(c) 2003 By Robert C. Hylton. Used with Permission

Have you ever felt like your prayers are just not getting through? Like they're just hitting the ceiling and bouncing back to Earth. How about answering these few questions. Where, what, when, why, how?

Lets take our example from the Son of God. Where did Jesus pray?

Jesus had just fed the five thousand:

Right away, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and start back across to Bethsaida. But he stayed until he had sent the crowds away. Then he told them good-by and went up on the side of a mountain to pray.
Mark 6:45-46

He went alone, to pray; though he needed not to retire for the avoiding either of distraction or of ostentation, yet, to set us an example, and to encourage us in our secret addresses to God, he prayed alone, and, for want of a closet, went up into a mountain, to pray. A good man is never less alone than when alone with God.

Contacting Christ is Crucial:

Selfish Prayers:

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
James 4:1-4

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, (Faith) the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (The promised Holy Spirit "Power") And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (Magnify the Lord) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14

Look at verse 13, are your prayers glorifying the Son? He knows your Heart.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13

1. Give your first fruits to prayer

Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray.
Mark 1:35

2. When times are tough and your world is tumbling down

Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he told them, Sit here while I pray. Jesus took along Peter, James, and John. He was sad and troubled and told them, I am so sad that I feel as if I am dying. Stay here and keep awake with me.
Mark 14:32-34

3. When you've said your goodbyes or your good nights

Jesus dismissed the five thousand:

Then he told them good-by and went up on the side of a mountain to pray.
Mark 6:46

Cornelius calls for Peter:

Cornelius was a Roman officer who also was a devoted Christian whose whole family loved the Lord. Verse 2 says he was a man who gave to the poor and regularly prayed.

Giving gifts of prayer:

And the angel replied, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God!
Acts 10:4

Giving comfort through prayer:

Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.
Ephesians 6:18

Pledge your prayer life to loving others:

The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. (The word earnest in Greek means to pledge.)
1 Peter 4:7

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. So He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread, And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Luke 11:1-4

1. By: Acknowledging the Father and his Kingdom.
2. By: Submitting your will and thrusting for his will.
3. By: Forgiving as he forgave. (No expectations)
4. By: Putting your life in his hands.

Luke 18:14 God have mercy on me a sinner. (Come humbly)
Matt. 10:47 Lord, Lord save me. (Cry out to him)
Luke 23:42 Remember me when you come into your Kingdom. (Reach out to him)
Mark 10:51 I want to see. (Ask specific)