Are you praying?

These questions are intended to help you evaluate your prayer life. There are no right or wrong answers, so be honest with yourself. Prayer is evidence that you have a healthy relationship with God   Do You Pray? Answer these questions First:

• Do you pray? I don't mean in church or right before a meal. I mean do you actually take time out of your day (or in the middle of your day) to pray to God?
• If you don't pray, ask yourself, "Why not?" If you profess to believe in God, but you do not pray, why is that? Again, I encourage you to be honest with yourself. That's the only way that this evaluation will help you assess your prayer life.
• If you don't pray, do you want to?
• If you want to pray, but don't, what is stopping you? Is it fear? Or a lack of faith? Or something else?
• If you don't pray and you don't want to, why? Are you mad at God? Are you afraid he's mad at you? What is keeping you from praying?

    Non-Recorded Prayer Assessment Ok.... Let's begin.... Take out a piece of paper  Number it from 1 to 4 and write out, adding up your self-assessment score for each questions: Example: Section  1 has 6 questions 1.  2+4+1+5+3+3= 18 (score for section 1) 2. 3. 4. 5.   

Non-Recorded Prayer Assessment Use the scale below to respond to each statement
Never=1    Seldom=2    Occasionally=3    Frequently=4   Always=5	Self Assessment (1-5)
1. General way in which you pray
Do you make many requests in your prayers?
Do you praise God in your prayers?
Do you ask God for guidance?
Do you pray for yourself?
Do you pray for others?
Do pray for certain people regularly?
Total
2. Specific aspects about the way in which you pray
Do you think about what to pray for before you begin to pray?
Do you listen for God's response while you pray?
Do you let God lead your prayer?
Do you have God's word in mind during your prayer?
Do you pray with a goal in mind?
Do you P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens) in your prayers?
Are your prayers consistent from day to day?
Total
3. Time of your prayer
Do you set aside a certain time every day to pray?
Do you pray throughout your daily activities?
Do you pray publicly without shame or embarrassment?
Do you pray?
What areas do you need to improve in?
Total
4. Place of your prayer
Do you have a specific place where you go to pray?
Does the place where you pray help you stay focused in your prayer?
Do you try to avoid distractions when you pray?
Total
5. Results of your prayer
Do you feel God listens when you pray?
Do you frequently  notice God answering your prayers?
Do you sense God is involved with you in prayer?
Do you find your faith growing because of prayer?
Do you find yourself wanting to spend more time with God in prayer?
Are your prayers growing in focus?
Are you prayers being led by God more and more?
Total
(Add up all of the totals) Grand Total

There is no pass or fail in this test, just the opportunity to change aspects of your prayers that need improvement.   Take this test again in a few months to see if you have improved your score. General assessment ranges

• 170 is a perfect score:  No way anyone gets a perfect score
• 120 and above is very good:  your prayer life is very effective, keep prayer and prayer harder
• 102 and above show some areas needing improvement:  work on your weak areas
• Below 70: You really need to focus and make some changes
• 34 is the lowest score possible:    never means never.  (Do you actually pray?)

      Recorded Prayer Self-Assessment If you did not take the time to record your prayer... Stop right now...  do not fool yourself.   This self-assessment test is useless if you did not first record your prayers.  

Recorded Prayer Self-Assessment

IMPORTANT:   Read all these questions first then Listen some of your recorded prayers several times to answer these questions

Do you repeat certain words or phrases?  If so.... Write them down.

Do you feel your words are clear in communicating your thoughts?

Do you pause at times without knowing what to say next?

Do you use filler words (words without purpose or meaning) when you pray?

Are you respectful to God with the words you use?

Do you try to use "Religious words" to sound better to yourself?

Do you wander off a lot in your prayers?

Do you lose track of your train-of-thought in your prayers?

How is the start of your prayer compared to the middle and the end:

Do you lose enthusiasm after you begin?

Do you End abruptly?

Do you start the same way every time you pray?

Do you end the same way every time you pray?

Does the middle part of your prayer seem purposeless?

Do you talk to God or talk AT God?

Do you mumble, stutter, and not complete your thoughts?

Do you struggle to find the right words?

Do you start praying with words and end praying only  in your thoughts?

Did you discover anything about yourself by listening to your prayers?  (Make a note of it)

  Final Analysis Prayer is talking and listening to God. Now that you have taken this evaluation of your personal prayer life it is time to assess how you are doing and strive to improve yourself. Note your weak points and work on improving them. Pray for help in this. God is there, and he wants a relationship with you. Just ask. Please complete the following two final questions:

• What does this self-assessment say about your prayer life?
• According to you own self-assessment,  What areas do you need to improve in?

  One Last Step How does your prayer life stack up with the prayer seen in Scripture? Take time to read the following scriptures, as well as any other passages relevant to prayer. These are a good place to start:

• Luke 11:1-11
• Matthew 26:36-46
• James 5:13-18
• Psalm 51
• Psalm 150
• Mark 9:14-29

I trust you learned something about yourself and how you pray and have discovered ways to improve your relationship with God as you pray.