1. Pray with faith.  In the New Testament, before Jesus is about to heal someone He will ask the person, “Do you believe I can heal you?”  Faith is important because it is like opening a window so that God can establish a link to us.  Without faith the window is shut and we cannot connect with God.  Faith is the conduit of God’s Divine Power and it helps us plug into God so as to receive His graces, like being plugged into the wall in order to receive electricity. 

Pray with the faith that God truly is listening and will answer the prayer maybe not tomorrow or next week, month, or year or in the timeframe we want.  But eventually our prayer will be answered.  Remember when Jesus went to Nazareth, scripture recalls that Jesus could only perform a few miracles due to their lack of faith – “Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark 6:6  

2. Forgiveness – Prayer won’t be effective if we hold onto grudges.  A lack of forgiveness blocks the movement of God in our lives.  Like clogged arteries get block by fat and prevent the flow of blood throughout the body, so too does a lack of forgiveness.  Grudges prevent the flow of God's grace to us.  St. John of the Cross once said the soul is a pane of glass in which the Divine of rays of God shine through and touch us.  Grudges and a lack of forgiveness create smudges on that pane of glass so much so that after awhile, the glass is so smudged that God's Divine rays can no longer penetrate us.  If we feel slighted or an injustice was done to us, one way to remedy this is to stand or kneel before the    Crucifix.  Gazing upon the Crucifix, we see the ultimate injustice – the Son of God nailed to the cross.  Yet, Christ was able to forgive – “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34

3. Persistence – Throughout the Bible, God wants us to persist in our prayer.  Don't give up when you pray.  If you have received what you asked for keep praying - pray for weeks, months, or years.  St. Augustine once noted that God makes us wait so that our hearts have expanded enough so that we are able to receive all the good that God wants to give us when the prayer is answered.  If our prayers were answered right away, eventually we would take it for granted.  Yet if we wait, then we will be ready to properly receive and appreciate the great gift of the answered prayer.

4.  Pray in Jesus' name.  Always conclude your prayers in Jesus’ name.  For example, “I ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen” or “I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen”  In doing this, we are aligning our prayer with His (Christ), and therefore we are orientating our  heart and mind to Christ.  Whatever we want is what Jesus wants.  For example, we pray to alleviate poverty - Jesus was a friend to the poor.  Or we pray for a person to be healed – Jesus was a healer of many.

I hope this helps you to have a richer prayer life.
Stay Spiritually Strong,   Fr. Dan