer changes things.

Often, though, it’s easy for our prayers to become too “me” focused. Jim remembers reading a small book on how to pray many years ago in which they suggested the following simple approach to pray.

PRAY, don’t yarp.

Yarp is “pray” spelled backwards and it is an illustration of how we can sometimes get things backwards in our prayer life.

Praise God with humility and reverence

Scripture teaches that God inhabits the praises of His people. (Psalms 22:3, NRSV & KJV) He lives in them. When you praise God, His presence comes to inhabit the very air in and around you.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
             Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV)

Repent with a contrite heart

Repentance means to turn away from. It is saying “God, I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me.” And then, with God’s help, changing our ways. It doesn’t mean we immediately begin to do everything right (don’t we wish it were that easy!). But it does mean we continually bring our sins before God. 1 John says it well:

If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
          1 John 1:8-10 (NLT)

Ask for others and their needs first

At the heart of Christianity is giving ourselves for others. Jesus is our supreme example, whose blood was poured out for us on the cross (Matthew 26:28). Paul, Jesus’ disciple, opened many of his letters with tremendous prayers for God’s people.

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy…
          Philippians 1:3-4 (NLT)

Yourself last

Don’t forget to pray for your own needs! They are precious to God. He has the number of hairs on your head numbered

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!
          John 14:13-14 (NLT)

Always pray according to God’s will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of Jesus.

PRAY, don’t yarp.

Always put God first, praising Him for who He is and what He’s done. Repent of sins you’ve committed. Ask for God to move on behalf of others, the for Yourself.

Always remember to pray.

5 Responses to “Pray, don’t yarp”
  1. Francie says:

    Great post! I’ll pray and let my dog yarp~!

  2. Sandy says:

    You made me laugh! Thanks! Laughing is good.

  3. Ron Parish says:

    Well done, Sandy. Prayer is so important in all our lives. Prayer is powerful, prayer is life-changing, prayer is necessary. Our church is nearing the end of “Forty Nights of Prayer”, which you can read about here: http://preacherpen.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/forty-nights-of-prayer/ . Another article here: http://preacherpen.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/prayer-for-today/ .

    I will definitely come back to this site. Thanks for writing.

  4. 101DoFollowBlogs says:

    I’ve heard some good things about this blog. Remember to balance the pics with the text tho. cheers!

  5. Hey Sandy, Im so happy to see that others have been posting on your site. I too loved this post. Prayer Wow awesome Prayer is Awesome. Prayer has changed my life in the past 8 months. Ive been praying for years. However empty prayer alot of them were. My prayers come from my heart now. I had to ask God to give me the wisdom to know how to pray better because sometimes i just cant find the words. I also know that God already knows whats in my heart. Just this past sunday in church. I felt so much joy I felt truely blessed. And daily putting people in my path to minister to (even tho i feel im not very good at it yet). God is in control. Ive been doing things i would have never done a few weeks ago. Getting up in front of groups giving testimonies. Talking to people about God. I thank and Praise God everyday for blessing my life and helping me pass blessings on to others. I actually forgot about your blog and i was cleaning out my favorites and deleting some stuff and i found you again. I will visit more often now that it isnt so cluttered. Anyway love your blogs. God Bless you. Love Geri

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