Bible records 650 prayers and 450 answers to prayers. Jesus prayed 25 different times during His ministry. Paul mentions prayer 41 times in his writings. We can pray sitting, standing, kneeling, with face to the ground, or hands lifted. There are nine different prayers mentioned in the Bible; prayer of faith, prayer of agreement, prayer of request, prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of conservation, prayer of intercession, prayer of imprecation, and prayer in the Spirit. For many people prayer is the spare tire instead of steering wheel of their life. Here are few benefits of living a life of prayer:

“As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.” Luke 9:29

1. Personal Transformation
   Prayer first changes you, even though you may be praying for your spouse, boss, or friend. After an exhausting day of teaching, Jesus Christ sent everyone home and He HIKED UP the mountain and PRAYED. The next day, He walked on water, only after prayer at a high cost. Some of the greatest miracles come at the greatest cost. We must NEVER allow exhaustion and laziness get in the way of our prayer life. Pray in spite of those feelings of tiredness and discomfort, and you may just witness your greatest miracle.
2. Divine Revelation
   Not only do we get changed, we see the promises of the Scripture come alive within us. Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain, not just on the pages of scripture. All the promises of prosperity, healing, breakthrough, etc. that are written on the pages of the Bible become real in our lives with prayer.Read: Why we should pray?
3. Spiritual Rejuvenation
   We all get burned out, but the difference between the weak and the strong is: the weak retreat from prayer, while the strong run to prayer. When prayer is routine, do not stop praying, pray more. When prayer has become boring, add a day a week of fasting. If you feel like you are getting nowhere in your prayers, go from 11PM to 6AM once a month. Just never have a victim mentality, and say you need a break from prayer. Yes you might need a break from Netflix, Starbucks, or whatever takes your time, but you NEVER need a break from prayer. Instead of cutting prayer, you may need to add prayer. A huge lie of the enemy is to say you do not need prayer, but rebuke him in Jesus’ mighty name.
4. Demonic Elimination
   Because we pray, demons and curses get eliminated. One key result of a lifestyle of prayer is a victory over the enemy. When we do not pray, we try to deal with the evil of enemy’s attack instead of the root, which is demonic influence or a curse. We try to fix our spouse when there is a generational curse, but no amount of therapy or help will rid them of that curse.
   Matthew 5 says that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Interestingly, Jesus does not say to cut off the sin, but the hand, or do not cut off the computer screen that causes you to sin, but your eye that does the looking. When you spend time in prayer, you deal with the root of the sin, and triumph is yours, through Jesus Christ our Deliverer. A life of discipline deals with the symptoms and evils, but a life of prayer deals with the root of those evils. When I was a young man, I struggled in battling demons of pornography, I declared a seven day fast. Not only did I pray for forgiveness because I already did that, but I started to attack the demon. When I declared that war, I began to cut off the power of the enemy over my purity. After the seven days, I felt something new, and over ten years later, the devil has no hold over my purity. Consistent prayer causes the grips of the enemy to loosen and break away from your life.

Read: Beginners Guide to Fasting

My challenge to you:
– PRAY MORE! Make your house a house a house of prayer.
– If you are able to come to morning prayers, come, and, if you cannot, wake up earlier and pray at home in the mornings.
– If you allowed your prayer closet to collect dust, I urge you to repent, and may God see you in that room tomorrow.
– For those who used to pray in the evenings, but have not, I implore you to do so tonight, and tomorrow, and every night.

Some powerful quotes on prayer:

“Daniel would rather spend a night with lions than go a day without prayer.”

“Pray when you feel like it, for it is a sin to neglect such and opportunity. Pray when you don’t feel like it, for it is dangerous to remain in such a condition.”

“To get a nation on its feet, we must first get down on our knees.” Billy Graham

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” Martin Luther

“God does nothing on earth but answers prayer.” John Wesley

“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing. The people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers. But few agonizes. Few wrestlers and many fears and very few tears. A lot of fashion and little passion and interferers, few intercessors and many writers but very few fighters. A sinning man will stop praying and a praying man will stop singing. Our accent is on playing theirs was on praying. When we have paid the place it‚Äôs taken when they had prayed the place it was shaken. We are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly use.” Leonardo Ravenhill

This blog was written by Vladimir Savchuk.

Pastor Vlad is the lead pastor of Hungry Generation Church, an author of “Break Free” and “Single, Ready to Mingle” and a founder of free online school “Vlad’s School.” To download free e-books, sermon series, small group study guides go to vladimirsavchuk.com