Are you an effective pray-er?

Often, when times are tough and people strain under the pressure, they'll say rather hastily 'well, I prayed about it.'  But that's not how prayer works.  Sure, our first inclination should be to fall on our knees in prayer however we need to remember that God is not some magical Jack in the box who responds promptly and thoughtlessly to our frantic crank-turning! To understand the precedence for answered prayer, we need look no further than James 5:16:  Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results (King James & The Living Bible).  From this verse we get a glimpse of what God requires from a pray-er:

• We're to confess our sins to God and others (leave no stone unturned)...
• We're to pray regularly for others (make a list)...
• We're to pray diligently (check that list daily)...
• We're to have a personal, blood-bought relationship with Jesus Christ (righteous man in this verse is to referring to a good person but instead a person who has right standing with God through their believe in what Christ did for them on the cross.  None of us will ever be good enough for God to hear our prayers on this side of heaven.  It's only our standing positionally in Christ that allows our prayers to be heard)...
• We're to trust God's infinite goodness and perfectly-timed answers (his answers are always on time and for our good)...
• We're to expect robust results (pray big prayers)...

If you keep in mind these prerequisites for prayer, you better hold on to your hat, 'cause God's gonna act!