What follows below is a truncated version of the protocol I learned from my pastor's teaching. It's testable empirically. Do it every day for a month, see what happens. For decades I've used it every day, often many times a day, often for but a minute or two; it's easy. To me prayer is a kind of running dialogue with God, 24/7; natural, talking to Someone with Whom you live, 24/7. Sometimes I'm in gross circumstances, and sometimes elegant: doesn't matter to God. What matters is the THOUGHT is behind the prayer. Even the words themselves, don't matter as much. But try to be precise in your words, because that attempt will help you Become Precise In Your Thinking. Christ paid for our sins with His Thinking (Hebrew of Isa53:11, no time to explain that passage now). So now you have a clue that thinking, especially in Prayer, which is a LEGAL VOTE, is pretty important...

It's not as though we Christians don't understand why prayer is needed: God won't coerce volition. This world is yet Satan's to rule, so God must be ASKED, to BE involved. In a word, Prayer Is A Legal Voting Weapon For God's Involvement. Never forget that. Doesn't mean you have to be stuffy like a lawyer; does mean you have to be smart about your weapon! With this weapon, you never ever need to crusade in this world. At the end of the page, you'll see a dramatic example, why...

Therefore, Prayer is an extremely powerful voting weapon, more powerful than any power the world can even imagine. The reason why 99% or more of prayer goes unanswered (except by demons trying to fake you out, their favorite ploy), is that people don't do their Bible homework and learn the protocol. There's a protocol for your car: it must have gasoline to run (power of the Spirit); it must have a key in the ignition (you're thinking, not mindless); it must be driven to a destination you monitor (again, Thinking, Careful). So also, with prayer. Bad people can drive cars. Good people can also. Bad people might be more competent drivers than good people, simply because they know how.

So, then: If You Know The Prayer Protocol, You Can Drive Properly. So, you can be the worst sinner on earth yet your prayer will be effective, but some 'holy' person's prayer will merely bounce off his vocal chords, as dead as he is, inside. So forget all that nonsense about needing to be "saintly", especially since "saint" is but a synonym for a believer, in the NT. (I really wish people would do their homework in God's Word!)

Here's the 6-step prayer protocol.
('Truncated to 5 steps in the above videos).

Think of Prayer as a way to TALK with God, to become more and more aware of Him. Because, this Incredibly-Intimate Relationship Christ Bought for us, is even higher and more intimate, than the most intimately-harmonious, of marriages. So, talk to Father like He's your.. um, father! Not some distant ogre. So forget all that folderol you see in churches, with the pious intoning. God 'hates' it. Christ never spoke to Father that way, and neither should you. Review the parable He told of the publican and the Pharisee. See also Zechariah 7.

1. Use 1Jn1:9, name your sins to God. This first step is what turns on prayer's effectiveness, because you MUST be Filled with the Spirit, for your prayer to be heard. Of course, most Christians are clueless about the Filling of the Spirit, too: much more on this topic will follow, in Caveat #3. It is the least-understood of the protocols, so takes the most explaining. Here, I'll try to be brief. It won't be easy. Every doctrine in Bible ties here.

   You can afford to accept this Step #1 (really, all the data in this page) to get started; because once you see it works, then you won't need immediate further proof that it's true. As time passes, of course you'll want to know more about why it works and what Bible says about it, and you should learn. But here's the Catch-22: without doing it now, you can't get Filled, so you can't understand how and why it works. Hence the counsel: JUST DO IT. USE 1Jn1:9 like breathing. I've done it for years, I'm breathing it now, and the sophistication in these websites is ample proof of the Holy Spirit's Power to Enable Perception of Bible. At the end of the page, you'll see what power following this prayer protocol enables. (Saving the best for last, lol.)

   This is one of those doctrines you really need to do, in order to understand it better. It's also the only one you can do when you know nothing. It's instinctive: if I wrong someone, I would admit it, so how much more, wouldn't one admit it to God? I remember using this doctrine toward God when I was a child, instinctively. Same, for my best friend. Neither of us remember being taught to do this, and we certainly didn't know it had all this significance. I didn't even know of the verse, until age 18. So you can skim-read the rest of this Step #1 if you are willing to 'just do it'. Read more carefully if you have so many doubts, you have trouble accepting the idea and need more info.

   Here goes. NAMING A SIN is just that. Kinda like naming a color, and you really should think of it that way. Because, All Sin Was Judged Already On The Cross. That's why you get the Privilege of using 1Jn1:9. Eph1:7 and Col1:14 explain that His Payment then is the basis, via the Attic Greek "double-accusative", which means the privilege is a result of the Cross. David talks about it also in Ps32:5 and 66:18. So this protocol is as old as Gen3, when Adam and the woman admitted their sin. So your sin may be new to you, but it's old to God. He's not upset, only you are.

   So, then: it never matters at all how you feel about it, just as it wouldn't matter in a courtroom. The verb "homologew" in Greek is a Legal Admission-Of-Culpability verb dating back to the 5th century BC. "Confess" in modern layman's English is misleading, because people load that verb with emotion. However, the legal English "confess" has zero connotation of feeling; same is true of this Greek verb. You did it, or you did not. So, admit it, or do not. The attendant circumstances, your 'repentance', matter not at all. No more than it should matter, in any trial. Is the defendant GUILTY? Yes, or no. That's all that matters, in law. Especially, God's Law Of Grace.

   Adam and the woman had a lot of trouble with this first step, in Gen 3: they first tried to pawn off their guilt on God, the snake, and each other. So you will also have trouble admitting. Push yourself to do it anyway. The resistance will atrophy with repetition of 1Jn1:9 usage. Here's why. You can't grow out of the sins you sin Absent Doctrine In You, and that takes time, because you have to Study Bible For The Rest Of Your Life. Some sins will be easy to get over. Others will take a long time, for the deep-rooted sins, because you need more doctrine in you, to break them up.

   Because, like an atom bomb's power (atom bomb means an atom splits inside), sin splits against God, so its power derives from rejecting God, not from self's power; so sin is extremely powerful, way more powerful than human attempts at resistance. [Ask a science nerd you know about derivatives in physics or math.] Even Christ didn't use His Human or Divine Power to resist sin, but instead grew up via the Holy Spirit DEPOSITING truth in Him. So you must use 1Jn1:9 to BE Filled with the Spirit, to Pray, to get that Doctrine, so it's a Law Of Grace. Grace Now Rules, Because Christ Does, get it?

   CAUTION: because this is a legal procedure, sourced in your Office as Royal Priest under Christ, don't add anything to this admission. Don't ask for forgiveness, for example, because you GET it by the naming. See, if you ask for forgiveness, then you AREN'T believing 1Jn1:9, lol. Also: don't apologize, don't promise to do better, don't offer some penance, because those also evidence NOT believing what the verse says. You'd then be adding to it, which is as negating as those who think they have to "repent" or "invite", make Christ Lord, blah blah blah work work lie lie.. in ADDITION to believe, to be saved. So, they aren't saved. So you aren't forgiven and purified by adding anything to the naming of the sin, either. God is Consistent after salvation, too. Whaddya know.

   Above all, don't feel guilty. Guilt is a sin, so use 1Jn1:9 for it, too. You don't need to feel guilty: God knew billions of years ago you'd sin that sin, and Christ already paid for it. He's not shocked by sin; if He were, we'd never have been born! Religion feeds on guilt. That's your first big clue there's something satanic about all religion. So getting to the point where you don't feel guilty will take some practice, because religion is all around us, panting after us to feel guilty so we can pay the harlot her fare.

   With lots of practice using 1Jn1:9 (I use it like breathing), the usage will become instinctive, quick (1-2 seconds), and guilt will take a holiday. Took me about two years before it became instinctive. Now, I sometimes catch myself "rebounding" (my pastor's term for the use of this verse), even in my dreams! You can think it or say it, depending on your preferences. (Suggest trying to say it, first, to get faster imprinting on your brain. After awhile, thinking it is maybe better, lest after it has become instinctive, you forgetfully blurt it out in front of others like I've done, lol.)

   While praying, MONITOR your thoughts for sins. Name them while you pray, so you remain online with the Holy Spirit. A prayer prayed without the Filling of the Spirit will not be heard, no matter how right it may be (big topic in James 3). Hint I learned from my pastor: if I don't remember sinning or what kind, instead of ruminating about it the rest of my life, I just say, "I confess my arrogance". All sin is some type of arrogance, see. The attempt to be specific is helpful because your soul ASSOCIATES the recognition to your brain, so the next time the same sin tempts you, you will be a little less likely to approve it. With repetition, then, the temptation will have a harder time getting mindless approval, heh...

   Finally, as a believer You Are Forever A Royal Priest To Father, so you don't do this naming to anyone but Father. Well, if you think you need to tell someone else to relieve their upset, do. Good manners always require an apology where necessary. Of course, it should go without saying, that if you bear a grudge against someone while praying, you're sinning, so the prayer won't be heard. Ergo that verse about husbands and wives not getting their prayers heard, because they are upset with each other. Ergo that model statement in the so-called "Lord's Prayer" about forgiving others as the prerequisite for what we know as 1Jn1:9.

   BTW: That prayer belonged to Israel, so had a slightly different protocol, because the focus of the prayer-vote was for Israel To Accept Christ as Messiah; even then, it was never meant to be mindlessly intoned, lol. Can you imagine the Lord praying like Christians mindlessly murmur 'the Lord's Prayer'? How disgusting! In any event, that prayer is irrelevant now, except to see the organization. Note how the steps here have the same structure.

2. Address prayer to Father ONLY. Because, your priesthood is UNDER Christ to Father. See John 17, Eph1:15ff, Eph3:15-21, and obvious ones like the so-called (misnamed) "Lord's Prayer" to prove that Only Father is the Recipient of Prayer. See also the "Spiritual Royalty Brief" box at Home pagetop, which has more info on what it means to say you are a Royal Priest to Father. See also the "Due Disclosure" link for the wider panorama of your historical role as a Royal Priest. It's pretty shocking.

3. Thank Him for whatever you remember, depending on how much time you have. You don't need windy, flowery or 'holy' words: the Lord warned the Jews not to pray like the Pharisees or the windy Gentiles. Your words do have to be yours, and genuine. Don't fake it. Notice how frank the Lord is when HE prays, in John17 and in the Garden of Gethsemane (well, unless your translation masks His Intimate Directness). This step is more for your confidence, not God needing to hear praise, but it is, Thank God, also protocol. Frankly, this the best part of prayer, imo. Conversation. Dialogue. Looking at Him.

4. ASK your requests. YOU'RE VOTING FOR GOD'S INVOLVEMENT, and with this page's protocol your requests will be heard. So be very careful what you choose to request. Think of your requests this way: You Are The Ruler, And Someone Is Petitioning You. That helps you orient to the legalities, and to Father's Nature as Ruler, even within the Godhead. [Again, the "Site Purpose" link in "Basics" box explains more about the legal structures.]
   For example, whatever petition He grants, has many effects on others, not merely on the petitioner. If someone asked you for a million dollars and you grant it, other people will be affected by your granting it, not only the one to whom you grant it. Will that effect be just? Maybe so, maybe not. Maybe just to you, but unjust to others. Maybe just to others, but unjust to you. It's not about gimmes, it's not about your worthiness, it's about true blessing versus 'apparent' blessing which really is blesser (French verb, means "to wound"). So, think broadly when you pray. For none of us is an island to himself.

   Just because Father totally loves you since billions of years past and future, doesn't mean He sidesteps His Office as Chief Justice. Nor would you want Him to do that. So, don't be worried, intimidated.. or flip, like Herod was when he asked Christ to do a miracle to prove Himself, Messiah.

   For, it's not magic, it's not miracles, it's not emotion.. it's LAW. God's. "Supreme Court of Heaven", as my pastor likes to put it. Christ is Ruling on behalf of Father. You are a Citizen Of Heaven (favorite expression of Paul's), and You Are Granted Legal Privileges, of which prayer is one of the 'biggies'. ("Site Purpose" link in "Basics" box has a lot to say on the legalities. "Thinking" series box has a whole lot more to say on the same topic.)
   It doesn't at ALL matter what you think of yourself; it matters altogether what Christ thought on the Cross. So you are free to pray. Between the world's obsession with blaming, Satan's obsession with blaming, and one's own sin-nature proclivity to blame, self always feels intimidated when thinking directly toward God. It's a lie, all that blaming. God doesn't think that way. Proof: if He did think that way, you'd be dust already. But you're breathing, so you know He doesn't think that way.

   Satan (a title which means "Opposing Attorney", in English), is out to derail prayer for that reason. See, Satan doesn't want God's involvement, for then the world will get worse. So Satan might demand some bad request you make, be answered "yes", in which case you'd be very unhappy getting it. Or, so distracted by it, you screw up your spiritual life. In either case, you'd be more inclined to reject God permanently.

   So, although you shouldn't agonize over what to pray, for crying out loud, don't be flip about it, either oh Father, please make that boy/ girl/ monster fall in love with me... Especially, since with this page's protocol, your prayer will be legally registered. Publically heard, By God. And, by Satan&Co. Maybe a public record, in eternity, too.

   The way my pastor explains this component goes roughly as follows: Petition Answered (yes), Meaning Behind Petition Denied. So, if you asked for a million bucks, you'd get the money, but not the happiness you thought the money would buy you. Then, there's the reverse (Petition Denied, but Meaning Behind It, Granted). Then there's Petition Granted, and Meaning Behind Petition Granted. "Petition" is a legal word, and it's the Bible's meaning. "Request" isn't so clear, in the English. So take your 'requests' very seriously. Satan sure does.

   Best requests to make, if you need help getting started: prayers like Paul's, in Eph1:15-end (that's an unending prayer, standing for whole period Church remains on earth). Requests to Understand Scripture Better. Requests to be reminded of 1Jn1:9 every time God knows you've sinned. Requests that you clearly present the Gospel (so, request that you Learn It Properly). 2Chron7:14, 1Tim2 have some other really important prayers for your home country here on earth.

   Strategy: if you pray for SPIRITUAL things, the PHYSICAL stuff needed for them also are granted. Remember when the Lord counseled (I paraphrase), Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added also to you... So you don't need to pray for physical healing, you need to pray for UNDERSTANDING. Any needed physical healing is just an incidental to the far more needed spiritual healing. With God, you always Start At The Top. So, aim high: in your thinking, in your prayer, in your life!
   Satan would have us all thinking small. So you will be tempted to think a big prayer is too high for you, you need someone else to pray for you, and similar nonsense. Listen: if you were an ax-murderer of millions, but followed the protocol in this page, your prayer would be heard. Never underestimate the Power of the Cross! Creation exists only because the Cross was foreknown to be freely successful. God just knew about the result in advance, that's all. So Christ strategically defeated all demons (subtheme in Hebrews), not merely paid for all sins -- including, all those horrific ax murders, of course.

   BTW: don't be jealous the ax-murderer can get his prayer heard, too -- you betray hatred of God if you think that way. A murderer can only murder people. God is bigger than people, so any sin is first a sin against God; so hating God is a bigger sin than even murder, for your jealousy is in effect a demand God not be paid by whatever benefit He might get by answering the ax-murderer's prayer..so use 1Jn1:9 on the jealousy, and keep moving. [First rule of Justice is that God benefits. If God is not fair to Himself, He would not be God. So any prayer granted is first, Fair to God, or it cannot be granted. You don't have to know how the prayer is fair to God; and in fact, one reason you ask is that you don't have enough facts about the justice effects, so you petition -- get it?]

   So always ask BIG, of God. Look how it turned out for David, Paul, Christ (how I love John 17)! Since about 1989, I've prayed God have carte blanche what He wants to have happen here; sometimes, so I don't become mindless, I try to guess at what He wants. Now, that prayer is considerably refined, and too hard to explain (because I use Greek keywords in the prayer). If you understand the idea as expressed here, play with it when you pray.

   If you want a more specific way to pray, try this one: pray that what the Lord Himself wants your prayer be, be registered as your prayer, and you also vote for all of what He chooses it be. Unconditionally. Irrevocably. The Legal Action you are undertaking is called "incorporation by reference". It means, by mentioning the SOURCE, you incorporate all that source SAYS. So I often pray, "I hereby incorporate by reference as my prayer, all that My Lord says this prayer means." Takes but 30 seconds. Has the biggest meaning, an ultimate-Jabez. Easy to repeat whenever, wherever -- if the brain is on (not mindless). Again, because Prayer is a legal procedure to the Supreme Court of Heaven.

   Results are phenomenal, but keep trying to understand the significance of that prayer throughout your day, when you have free time (i.e., when standing in line at the bank, waiting to be seated in a restaurant, on the toilet, whatever). Also, keep monitoring what happens in your life and outside you (i.e., in the world), for what happens tells you what The Lord wants. Which monitoring you only can do with 1Jn1:9 and cycling Bible you've learned...

   This sweeping prayer doesn't negate small ones at all. You should also pray smaller ad hoc prayers, especially when people ask you to pray specific things, or when specific things are on your mind. In short, pray any prayer, all prayers, but have your brain on. Mindless chanting of set prayers is never acceptable: don't get into a 'rut'. Note the Lord's many warnings about mindless praying (i.e., "not..many words, like the Gentiles do" verse) in the Gospels. You aren't supposed to mindlessly vote, mindlessly make decisions.. how much more, should you not mindlessly use, The Greatest Voting Weapon In The Universe? Only properly-recorded votes count. All others have voter-caused 'chads', so get Thrown Out Of Court!

5. Ask your requests in SON'S NAME. This part of the protocol is a Legal Claim, that You Have A Right To Pray Based On His Merit, not your own. That's why the prayer works no matter how you are, if you but follow the Protocol. HIS Merit, so you don't have to trouble about your own, ever. See 2Cor5:21 and Romans 5.

6. Finally, BELIEVE. The English word "amen" is a version of Hebrew's verb for "believe". So when you say "amen" it's an attestation, "I believe it", meaning You Believe God Can Do It. You don't have to say it aloud, of course. But you do have to actually believe in HIM.

   See, if you doubt God, your prayer is cancelled. God is always consistent: BELIEF is required. You only needed to believe once to get saved, because a birth occurred due to that belief, so you can't go backwards. Forwards, continuing belief becomes an ongoing requirement. So, you must believe 1Jn1:9, to name sins, right? You must believe the Doctrine your pastor teaches, to retain it and live on it, right? So also here. This issue about believing God can answer your prayer is important, so think its meaning over. Doubting whether He would want to say yes is not doubting, but respect. "Doubting" is when you believe something bad about God, like He doesn't exist, can't be trusted, only wants people to suffer, doesn't care, etc.

   Look: I completely believe that if I prayed for all the hungry of the world to be immediately fed forever, they would be. But that isn't a good prayer to pray, because when you feed the belly, you starve the brain -- people don't grow mentally, much less spiritually, absent suffering. It's just the way we humans are. It's not God who wants suffering, but man is just not interested in God unless he needs something. So, if you instead prayed for all it takes to motivate men to be interested in God (can't coerce volition, but can encourage it), any needed physical feeding (etc., including all logisticals) to support that prayer goal, will automatically be included. See how much it matters to know God's System?

   As a believer learns God, his interest shifts to God, and he doesn't need the 'training wheels' of physical need, to motivate interest. But by then, suffering has a different purpose: "fellowship of sufferings", Paul's motive. When you're spiritually mature, you want to suffer, because all else in life is too low a satisfaction of your need to express love for God. So, there is always a beautiful purpose for suffering. No matter how senseless or cruel it looks down here on the ground.

   IMPORTANT: A subtle version of this type of doubting occurs when, after you've asked for something, you then try to do it through other means. This kind of stuff happens a lot, mostly due to believer impatience. Like how Abram went into Hagar, instead of waiting on the Lord. See also James 3. Satan uses doubt to get the prayer thrown out of Court. See, Elohim, that believer didn't really believe in you, didn't wait for you to answer, so.. um, how can the prayer now be legally registered? He used that same snaky tactic on Job, on Christ (Matt4), on Paul with respect to Jerusalem (too hard to explain), etc. So he'll use it on you and me, too. Again, not due to our merit, but due to Christ's. We are not an island to ourselves!
   Christian activists probably never get their prayers heard for this reason. You can't be running after Caesar to make him 'god' and praying to the Real God with any expectation of yes answers. Pick one or the Other. Suggest the Other, because after all, running after Caesar is idolatry. Christian activism is the worst of blights on a nation. It was what killed nascent Christianity in the 2nd century, devolving into a Rev17 harlot. Same trend goes on today, worldwide.

Of course, any request you make which violates Truth will be answered "no"; after awhile if you've been breathing 1Jn1:9 you will know in advance what to ask and not ask. But practice, anyway, don't be afraid to make mistakes; you can't learn to pray without making mistakes. Ask anything and everything, so you get that practice, analysing for correctness as you do it.

Wanna see what God can do with prayer votes properly registered? Check this out... Since my pastor repetitively taught us all this correct protocol for prayer, I knew it like breathing. So in 1984, while still a pretty stupid believer, I suddenly decided to pray about 10 minutes a day for the downfall of Russia; I wanted those folks freed so they could get Scripture. Gorbachev had just come to power, and on my 9-inch black and white TV set, he looked dangerous, to me. [I had screwed around with the spiritual life my first ten years. In 1981 I got a bunch of Divine Discipline for the screwing around, so woke up and "got serious about doctrine"; 'moved to Houston, where Bible classes were held live 7 times per week (no repeats). Daily exegesis of Revelation was going on at that time. As to the prayer's content: I've always had a 'thing' about Russia. Dunno why.]

The prayer was thus repeated daily for between one week to six months, I'm not exactly sure how long. Each time, though, with my brain on (1Jn1:9 like breathing). Then, just as suddenly, I forgot all about the prayer, didn't monitor the outcome. So imagine my surprise, when on my birthday in 1991 I 'just happened' to be stuck in a hotel room, and saw the 'coup' on late-night TV! All that night I stayed up to see what would happen. Fell asleep to the news that Gorby baby was finally released from house arrest. Of course, I suddenly remembered that I had even prayed the prayer.. but clearly God did not forget!

You gotta understand, by 1991 I didn't usually watch television, and especially, not the news. I had a business to run, and doctrine was more interesting, taking up most of my free time... Oh. I should mention that the hotel room was in the town where my pastor teaches, whereas by 1991 I lived 1000 miles away. Had to suddenly go there on business. Oh: and when I finally fell asleep, I overslept so long, I missed going to Bible class when I had the opportunity to go there in person. Hmmm. So if it wasn't for the need to travel there, I couldn't write about this event. And of course I got spanked for missing Bible class.

If I could go back in time to 1984 but with what Doctrine I know now, I wouldn't have prayed that prayer. It was too low! Why, oh why didn't I listen better in Bible class, with the result that I would have aimed higher? Okay, that problem is remedied now: I constantly ask for "Kol Dabar" -- Hebrew for "all His Word, Commands, Will" be done down here. The prayer varies in words, but always has the same meaning. I want what HE wants to rule down here and forever, period. And, it does. Again, if you don't understand the meaning of this kind of prayer, then pray something else. It matters that you understand what you pray well. Brain-on-prayer according to the protocol gets heard. Else, you're blowing hot air.