Day #25

It's old school and likely been around the block more than a few times but it's stood the test of time and I've found it to be a helpful tool for many years. Too often we struggle to spend significant time in prayer simply because we've never come up with a strategy by which to do so. Allow me to suggest the CHAT method.

Confession - Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear..." but thankfully, 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

​Setting our conversation with God up for success begins with confession. Asking God to reveal any sin in our lives that we may have not even seen or recognized as a sin.

Honor - Honoring God is all about giving God the praise that is due Him. It's not about reminding God of who He is, He already knows who He is. When we bring honor to God it's more about reminding us of who God is, that He is God and we are not. We honor God when we tell Him that He is worthy, awesome, all powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, etc.

Ask - Hebrews 4:16 (NASB) says, "Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need."

This is the part of our prayer lives that we likely don't struggle with. It's here that we bring our requests to God for His intervention, guidance, direction and strength. As with when we bring honor, God is already more than aware of our struggles and needs. We bring our requests not as new information but as an opportunity to create more intimacy with Him. As we bring our requests and the intimacy increases we learn to more clearly distinguish His voice and as a result we more easily yield to His guidance.

Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving is an opportunity for us to give thanks for the many blessings that God has given us. We can pretty quickly forget the many ways we've been blessed and the ultimate source of those blessings when we skip over this step. Bringing thanks to God on a regular basis keeps us focused on what matters and humbled by what we have.

If you're struggling to deepen your prayer life this is an easy tool by which to start the process. Be encouraged and keep moving forward.

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