Dr. Ronnie Floyd - How to Pray: Developing an Intimate Relationship with God

CONTENTS

O ne thousand thank-yous to every person who has helped bring this book about prayer into reality.

I want to say one thousand thank-yous to:

Debbie Wickwire and the entire team from the W Publishing Group of Thomas Nelson, for wanting to provide people with this helpful tool, How to Pray.

Brian Dunaway and the Cross Church media team for working with Debbie Wickwire and the W Publishing team on the cover for How to Pray.

Gayla Oldham, Melissa Swain, and Dr. Ed Upton for assisting me in this project personally by providing counsel and editing content for How to Pray.

Austin Wilson and Robert Wolgemuth of Wolgemuth & Associates, who have coached me and worked with W Publishing to bring about How to Pray.

Jonathan Williams and Johnnie Moore of The Kairos Company, for always helping me advance the cause of Christ through writing projects like How to Pray and assisting me in sharing its message with America and across the world.

Jeana, my wife, who has sacrificed hours of our time together for the sake of sharing the message of How to Pray with others.

To each of you and many others, one thousand thank-yous! Lets tell the world together this message of How to Pray.

L ast year when I had the distinct privilege to lead the national observance of the National Day of Prayer in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building, it was truly a great moment in my life. As the president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, I help mobilize unified public prayer for America. On the first Thursday of May each year, thousands of prayer observances occur across this nation and involve millions of people in prayer for America on the National Day of Prayer.

Being in this historic setting and having this overwhelming responsibility did not occur because of personal charisma or public performance. It was entrusted to me because of my belief in the secret place. This secret place is not a physical location but a spiritual position. The secret place is wherever you meet God and connect with Him personally.

Jesus said, But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:6 CSB).

Jesus call to me is to come away with Him in private and connect with Him intimately. In His presence, I develop an intimate relationship with God.

James 4:10 has dominated my life this year, and God has driven it home again and again. This continual call from the Word of God by the Spirit of God to me says, Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (CSB).

Humbling myself before the Lord daily in the secret place has defined my life and continues to do so. But I want to be more than clear: it was not on a stage in the dignified Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol Building where God defined me.

What Defines Me Occurred Many Years Ago

There is nothing like a defining moment in your life.

I clearly remember a defining moment that occurred during the closing weeks of my freshman year of college. I was so young. I was open and willing to do the will of God in my life. I came to college not knowing one soul. Yet I was on fire for God. My passion was alive, and His calling was clear to me.

During my first year in college, I met fellow students who were in love with God just like I was. We wanted to please God. We wanted to grow. Our personal passion for God was great. This passion to please God compelled me to accompany a friend to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex to attend a Bible conference in which his father was one of the speakers. Little did I know that God had designed this experience to shape my entire life and ministry. It would lead to defining my life even to this day.

This defining moment did not occur inside of a worship center as a response to a biblical message. It occurred late one evening in a restaurant where my friends father had arranged for us to spend some private time with a godly man. My physical hunger was great, but my spiritual hunger was even greater.

As I listened to this man share his wisdom with us, I was even more encouraged to go deeper with God. Before we left the restaurant, I was eager to ask him how to be a godly minister, so I asked him something like, Sir, if there is one thing we need to know as young preachers, what is it? His penetrating eyes looked into mine, and he said, Ronnie, if you will learn to spend one hour a day with God, there is no telling what God may choose to do with you.

I didnt have any better sense than to take that man at his word. Since that day in 1975, I have honored his challenge to me. His challenge stirred me to prayer. Even though I did not know then what I know today about the subject, I wanted to be a man of prayer.

That night, God began to define who I was to be as a man of God. What appeared to be just a late-night meal in a restaurant became a turning point for me. It was a God moment. Truly, it was one of the most defining moments of my life, perhaps the most defining moment of all.

My lifelong journey toward serious prayer began that evening. I had already taken an introductory prayer course in my college studies. However, on this particular spring evening in Texas, I began my own Prayer 101, a simple introduction to a never-ending call to prayer.

Since that time, I have witnessed Gods involvement in my life in many ways. I have seen God heal my wife from cancer. I have seen God move in the lives of both of my children by using them as instruments to win others to Christ. I have seen God interrupt church services with His power. I have seen God bring true revival to His people. I have preached to thousands in convention settings and even a million-plus men on the National Mall in Washington, DC. As the president of the Southern Baptist Convention for two years, I led thousands of spiritual leaders in meaningful, purposeful prayer gatherings.

Additionally, I have also experienced the discipline of God upon my life because of my pride. I have gone through moments of disappointments and periodic moments of discouragement. I have experienced what it is like to walk with God through extended periods of fasting and prayer. I have known what it is like to be overwhelmed with Gods presence and absolutely amazed at how He chooses to use me.

Why has this occurred? I am a small-town boy from Texas, raised in a small church with a bi-vocational pastor. I am not someone enabled with great gifts. I do not have the charisma that marks many great leaders, nor the powerful physical presence.

I am confident that it goes back to the defining moment that took place in that restaurant in 1975. I have seen God move in my life because I have been obedient to Gods call to prayer. By His grace, I humbly stand amazed at what God does in me and even through my life.

I have not always known, and still do not know today, all the ins and outs of prayer. I am not a prayer guru. I am just like you. I, too, am on a journey of learning what it is like to commune with God through prayer. I come to God each morning with the same request His disciples made of Him: Lord, teach [me] to pray (Luke 11:1).

I hope this book will inspire you to pray. I hope it will give you a vision for what God will do in and through you when you pray.

Are you ready to go to a new level in your prayer life? How to Pray