How to Go Deeper with God in Prayer

So you want to go deeper with God. You want to break the surface and experience those wonderful times of communion with your God like you see other growing Christians have. Well, you’re in the right place! I’m going to give you lessons on how to dive deep with your wonderful Savior in prayer, so you can see Him up close and personal.

My husband and I were scuba divers. In fact, I first met him in scuba class. We both had seen the beauty of the coral reef from the surface as snorkelers, and we both wanted more! You can only hold your breath for so long and go down only a short way as a free diver. We took scuba diving lessons to learn how to use the equipment and gain knowledge in order to experience the wonders of the coral reef firsthand.

As a believer, you already have the “equipment”—a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ—in going deeper with God in prayer. You’ve experienced some of the Lord and you want more! I’m here to supply some guidelines to save you time, effort and frustration as you attempt to get closer to your Savior. But just remember: you need to come His way.

Let’s start off with some key elements.

What is Prayer?

We all want our prayers answered. But did you know that prayer is so much more that asking God for something? Prayer is having a conversation with God. And that involves a lot more than just making requests!

Prayer is an invitation to intimacy with the very Creator of your soul. God Himself said:

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jer 33:3)

If we only see prayer as a means to get what we want, we’re missing out on some of the sweetest fellowship we could ever know! God is not our genie in a bottle waiting to grant all our wishes. Prayer is not just a duty either. Something to check off our “to-do” list.

So our attitude—about prayer (how we look at it) needs to change from…

Something we do to get something we want or to get “brownie points” with God

Something we do in order to commune with the Maker of our souls.

What if God does not demand prayer as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us? What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting us? Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourselves to be loved, addressed and claimed by God. What if praying means opening ourselves to the gift of God’s Own Self and presence? What if our part in prayer is primarily letting God be Giver? Suppose prayer is not a duty but the opportunity to experience healing and transforming love?

~Martin Smith

Wow! How many of us have thought about prayer like that?! It is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to talk to the God of the universe!

Hindrances to Prayer

Perhaps you never saw prayer as a 2-way street—with you talking and listening to God and God talking and listening to you. but Scripture bears this out. I talk at length about how to communicate with God in my first book, Our Knowable God. In there I mention that our Lord does communicate with His people and He does so clearly. So what’s the problem then? If God hears our prayer, then why doesn’t He answer? I believe much of the problem lies in the following things:

Our lack of understanding about how God speaks–through His Word, prayer, His people (the church), and circumstances
The inability to recognize His voice and to distinguish it from our own, the world, or Satan
Unconfessed sin and living in disobedience (Ps 66:18; Zec 7:13)
Asking with an improper attitude towards our holy God—pride (Is 66:2-4)
Asking with wrong motives (Jas 4:3)
Having wrong expectations

If the extent of your communication with God is telling Him what you want and then expecting Him to immediately answer “yes” and in a way that is blatantly obvious, you will be greatly disappointed!

Sometimes God does answer quickly and obviously, but not always. Why? Because He isn’t our cosmic genie waiting to grant our every desire! He is like a good father who doesn’t spoil his children with everything they want, but gives them only what is beneficial.

God wants to be in relationship with us, not to be our vending machine!

Much has been written on prayer, but there seems to be confusion in the people with whom I interact as to how to listen to God. After all, God doesn’t typically speak out loud. How do you know it’s God speaking and what He’s saying? So…

Going deeper with God in prayer necessitates that we learn

HOW to listen and recognize God’s ‘Voice’.

The rewards of getting to know your Savior far exceed any effort! He is worth it!

Along with Paul, I pray these words for you

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

I’ve only covered the surface on this topic (pun intended!). I have written extensively on this in my books, Our Knowable God and On My Father’s Lap. There you will be able to gain more knowledge and understanding to help you go deeper with God in prayer. These other links and resources will also allow you to do the same!

How to Go Deeper with God–God’s Way Main Page

How to Go Deeper with God Blog

Bible Verses for Going Deeper with God
This page includes way more than a list of Bible verses. It explains that God wants to confide in you–yes, you read that right! It also guides you in how to discover the attributes and character of God contained within the verses.

Going Deeper with God: Books and Resources to Help You

Go to talk with your God—He’s listening!