Lately I’ve been compiling a list of creative ideas to develop really good prayer habits. I want to share that list with you as well as give you the opportunity to share you’re own ideas. My prayer life needs to grow… a lot! I could have written this blog about a theology of prayer or Biblical motives to pray. But sometimes you just need to buckle up your tool belt and get to work!
Go Somewhere Special to Pray
- Go for a walk. As the winter transitions into spring, I plan to go on a walk and talk to God about how this season reminds me of who he is and how he works. I plan to do the same when the leaves change colors and when it snows etc…
- Go to church on a weekday. Although its hard to find a solitary place in our busy church building, a couple times I have found a quiet corner and prayed for our pastors and our congregation and the ways God is working in our church.
- Watch a sunrise or/and a sunset. Dawn and dusk are the perfect times to praise God for filling the earth with beauty!
Follow Biblical Examples of Prayer
- The Psalms. Warning! Praying through the Psalms will take you through a whole range of emotions. The psalmist may joyfully give thanks in one Psalm and in another cry out to him in brutal despair.
- Jesus. The greatest man of prayer of all time. There’s no better place to start than the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.
- The Epistles. The writers of the epistles repeatedly describe how they are praying for churches and could provide a framework for your own prayers. For example: Ephesians 3:14-19, Colossians 1:9-12, and 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5.
Keep a Prayer Journal
- Write out your prayer as if you were writing a letter or a poem to God. I do this once a week (typically on Saturdays) and it helps me keep track of my prayer history and be honest to God in ways I hadn’t thought before.
- Make it visual! I haven’t done this one yet but eventually I want to get a little artistic by making my journal more like a scrap book with pictures and personal notes to give me something visual to pray over.
Pray Through Lists
- Text thanksgiving lists to a close friend or family member. My girlfriend and I have started texting each other five to ten things we are thankful for every night and then I talk to God about them before I go to sleep. This has been so good for me that I hope to make it a life-long habit!
- Attributes of God. Once a week, list specific attributes of God that you have seen in action and praise God for being the kind of God that he is!
