Continuing with putting my spiritual house in order, I now come to the next in my list of 31 Ways to Give Your New Year a Fresh Start:
7. Pray without ceasing.
This is really hard for me.
And I don’t know much else to say about it.
But I do know that when I have a plan and an idea of a “system,” I’m more likely to follow through on a consistent basis.
This year, I’ll be trying a few things:
- Listening prayers. I’ll set aside some quiet time for prayer and reflection. I’ll pray and ask God simply for wisdom. I’ll journal about what I “hear.” (More on this as I practice it. Tuning our listening skills to hear God must be one of the most overlooked, under-used skills among Christians. Please leave me a comment if you have specific experience and/or tips for doing this effectively.)
- Prayer notebook. I bought a $1 “steno-type” notebook (spiral top-bound with a faint vertical line, dividing the page into two columns). On the left column, I’ll write, “I ask.” On the right column, I’ll write, “He answers.” I’ll record prayer requests and prayer answers.
- Divide the time. My friend, Jennifer, showed me this idea. Make tabbed dividers for each day of the week in your prayer journal. Group them by category (for example, Monday: the Church; Tuesday: local and national leaders, and so on). Daily pray through your “everyday” tab (husband, children, and so on) as well as that day’s focus group. When you get a prayer request, record it under the appropriate tab.
- Give it 5. I once heard Steve Brown offer this advice on making prayer time consistent and manageable. Thank God for 5 things, ask God for 5 things, and pray for 5 people you love within 5 minutes.
- Learn from others. I’m going to get these books on prayer and pray to be changed by their authors’ collective wisdom:
By Matthew Henry,”this work consists almost entirely of Scripture, arranged under various headings, to help Christians to pray in harmony with the truth of God, revealed in his Word.”
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World [Paperback]
By Paul Miller, from a review by Tim Challies: “the greatest strength of this book is Miller’s unrelenting emphasis that prayer cannot be an add-on to the Christian life; it cannot be supplemental but must always be instrumental. This book will equip you to understand prayer properly and, on that firm foundation, to commit yourself to it, with confidence that God is willing and able to hear and answer your prayers.”
What advice for consistent prayer can you offer?
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