We must sincerely and wholly pray to God, never mindlessly (Matthew 6:7).
For most people, prayer is our most neglected spiritual discipline, and requires us to recondition every time we are afraid or upset.
- Most Christians’ issues come from not spending enough time with God.
- People who pray intentionally several times a day never become spiritually complacent.
Praying is constant communication with God as life happens, not merely asking Him for things or help.
However, prayer works for literally everything.
God doesn’t “need” you to pray, and He can fix everything without our prayer.
- God also doesn’t cross our boundaries, including things we want to take control of ourselves.
- When we give over control and trust Him, He’ll act, but is also loving enough to permit us to experience our consequences.
Even extremely busy people have room for prayer:
- Time in the bathroom
- Commuting to and from work
- During routine or mindless work
- Quiet, non-thought times during personal hobbies and exercise
Things worth discussing with Him
Upcoming opportunities and risks:
- Ask for His blessing for the upcoming day.
- What appears to be the best option might be a bad idea, so pray for God to accomplish His will.
- Ask for wisdom for decisions and success in them.
- Ask for strength to endure any upcoming challenges, and that it comes through love.
Feelings, desires, and thoughts:
- Give each concern to Him, one by one.
- Ask for Him to remove all your anxiety and give you faith, hope, and love.
- Ask and submit every problem to His will.
- Pray for peace from the Holy Spirit.
- Pray for a more Christ-like heart and a stronger passion for people He wants you to love.
- If you have any recurring desires, request that He take away everything that maintains your selfishness.
Others’ thoughts, ideas, and feelings:
- Ask for God to work on their hearts and minds.
- Ask for God to give them strength and guidance.
Relationships and social dynamics:
- Ask for God to properly resolve issues and bring His glory through it.
- Ask for Him to give you a strong desire to follow Him and study Scripture for them and you.
Churches and groups you associate with:
- Ask for unity and diversity in the Church.
- Pray for leaders’ strength to maintain their calling.
- Pray for effective, Christ-minded leaders to step forward in your group.
- Pray for the group to adopt a discipleship culture, especially with younger members.
- Pray for more frequent, meaningful relationships that remove anonymity.
The Church at large:
- Pray that members give more joyfully, faithfully, consistently, and boldly.
- Pray for members to share the Gospel in their separate lives.
- Pray for a biblically consistent and spiritually driven sharing of God’s Word.
- Pray for prayer warriors to step in and spiritually empower the Church.
- Pray for preparedness for persecution. Pray for people to desire spiritual change more than political change.
- Pray for members to deliver the Gospel through their careers in the world.
Pray sincerely
We pray through our hearts, not through speaking.
- Speaking, however, can help prayer feel more real to us.
- While the Bible doesn’t specifically say to pray before food, gratitude should provoke the routine.
We must also have good motives for our prayers.
- God doesn’t honor prayers for selfish desires (James 4:2-4).
If you have the right attitude and want what He desires, God will always answer your prayers (Mark 11:24).
- God loves heartfelt devotion, so He answers specific prayers for good things much more frequently than vague ones.
- God doesn’t usually give what we don’t ask for, so ask persistently and intentionally (Luke 18:1-8).
Jesus gives Christians the best way to pray while maintaining a healthy perspective (Matthew 6:9-13):
- Use one of God’s names and remember He’s your heavenly father.
- Ask for His will to be done on earth in the same way He has it in heaven.
- Ask Him to provide today’s physical needs.
- Ask Him to forgive any sins in the same way that you’ve forgiven others’ sins against you.
- Ask for protection and safety from evil and destruction.
- Thank him and acknowledge His complete power and authority.
Routines worth considering
There’s some controversy over Jesus’ admonition against repetition (Matthew 6:7).
- Your actual conversation with God is where you’ll experience any spirituality, with the rest of it taking up more time.
- However, everyone has a different personality, so you may need more ritual if you’re lower on the Openness spectrum.
Place yourself in a familiar position such as kneeling or laying face-down.
Add nonverbal mantra-less meditation to your prayer (i.e., contemplative prayer).
- The extra time can help you to calm yourself to stay more focused on Him.
You can intensify your prayer with fasting (Mark 9:29, Acts 14:23).
- Fasting is critical for growing in Christ, but only for the right reasons (Matthew 6:16-18).
- Even fasting for a few hours or a day can have an effect on your spirituality.
- On an even farther level, you can take a major step in faith by dry fasting (i.e., not taking in any food or drink).
The Jesus Prayer is popular among Catholics:
- “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
- Eastern Orthodox takes the ritual very far, to the point of making it the cornerstone of a form of asceticism called “hesychasm”.