Christian prayer life: with Jesus as a model. 

Table of contents 
Introduction 
What a Christian prayer life
Steps in developing prayer life
Importance prayer in Christian life 
The Prayer Life of Jesus, believer's model of prayer 
Factors affecting prayer life 
Conclusion 
Reference 

Introduction 
This paper is a group assignment given to BETS  summer students in the STH 111 spiritual life. the assignment recognises it importance on the topic : Christian prayer life. This paper focuses Christian prayer life with Jesus as the model of prayer.
Arch bishop Duncan Williams in a video clip showing the need for a believer to pray says: how many times does the believer pray a day? The Muslims pray 5 times a day, the jews pray 3 times a day all their lives as a lifestyle, they do it whether they are happy or not, blessed or not, they do its a lifestyle. unless prayer becomes a lifestyle continuously, pray in the morning, night, day and noon,  unless we follow the four seasons,  praying consistently, when prayer becomes a lifestyle success is inevitable, because prayer is a necessity for survival and for maintenance of daily victory for the believer, the place of prayer is the place of power. ( paraphrased by the ground) 
Prayer ought to be the lifestyle of a Christian, a prayer less Christian is a powerless Christian and a powerless Christian is the devil's  prey. It's our desire that this paper will quicken prayer revival in our lives and that if whosoever will read it. Flip in the next pages for details on the subject matter.  
What is prayer in Christian life? 
According to  Julia Oates Prayer is how Christian communicate with God. They are able to express their praise and thanks to Him, ask for forgiveness, pray for their personal needs and other people. A Christian’s life should be filled with prayer because they desire to speak to God and for Him to speak back to them.
As a group we seems to understand that "Prayer is a communication to God". Prayer is done by those who trust the power of word and thought. Jesus taught people to say the Lord's Prayer. Prayer can be spoken, silent (no talking), or in a song. It can be used to praise God or to ask for something including help and forgiveness.
Steps Towards developing mature Christian Prayer Life:
1. Pray Daily
Praying daily will help one grow in  prayer life because one is  prioritizing God each and every day. You are giving Him praise and seeking Him when you pray daily.
Pray because you are able and free to do so. Pray with thanksgiving in your heart. Pray because God loved you so much He sent His son to die on a cross for you. Pray out of an overflow of gratitude from your heart.
When you don’t feel like praying, pray anyways. Pray and ask God to help your heart. You can make a verbal list of all the blessings you have in your life to help you remind your heart that you are grateful.
By praying daily, it helps us to remember that God is the most important part of our life. We are sitting Him on the throne in our heart.
2. Give Praise
As a group  we discovered that during prayer,we need to take time to give praise to God. He has blessed us greatly and the least we can do is thank and praise Him for who He is. Another idea would be to read the Scripture associated with a specific attribute of God. God is deserving of all our praise and we should be diligent about praising Him during our prayer time.
3. Ask for Forgiveness
When praying, it’s also important to seek forgiveness for our sins. We have all fallen short of God’s glory and sinned. When we speak out our sins and ask Him to cleanse us, we are admitting what we did wrong and that we need His mercy.
Along with confessing our sins to God, we also need to  confess our sins to one another, by so doing we are weakening sins hold on that area of our life. Confession of our sins to God and asking  for forgiveness can  heal us and  can make our prayers to be powerful!
4. Pray Scripture
John Tati Cham once says the best way to pray and to develop prayer life is to pray from the scriptures. When one pray Scripture, he is speaking the Word of God back to Him. He is declaring His Word’s of truth. Three reasons we should pray Scripture is because Jesus prayed Scriptures, the Word of God is completely truthful, and it brings honor to God.
While on earth, Jesus prayed Scriptures. One example on is found in Matthew 27:46 when Jesus was hanging from the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This exact same prayer is found in Psalm 22. We can learn from Jesus praying from Scripture and bring it into our own prayer time.
5. Pray Without Ceasing
To develop prayer life one need to pray without ceasing. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God calls us to pray without ceasing. As followers of Christ, we should be praying all throughout our day.
While this Scripture may seem impossible to achieve think about it like this: you are creating a lifestyle of prayer. You can pray no matter where you are, in place of work, in school, in the car, the library, and so on. If you are out in public, you can pray in your heart. God still hears the prayers one says in your heart.
Importance of Prayer in Christian life: Prayer Strengthens Our Relationship With God.
Prayer is one of the most important things a Christian can do. It is a time they are communicating with God and it should be taken very seriously. While there is deep theological meaning in prayer, it doesn’t have to be something that is complicated and difficult. It’s something anyone can do anywhere at any time. Here are some of the importance prayer in  Christian life by the confident Mom (2021), paraphrased by the group :
Drawing Near to God
It’s impossible to know someone if you don’t spend time with them. Prayer is an opportunity to spend time with God. To really understand the heart of God, you need to pray. In John 15:15, Jesus says He no longer calls us his servants, but calls us His friends. Talking with God develops a deeper relationship with Him. The deeper the relationship becomes, the more time you want to spend with Him. In 1 Corinthians 3:9, God calls us His fellow workers. How can we be His fellow workers if we refuse to talk to Him?
Prayer Brings Light to Darkness
Sometimes we forget just how powerful prayer is. We aren’t fighting against something imaginary. Our prayers are fighting against spiritual battles that linger in dark places. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The power of prayer is so great it has the power to defeat the devil and his power over us. He wants to destroy us, but God wants to bring us closer to Him. Prayer is our tool to win that battle. Prayer gives us the strength and the faith to finish the race victorious.
Prayer Changes Us
We often think prayer changes God. This simply isn’t the case. Prayer changes us. When we spend time with God, He is working to change our heart to be more like His. The more time we spend with Him, the more we are like Him. Our habits and lifestyles change. We no longer live a self-centered life, but one that is focused on others with a pure and sincere heart. Prayer changes us inside out.
Prayer Protects
Prayer is so important to a believer because it a means of gaining protection from different problems and conditions. We need to pray for protection for our loved ones every day. Pray for loved ones by name, one by one. You can never pray too much for one person. Sometimes it helps to make a list of all the people that you need to pray for each day. Doing this not only offers us protection, but also sets a great example for our church members and others.
Prayer Brings Breakthroughs in Life
One of the most important aspects of prayer in our life is the breakthroughs that come. Sometimes we are faced with devastating circumstances and feel we have nowhere to turn. It’s at that point we should pray (although there should have plenty of prayer beforehand, too). Fasting and praying is powerful, too. Sometimes we need a message from God and we need to be solely focused on Him to get it. It may be painful during the prayer and waiting process but once we receive it we will be so happy we sought Him. While we wait, we can also sing praise songs, read the Bible, or Anything else that brings us closer to Him. Even if the breakthrough doesn’t Happen that day, we will receive the strength and the grace to carry on. Eventually we will receive an answer to our prayers, or a peace about waiting longer. When we look back over this time we will most likely see it as some of the most spiritually rich time of our life.
The Prayer Life of Jesus, believer's model of prayer :Jesus is our example of how to live our life. 
Jesus is more than a model of faithfulness to God, but He is certainly not less than that. Thus, we learn from Him that when we are faced with temptation and need sustenance in life and ministry, we must turn to God in prayer. If we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and call on Him for help, He will surely lift us up and sustain us (1 Peter 5:6).
S.D. Gordon in his book, Quiet Talks on Prayer, says How much prayer meant to Jesus! It was not only his regular habit, but his resort in every emergency, however slight or serious. When perplexed he prayed. When hard pressed by work he prayed. When hungry for fellowship he found it in prayer. He chose his associates and received his messages upon his knees. If tempted, he prayed. If criticized, he prayed. If fatigued in body or wearied in spirit, he had recourse to his one unfailing habit of prayer. Prayer brought him unmeasured power at the beginning, and kept the flow unbroken and undiminished. There was no emergency, no difficulty, no necessity, no temptation that would not yield to prayer.
Here, we see the importance of prayer in Christ’s own life of devotion to the Father. As the second person of the Trinity in eternal communion with His Father, Jesus nevertheless knew success in His ministry required dedicated time in prayer. This was particularly key at a moment when others sought to give Him premature acclaim, just as Satan promised Him the kingdoms of this world (Matt. 4:7–11). In an hour of temptation and for the sake of His continuing ministry, our Savior turned to His Father in prayer.
Factors affecting Christian prayer life 
1. Unconfessed Sin: Unconfessed sin is probably the most common prayer killer. 
2. Lack of faith : Lack of faith has an incredibly negative impact on a Christian’s life. Without faith, prayer has no power. Even Jesus was powerless to perform any miracles in Nazareth because of the people’s lack of faith 
3. Disobedience : If we are to grow in our relationship with God and become strong people of prayer, we must learn to obey. Keeping free from sin is not enough. 
4. Unforgiveness: Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
5. Wrong motives :When our motives are not right in prayer, our prayers have no power. 
Conclusion 
Christian life cannot be separated from prayer. For many Christians, prayer can sometimes feel dry or stale. Prayer is talking with someone who loves us deeply and knows us intimately, so it might be hard to admit or deal with when the conversation has seemed to dry up. Part of the problem can also be the temptation to see prayer as talking to God rather than talking with Him.
There is no perfect formula for prayer and the truth is sometimes it’s hard to pray. When we push through and pray even when it’s difficult we can trust that God will always meet us right where we are at, in the good times and bad. As the prophet says:Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:12
As Christians, we should want to have a more mature prayer life because this means we would be growing our relationship with God. Since prayer is how we communicate to God, the more we learn how to pray and listen during our prayer time, the more we can hear from Him.