"Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  ​

Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  ​

Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, ​

everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  ​

It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." 

​Philippians 4:6 (message)
 

A man named E.M. Bounds spent the last fifteen years of his life studying prayer as discussed in the Bible.  His book is nearly 600 pages long.  What a privilege to be able to read what this man discovered in the pages of the Bible.  Below are quotes from his book.

The clear and oft repeated language of the Bible is that prayer is to be answered by God; that God occupies the relation of a father to us, and that as Father He gives to us when we ask the things for which we ask.*

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We must look at God as our heavenly Father.  He loves us and wants to give to us.  He gives when we ask. Because He is the perfect Father he will only do what is best for His daughters.  If our requests are harmful to us, He will deny the request.  If our attitudes stink with sin—being selfish, arrogant, lazy, or insincere our prayers are not heard.
 

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Prayer is the contact of a living soul with God.  In prayer, God stoops to kiss man, to bless man, and to aid man in everything that God can devise or man can need.

Prayer fills man’s emptiness with God’s fullness.*
 

Nothing is more important to God than prayer in dealing with mankind.*
 

He who does not pray, therefore robs himself of God’s help and places God where he cannot help man.*
 

If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world’s affairs, and prevents him from working.*

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God wants to hear our prayers, it is important to Him.  Our heavenly Father wants to help and bless us.  He wants us to be the best we can be.  We have to ask for His help or He watches as we stumble around looking for all that He can give us.
 

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The deeper the desire, the stronger the prayer.  Without desire, prayer is a meaningless mumble of words.  Such formal praying, with no heart, no feeling, no real desire accompanying it, is to be shunned like a pestilence.  Its exercise is a waste of precious time and from it, no real blessing accrues.*
 

The whole man must be given to God in praying.  The largest results in praying come to him who gives himself all of himself, all that belongs to himself to God.  This is a condition of successful praying and the sort of praying which brings the largest fruits.*
 

Energy, courage, and persistent perseverance must back the prayers which heaven respects, and God hears.
 

Intensity, fervency, desire, vigilance, perseverance describe the right attitude in praying.  We have to care!  We have to mean what we say!  God doesn’t care about the beautiful way we say our prayers, He cares about the heart in the prayer.  It isn’t the right words that get prayers answered, it is the right attitude in our hearts that gets answers.  We have to give ourselves wholeheartedly in our praying if we are to pray successfully.
 

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The lack of obedience in our lives breaks down our praying.  Disobedient living produces mighty poor praying.  No man can pray—really pray—who does not obey.*
 

Our hearts need much to be worked over, not only to get the evil out of them, but to get the good into them.*
 

God’s obedient kids get their prayers answered!  Many of us are Moms.  We know what it is like to discipline our kids.  We know that sometimes we have to say no.  We know that when our kids are being good—obeying with the right attitude—we would give them anything within our power.  God is like that with us.  He will discipline us, to keep us from destroying ourselves.  But when we are right, in our hearts, not just pretending to be good—God blesses; God answers.
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In the New Living Bible the verses read like this, ​

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“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. 

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Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

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If you do this, you will experience God’s peace,

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which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. 

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His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."​