Prayer practice
Lord, teach us to pray…. -Luke 11:1b (NIV)
Prayer may start with a simple request like the one Jesus got from a disciple: “Teach us to pray.” Prayer isn’t complicated, but like any habit, it takes practice. Prayer is powerful, not only changing outcomes, but changing us. If we can develop this holy habit, we will find it our most consistently effective response to any situation we face.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. -James 5:16b (NIV)
Last week we set our perspective of prayer as a two-way conversation (Be still & listen). This week, we will focus on some approaches my foxhole has found helpful in re-vitalizing our own prayer lives. To start, try book-ending your quiet times with prayer: Pray, Listen, Read, Meditate, Pray. But what to pray for? What to pray about? How do we get this conversation started?
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. -Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
Many find it helpful to use a prayer list for focused intercessory prayer. Prayer lists do not preclude the need or the opportunity to listen to the leading of the Spirit, but they can add some structure and intentionality to our prayers. One method for building your list includes breaking it up into sections. My prayer list includes…
a family section
a friends section for job co-workers, ministry co-workers, my foxhole guys, members of my small group, neighbors, ministries I invest in, etc.
a leaders section for missionaries, ministry leaders, church staff, elders, business leaders, political leaders, etc.
a personal section for confession, struggles, dreams, and specific areas I want to grow in or maintain
Mention specific names as you pray. If there is a need or situation you are aware of, address specifically. A good prayer to pray over the people on your list, especially children and grandchildren, is the one Paul prayed in Colossians 1:9-12.
The danger of a prayer list is we can easily read our list of names, check the box, and pretend we have prayed. Take the needed time. Focus on one section per day if that makes it easier to give the right level of attention to each person as you mention them before God.
An idea for listening to the Spirit and responding in worship or gratitude is to pray the Psalms. A full description of this practice, including a customized schedule of which psalms to use on which days, can be found at How to pray through the Psalms. It involves skimming five psalms per day, watching for words or phrases that catch your eye. Once identified, use the themes and wording from those verses as the basis of your prayer.
I tried this with Psalm 126-130 today. The verses that jumped out at me had to do with children (Psalm 127:3-5, Psalm 128:3-4,6). Now I don’t know exactly what it means to have “olive shoots around my table”, but I thanked God for my kids and prayed the words of those verses over my family. I was surprised at how easy and enjoyable it was.
Not all conversation between my wife and me is deep and riveting stuff. Much of it is mundane, of mutual interest but not terribly important, often joking or playful. It’s a running, casual conversation that starts and stops as the moment strikes us. But we periodically take time to talk about us, to share our hearts, our hopes, our dreams, and to express our love and respect for one another. Not every word we exchange is laden with gravitas, but some of them need to be. That is the nature of relationship. The little stuff provides the touchpoints because the big stuff is still real and true and part of the discussion.
So it is between God and us. We keep an ongoing dialogue, but we need to make time for the occasional heart-to-heart talk.
Pray continually…. -1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)