Let’s face it, prayer can sometimes feel overly complicated. Though the thing is, prayer is an absolute essential to your faith. Everyone carries baggage of some sort that can at times make prayer difficult. Maybe you had a father who was hurtful to you, so now attempting at a relationship with your Heavenly Father is complicated. Maybe it’s simply your mind can’t stop running long enough for you to focus when you try to pray. Whatever the reason for your less than awesome prayer life, it can be helped.
Your prayer life is the act of drawing close to God, the source of your faith, strength, healing, and life. It directly mirrors your spiritual health and consider it this way; if you were dating someone but only spoke to them once a month, how healthy would you say that relationship is? Exactly.
Here are six ways to give your prayer life a boost for a healthier, happier, and more fruitful you!
1. Keeping a Prayer Journal
Of all tools that can be used for prayer, a prayer journal is the only one you really need. With a prayer journal, you can record prayer, pray, wait in anticipation, witness God answer, praise Him, record His answer, and then pray again, bigger and more audaciously. Witnessing His faithfulness first hand as you record how prayers are answered will grow your faith and confidence in God to the point of wanting to pray more and more.
Jesus teaches us in Luke 18:1-8 about a widow who pleaded with an unjust judge long enough that he answered her requests, declaring how much more so God will answer His own people through diligent prayer. A prayer journal keeps your prayers organized and gives you the ability to diligently seek God’s intervention on your behalf.
Get yourself a journal, make entries in it that clearly state your prayer, the date originally prayed, and then leave space for when and how God answers the prayer. After a while, your faith will prosper as you look back and see God’s faithfulness on paper. Pick up and start journaling your prayers today, you won’t regret it!
2. Pray through Worship
Have you ever been fully present and moved during worship that you could feel the Spirit working and you couldn’t help but praise the Lord? Believe it or not, worship that is a form of prayer; you are speaking praise to God. Give yourself over to the Spirit in that moment, and I dare say, switch from the lyrics on the screen and just start openly praying. Make a habit of this, and in no time, your sensitivity to the Spirit will skyrocket and it will also aide in your prayer outside of worship too. Make sure though to balance this practice with the actual act of worship too.
3. Pray with Others
God has designed us to be in community with other believers. This is essential to our faith and is literally the definition of Church (sort of, that’s a topic for another day). In Acts 2:42-47, we see what the Church is meant to be, a community doing life together in harmony as the unified body of Christ. We as the body are to live, move, and of course, pray together. Paul teaches in Philippians 2:2 that we are to be unified and with one mind.
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”
-Philippians 2:1-2
The powerful thing about believers having one mind is declared by Jesus Himself in Matt. 18:19-21 when He says the following:
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””
-Matthew 18:19-20
Find a fellow sibling in Christ and plan a time and place to pray together. When you come together in fellowship and prayer, you’ll witness miracles.
4. Prayer Walks
Have you ever day-dreamed of being that mighty spiritual warrior that storms the darkness? Prayer walks are just that! A prayer walk is when you pick a specific geographical location to go and pray over. It’s called a prayer walk because it literally entails walking around and praying for a location for a specific reason. An example of this would be going to a dark side of town and walking around it while praying against spiritual wickedness, that the Lord will bring hope and redemption to the people that live there. Another example would be walking around and praying over your house that God will bless it and bring peace to all who reside inside.
Prayer walks are literally charging the enemy’s gates. This is claiming territory for the kingdom of God and casting out the darkness! This is what God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to do when marching around Jericho and you can do the same exact thing today. On your commute to work this week, whether walking or driving, consider praying over the homes and people you pass by.
5. Prayer Posture
Did you know that the posture you come to God with says a lot about your heart and feelings toward God? Maybe you’re a parent, and your child comes to you demanding a toy that they’ve been wanting. They don’t say please or even make it a request, but a stern demand. Your other child comes later in the day, asking for something, saying please, not whining, but respecting you. Which child are you more pleased by? I’m not saying God isn’t pleased with you, but which child would you consider as healthier and more mature?
Now you’re the child, coming to your Heavenly Father; what does your posture say concerning you? You’re a child coming with nothing to your parent who so happens to be the God of all creation. Come humbly, on your knees, palms open, and know who it is that you’re speaking to. Try putting aside some time to pray. Find a private place and close the door and consider physically getting on your knees, bowing while imagining yourself being before God’s throne. This may be foreign to you, but give it a try.
At the same time, know who you are as a child of God and speak to your Heavenly Father as your Dad for He desires nothing more. And don’t ever forget that it’s a relationship. Next time you pray, just talk. It doesn’t have to be an overly formal and awkward conversation, just a conversation with your loving Dad who thinks the world of you.
6. Pray through Scripture
Have you ever found yourself barely paying attention to your Bible as you were in the act of reading it? A great way to help you focus more on what it’s saying is by praying through it! I know it sounds odd, but this is simply praying aloud what you’re reading as you read it and also having an active dialogue to God about what you are reading (as you read it). Was that a little confusing? The goal of this is to have an open communication with the actual author since only He can truly reveal it’s meaning to you. Not only that, but praying through Scripture is actually a great way to get the Word of God deeper into your heart so to transform you from the inside out.
Praying through the Word of God has a multitude of benefits as mentioned above and more. Another great benefit of praying through Scripture is that God has spoken numerous promises to His people that are fully redeemable by you as a co-heir in Christ. As you find these promises, pray over them and see how God answers them. You can even record these promises in your prayer journal to keep them organized and convenient for you.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
-2 Timothy 3:16-17
If you have never prayed through Scripture before, a great place to start is by praying through the Psalms. Start praying through the Word of God instead of just reading it and witness your prayer life be transformed by it!
Your prayer life is crucial to being spiritually healthy. As spending time with other people is an important part of relationships, so is it important to spend quality time with your Heavenly Father. Try putting a few of these methods into practice this week. It may feel odd and foreign to you at first but don’t give up until they become natural to you. Know that all that is written above is only the tip of the iceberg concerning all of these methods of prayer. In due time, as you put them into practice, your own understanding of each of these will grow far pass what’s above. Keep on seeking the Lord in prayer and know that it isn’t a legal requirement but a joy to talk to your Father! And as your prayer life grows and develops, so will your faith!
