Five Keys to an Improved Prayer Life
by Tim Hunter
I believe that prayer is to the soul as water is to the body. Without water, your body will die. Without prayer, your relationship with God will be lifeless. But, I am not writing this to shame you - I think if you are reading this you are already convinced that prayer is something you should be doing. Most likely, you are a follower of Jesus and desire to grow in your prayer life (if you are not, welcome, and I would love to talk to you about why we as Christians pray. Reach out to me.) Most of us know we should pray, and many of us have even made concerted efforts in the past to improve our prayer life, but we felt like we arrived back at square one. So, for our purposes today I simply want to give you practical keys to an improved prayer life. We can examine the purpose, power, or privilege of prayer some other time; for now, let’s just get practical. I trust you want to pray, you believe in prayer, and want nothing more than a vibrant and consistent prayer life with the Heavenly Father. So let’s get practical - deal?
Make a List
I’ve heard many preachers say: “If you don’t have a prayer list, you won’t have a prayer life.” While this may seem trite - it is true. While you don’t have to stick exclusively to your prayer list as you pray, it provides you with a really good foundation and springboard for your time of prayer. Think through: what are some things you would like to see God form in your life, what ways do you long to see Him work in the lives of those around you, what events in the world around you are cause for you to go to God in prayer on behalf of. You get it. There are a million things to pray for - write just a few down and pray for them for a month and see how this simple action will vastly change your prayer life.
Pray in Circles
This is perhaps my favorite out of the five keys. Early on in my journey with Christ, I was introduced to this method of praying in circles. To simplify it: you start with a small circle (yourself), move to a slightly bigger circle (other people), and move finally to the biggest circle (the world, nations, leaders, etc.) This has grounded my prayer life and given me a simple way to organize the way I think when talking to God. I believe that each believer is a conduit of God’s blessing. So, for me to love, serve, and teach others the way that I have been called to I must be filled with God. I start with the small circle for this reason. If my heart is not close to God it will be no use trying to draw others to Him. From there I will pray for those who are close to me and move out gradually praying for God to glorify His name in the world in a myriad of ways that I am led to.
Have a Set Time
Disclaimer: Yes I understand we are to pray without ceasing. You can save that argument. My point is simply that without a set time apart with the Father (Jesus gave us an outstanding example of this: Mark 1:35, Luke 9:18, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:23) we have little chance of an ongoing conversational relationship with Him. I also am a big advocate of this time being in the morning, but we can argue that some other time. The point is - decide a place and a time and let that be the time that is just for you and the Father. Make it a non-negotiable appointment.
Pray Scripture
Many of us run out of things to pray within a few minutes, or we do not know exactly how to pray in a way that we feel is glorifying to God. There is a simple fix to this: Saturate your prayers with Scripture! Let your Bible reading from the day influence the way that you pray. Pray the prayers of Paul, a psalm, or in response to a story you read! When we pray scripture we pray God’s word back to Him - what could be more powerful! A few of my favorite scripture passages to pray if you do not know where to start are Ephesians 1:15-23, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 1:9-11, and Matthew 6:9-13. You can pray in response to just about any scripture passage.
Write Down Answers to Prayer
God has promised over and over again in His word that He responds and acts to the
Prayer of His children. Yet I wonder how often we do not recognize His answer to our prayers because of forgetfulness of how we are praying. Remember that prayer list I talked about? Here is a tip as practical as it gets: Leave a blank page across from your list and simply write any answers to prayer that you see in your life that correlate to the things on the list that you are praying through. Writing down answers to your prayer is a tremendous way to bolster your confidence in the God who hears and acts.
A Bonus and a Challenge
For a bonus I thought I would throw in perhaps my favorite quote when it comes to practicing prayer. It is not original to me, and I am not entirely sure who is responsible for it but it is this: “Delight grows in the garden of discipline.” If I was sitting across from you with a coffee talking about how to grow our prayer lives, no doubt I would say this! Prayer is a discipline for sure, but it is also a delight. And what I have found is that often delight comes after we have disciplined ourselves first. So embrace the struggle, pray even when it's hard, recognize we are human and prayer will not always be our first impulse - but I promise you delight is to be found in the presence of the Father if you will discipline yourself.
Finally, a challenge. I said we were going to get super practical! I challenge you to implement each of these five things for thirty days and watch how God will use these simple practices to revolutionize your prayer life! Try it, and please let me know how it goes! May these simple steps be formative in your prayer life, and may our hearts never be content with where we are at, but increasingly echo: "Lord, Teach Us to Pray."