With this post, I’m happy to introduce you to someone I have tons of respect for and one of my first Christian blogger friends, Andrew Adams. He’s joined us to talk about the power of specific prayer, and I can say Andrew is definitely qualified to talk about the subject!
My Favorite Prayer
I think we would all agree that we want to have a rich, meaningful relationship with God. We look at characters from the Bible like David and Daniel of the Old Testament and Paul and John of the New Testament and think, ‘Man, I wish I could be as in love with God as they were.’
That thought or desire is actually the beginning of getting there!
The next step is simple: turn that desire into a prayer! I like to pray it like this: “God, help me to love You more!” When I feel myself being pulled away by the distractions of this world, I stop myself and pray, “God, increase my desire for You!”
Prayer Changes How You Live
It sounds cliche to say, but prayer really changes us. When we begin to feel His heart, we begin to live differently. There’s nothing magical about it. We just simply have to realize that our natural tendency is to drift from God. So, we have to be diligent to keep refocusing on Him!
His Beauty Changes Our Hearts
The reason this prayer is so powerful is because God is the infinite source of beauty! Praying this prayer throughout your day will slowly over time cause your heart to become fascinated with Him.
The natural outflow of this is a decrease in desire for the ungodly things that surround us! Not sure about this? Here are some scriptures to boost your confidence in seeking His beauty!
- “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty.” -Isaiah 33:17
- “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” -Isaiah 4:24
- “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.” -Psalm 27:48
- “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” -Philippians 3:8–11
My Challenge
This prayer is powerful and has truly changed my life. In early 2018 I was struggling as a ministry leader with severe distraction and anxiety/depression. I was studying the Bible, leading prayer multiple times a week, and involved at Church, but I wasn’t engaging with God. I was going through the motions of Christianity while wasting my time, building up pressure, and not leading my family or ministry team well.
That all changed when I started praying this prayer of “God help me to love You more. Reveal Your beauty to my heart.”
As I reflect on that period of my life, I can specifically pinpoint this prayer to the catalyst for the drastic change that happened in my life in the following months. God started taking the blinders off of my eyes to His love and beauty. Suddenly (over a month or two), I was overwhelmed by God’s beauty daily in my prayer times, Bible study, and Church interactions.
So, my challenge to you is to simply pray a version of this prayer daily…and then wait. I promise you that the Lord will answer that prayer profoundly!
God Bless, Andrew
I love to pray this prayer! we all have those times where we just don’t feel like seeking God, Yet that is the exact time I know I need to be asking for God to increase the hunger for more of him. I also like to pray: “Lord, show me how you want me to seek you”
Hey Valentyn, I totally find it to be true that when I’m not “feeling like” seeking God it’s because my hunger for him has peaked. Man, that is dangerous ground to walk on too. Your “show me how” prayer is also really appealing. I’m going to have to go there myself…thanks for sharing!
Hi my name is Kassandra today is November 2, 2020 I came across your well site on how to stay focused on God and not my circumstances I ask , Father God to show me how I can keep my eyes on him and not my circumstances I struggle in this area and I need help and to stay focus on God ? Sometimes I don’t feel like praying or reading the Bible and there be days I don’t pick up my Bible or pray I feel God be speaking to me at that moment to pray and read his word and there time I donot following through with it and I be feeling sad that I let Father God down how can I overcome this ? Also how can I how more desire for God and his word ? My life depends on it I need Father God every hour of the day Please keep me and my two children in prayer right now I am out on short term disability I fell my DOT physical and I need to get back to work so I can be able to pay my bills and keep a roof over our heads my focus is on my circumstances I am overwhelmed cause I don’t know how me and my two children is going to make it , I can’t be homeless . Is it possible if you can send a copy of the prayer to pray that you were speaking about my email is. kassyumbo7@gmail.com
What is the prayer
Hi Renee,
I believe what Andrew was sharing here in this post was a prayer as simple as “God, help me to love You more!”
Andrew also writes, “When I feel myself being pulled away by the distractions of this world, I stop myself and pray, “God, increase my desire for You!” And a third example of the simple prayer that can change things is, “God help me to love You more. Reveal Your beauty to my heart.”
These are 3 examples of what simple prayer from the heart can look like, but there are countless situations that would be much more personal to you as you call out to the Savior. I would encourage you to do that, and to be open and honest with Jesus. He knows your heart, anyhow!