Have you ever listened to someone pray from their heart or watched someone’s faithfulness in prayer? Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve found yourself thinking, “I wish I could pray like that!” A few years ago, I tried to be more intentional about prayer. I’d ask a few close friends each week, “What can I pray for you?”. The truth is, I was good at the asking part, just not so great at the praying part!
The sad reality was that my lack of prayer came from my desire to pray, or rather lack of. The problem was my priorities were misplaced. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to pray for these people, but I often deemed other things more important than prayer. One of the reasons for my priority problem was I forgot my dependency on God. A healthy and consistent prayer life requires us to consciously depend on God. We have a God who loves and cares deeply for us. He invites us to approach him in prayer, knowing that he attentively listens to the cares of our hearts.
We’re often quick to turn to prayer when we have exhausted all other options. However, we should make it a habit to rely on God every day, not just in times of need. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). He knew how quickly we can forget our dependence on him, even for our daily needs.
a healthy prayer life develops as we grow in our faith
Making prayer a priority in our lives is necessary, but it can be challenging even with the right mindset. So, how can we overcome the temptation not to pray? Although there are many practical approaches, here are two ways my prayer life has become more consistent: knowing when I plan to pray and what I plan to pray for.
When we don’t have a set time for prayer, it’s easy to say we will make time for it later. Despite our best intentions, the issue is that ‘later’ is always in the future and never in the present. Therefore, scheduling it into your day, whether on your daily commute, during a coffee break, or that quiet moment before bed, is important. Treat it like any other appointment, and it will be hard to forget.
It’s hard to avoid the brokenness of this world with a constant stream of news and social media, resulting in many opportunities to pray for the world. Also, knowing the prayer needs of those around you can help you build a stronger spiritual community as you pray for each other’s needs. Next time someone asks you to pray for them, make an effort to take note of it so you remember. Prayer apps like Echo or PrayerMate are incredibly helpful. They act as prayer journals, which allow you to set reminders to pray, create lists of things to pray for and reflect on how God has answered your previous prayers.
Making prayer a priority doesn’t necessarily mean that prayer will be easy. Even the disciples struggled with it, and that’s why they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus gave them the Lord’s Prayer, but even then, they still faced challenges. Prayer is a lifelong investment, a healthy prayer life develops as we grow in our faith.
