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Prayer is one of those basics of our Christian life but can be one of the most difficult to begin implementing. A lot of Christians say they need to pray more but struggle to make prayer a daily habit. Prayer was something I really struggled to incorporate into my life when I became a Christian. I had no idea what I was doing or what to say. This kept me from growing in my faith for a long time. Eventually, I learned more about it from watching others and learning from more mature Christians, but it still overwhelmed me. When you start to think about who you should be praying for and what you should be praying about, it can start to get incredibly overwhelming. We worry about what to say and how long to pray for and a bunch of other things that don’t really matter. Learning to pray and pray consistently is just like any other positive habit you try to implement; it’s going to feel odd at first because it’s new but the only way to make it part of your life is to just start. You might stumble a little and miss some days, but the more you do it, the easier it will become. Here are some simple ways you can have a better prayer life, starting today!
Keep It Simple
Praying every day really doesn’t require a lot of time and can be done anywhere. After I realized that, I was convicted pretty hard and made the decision to make prayer a priority in my life. Simplicity took me a long time to get my head around. Talking to the Creator of the universe made me feel like my prayers had to be articulate and long and full of zealous words. But prayer is really just a conversation, just like if you were talking to a friend about your life. Some of my most honest, raw and intimate prayers have been the ones with the fewest words. A prayer for safety can simply be “Lord I trust in your protection, please keep me and my family safe as we go. Amen.” Don’t overthink it; just start talking to God about your life, your hopes, dreams, fears, and anxieties. It will get easier over time.Pray Scripture
Use the Lord’s Prayer found in Mathew 6: 9-13 as a guide if you are unsure where to start or how to pray.- Start with Praise;
- Pray God’s will to be done in your situation;
- Pray for and thank God for provision over your situation;
- Confess any sin and pray for forgiveness; ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your heart and shine a light on areas that need forgiveness;
- Pray for protection, safety, and deliverance from temptation.
Find Prewritten Prayers
From guided books to blog posts, there are tons of resources out there for people who are unsure what to pray about or what to say during prayer. These are a great way to get you started and build your prayer vocabulary. Just on Pinterest alone, you can find pins with pre-written prayers for just about anything: anxiety, focus, healing, health, safety, your husband, your kids, your family, your finances, your friends, etc. Start a prayer board on Pinterest and start grabbing some for future use. You can go follow my Prayer Board on Pinterest to get some ideas!Practice Meditation
This may seem like an odd tip, but part of the reason we struggle to pray is that it requires us to slow down and be still in the presence of God. We feel like we don’t have time to slow down, and thus, struggle to pray. I am not talking about the meditation you may be thinking about; I am talking about meditation on Christ & who He is, on the attributes of God, on His goodness and faithfulness and on Scripture. Meditation can help you get into that habit of slowing down. It can put your heart at mind in a primed state to engage in meaningful prayer because you are already still and calm, instead of anxious because of all the things you have to do that day. A good way to do this is to listen to scriptures while practicing deep breathing or reading through a Psalm. You can also play worship music and meditate on the lyrics. I have even created a playlist of my favorite worship songs on Spotify you can use! By listening to or reading a short passage of encouraging Scripture, your heart is tuned to the Holy Spirit and speaking to God will feel like the natural next step.Get Organized
The best way to fight prayer overwhelm is to organize it. Spend some time writing down all of the different areas of your life you want to cover in prayer. For example, your categories could be Personal, Marriage, Family/Kids, Friends, Church, Community, Requests, etc. Under each category, write specific things you want to pray for. Choose 1-2 categories a day to pray through. If you are someone who writes a to-do list or uses a planner to schedule your day, write in your prayer time! Things that require discipline and forethought rarely occur organically during our day. It is important to make time for it and block it off in your schedule. Set a reminder on your phone, write it in your planner, or leave post-it reminders for yourself.Use a Prayer Journal
Using a prayer journal completely changed my prayer life. Physically writing out my prayers helped me to focus and keep my mind from drifting. You can use any blank journal for prayer, but the one I use is a yearly prayer journal from ValMarie Paper. It takes care of the Organizing and Journaling all in one!
It has categories already laid out and at the beginning of each month, I fill in specific areas, situations, and requests to pray over for that month.
Each day, I pray over 1-2 categories and use the blank lined sections at the end to journal my prayers. This helps keep me organized and also reminds me to ask my loved ones each month what I can be praying with them about.
I pray using my journal when I am driving or folding laundry or any task that doesn’t require a lot of my brain power. Valerie calls this “Pray Pairing” when you pair using your prayer journal with something you are already doing most days.
This journal is one of the BEST investments I have made in my spiritual growth. They are only available at the end of every year and last year they completely sold out before January!
If you want to try out the format before investing in a journal, you can purchase a $15 6-Month version that is smaller and more budget friendly.
Are you prioritizing prayer in your life? Is this something you struggle with? Are you using any tools that help you? Tell me about your prayer life in the comments!
