Prayer is a spiritual discipline, and as a discipline, it will take time for it to become a daily habit. Maybe you already have a daily prayer habit, but feel like something is missing? Maybe you don’t have a habit yet, and want to make this a daily practice? No matter where you find yourself along the spectrum, below are six practical tools you can use to help establish and keep a daily prayer routine.
As you look at these practical tools for prayer, remember, the point of prayer is to communicate with God, which includes both listening and speaking. Intimacy with God is our goal, so keep that in mind as you read over these suggestions.
To that end – here are six practical tools that can help support a daily prayer habit.
1. Use a prayer journal – This can be a journal designed to be used as a prayer journal, I use the Signature Journal from Val Marie Paper, or you can use any notebook or journal. The journal is simply a space to record prayer requests, write out prayers, and record answers to prayer. You can also record what God is saying to you as you practice listening prayer. Written prayers can make a daily prayer habit feel more concrete since you have a place to physically record prayers and requests daily. It’s also nice to look back and reflect on what God has done and said to you in the past, which can be a source of great encouragement!
2. Choose a specific prayer location – Having a specific place of prayer helps your mind and body know that when you go into that place, it is time to be still and pray. You can train your brain to associate a certain place with the discipline of prayer. This helps with the transition from other tasks and projects to the sacred activity of prayer.
3. Set a specific prayer time – having a specific time for prayer is very helpful for building consistency in prayer. Knowing that from 7am-8am is your prayer time will help you guard it from other things that may pull at your attention. You can choose any time of day, but having a set time to pray has been common in all of church history and also in our Christian heritage. Daniel prayed three times per day (Daniel 6:10-28), Jesus practiced going away “very early in the morning” to pray to the Father, and practice of set times of prayer was continued by the 12 disciples of Jesus, “Peter went up to pray on the roof about noon.” – Acts 10:9
4. Have a prayer partner – This can either be someone you pray with physically, or someone you text or call about prayer on a regular basis. The goal here is to have someone who will help you stay consistent and be a source of encouragement for you while you are also encouraging them. Being in the same room with someone to pray can help you stay focused and follow through on your commitment of daily prayer. (As a bonus, praying together also helps build stronger friendships with others!)
5. Choose a specific prayer activity/posture – many people love to take prayer walks. Walking helps them stay focused on the task at hand and being in nature helps keep their mind focused on the Lord. If prayer walking isn’t for you, then you could choose another activity. This concept is called ‘habit pairing’ and you could pair prayer with house chores like washing dishes, vacuuming, or folding laundry. Others prefer to maintain a specific posture of prayer, like sitting, kneeling, laying prostrate (face down), and standing before the Lord when they pray. You see examples of each of these postures in the Scriptures.
6. Pray the scriptures – At times it can be difficult to know what to pray. First, the Holy Spirit helps us pray when we don’t know how (Romans 8:26), so be sure to ask for His help. Second, praying the Scriptures can help us align our hearts with the Heart of the Father when we aren’t sure where to begin. Many times throughout the Epistles, Paul tells the believers what He is praying about for them. You can take a read through any of Paul’s letters and mark all the places that Paul talks about prayer or prayer requests. What Paul prayed for the believers of that time is a great place to start, you can pray these things over your own life as well as over the lives of others as the Holy Spirit guides you. Coming into agreement with what the Scriptures say about you and your family/friends is a wonderful way to align your heart with God’s and intercede on their behalf.
These are just six suggestions for you to incorporate into your daily time of prayer. Choose one or try all six! When you do, please let me know. I’d love to hear how your prayer journey with the Lord has been going!
If you want to read more about prayer, you can begin with my first post on prayer here.
Sarah Louise 