I’m wondering if some of you are like I am when it comes to your prayer life…….like it might be a bit stale? Like the words you’re saying are not really what you want to say.
It’s surprising how many people say their prayer life sucks. Studies show that the majority of Christians say the hardest part of their spiritual discipline is their prayer life.
Do you yearn for a prayer life that gives you a deeper satisfaction and gives you that encounter with God that you desire?
We all want to have our prayers bring us into a deeper encounter with our Lord. We want God to hear us, to know us, to laugh and to grieve with us.
Spending time in prayer is essential for our walk with God. God wants us to have a relationship with him, to converse with him and move closer to him.
And there is no barrier now. Jesus Christ removed the barrier between us and God—by his death on the cross.
In this post, I’ll share ten creative ways of enhancing your prayer life. I hope you find them as helpful and encouraging as I have.
Kick start your prayer life into overdrive by trying these prayers. If you do, you’ll find a new freedom of knowing you have initiated a real conversation with the creator of the universe.
As a new Christian, one of the first pieces of advice I got on how to pray was to remember the words of Dom John Chapman, the Roman Catholic priest and Abbot of Downside Abbey:
“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.
So ride this one out with me. Have a real, open conversation with God. Don’t hold back. Pour our your hearts, your hopes and desires for yourselves and others. Allow yourself to be transparent and vulnerable. Take the leap and let it out. BE BOLD!
Pray Without Ceasing
Jesus taught his followers to pray constantly. Jesus said: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10).
10 Creative Ways To Pray
1. Thumbs Up To God
Take a black marker (or any color) and put a dot or mark on both of your thumbnails. This way, every time you look at you thumb during the day, you’ll remember to pray. Maybe an initial of someone you want to pray for.
The mark can be for a special prayer for someone or just a prayer of praise for God being in your life.
Some folks put a spot of the lenses of their glasses so the reminder is always in their line of vision. I don’t recommend this, especially if you are driving.
2. I Don’t Want To Do This.
DO IT ANYWAY!
Write a list of those you would least like to pray for…..and pray for them anyway. Doing this will give you a feeling of being closer to God. Trust me. It’s not easy to do this. You may even “forget” to do it. Hey, try the Thumbs Up marker to help you “remember” to do it.
You’d be surprised at the number of people that got to be more likable as I prayed for them. That probably says more about how God worked in me than in them. I’ll take God’s blessings anyway I can get them.
3. I Want It….but they need it more.
I say prayers of petition. Telling God what I want and how I would like my life to go. My guess is you do too. But a really cool way to beat the “me” game and bring a deeper joy to your praying is to find out what others want and need.
Then pray for them to receive the richness of life that God can give them. As an example, ask friends and family what they really want out of life. If someone wants a new grand piano, pray for it to be given to them. If it’s a better job or a healthier relationship with their children, pray it out.
God is sovereign and will do what he will do. You can use this with those folks you don’t want to pray for too. Who knows? They might get what you pray for. If they do, you’ll have an idea that God likes them. So then maybe you can learn to like them too.
4. Get Vocal (except in the supermarket)
Don’t be timid in who you pray for or where you pray for them. I’ve gone up to policemen when there were people standing around and asked if I could pray for his/her safety. Most all the time, they welcome a prayer.
And guess what, if you’re loud enough, people milling around will get the benefit of the prayer. God doesn’t waste a prayer.
I wouldn’t jump up on a produce rack in the supermarket and begin to proselytize. God might delight in your courage but the authorities might frown a bit.
As a result, you might get taken away to the graybar hotel for a night or two. But look at the good side….a new audience, albeit captive, to introduce to Jesus.
5. Blog A Prayer
I suppose if I am suggesting that a creative way to pray is to blog a pray, that I should blog one. But first, let me be clear….you don’t have to setup a blog to do this. It’s just my way.
You can write a prayer for social media, post on Facebook. Facebook does have prayer groups that you can join. Also, go to Pinterest and setup a free account and join some prayer groups.
Quora is another way to get your words out to a large public. Get creative. Get Googling. Find ways to pray it out. Or just simply write it out and pray it. Okay, heres my poem-prayer for this post:
They sat in the pews
sipping coffee from paper cups,
taking in the words
from the pulpit.
They reminded me of
oarsmen propelling a
great ship to
somewhere special.
Ok, so I didn’t just come up with this. I took it from another one of my blog pages. Still, it’s my prayer. And it represents me “praying as I can, not as I can’t”
6. Become A Streetwalker (What!!!!!!!)
This is a great way to pray. A lot of people out there in the streets desperately need our prayers. Jesus is willing to meet you wherever you are. Why should we be any different.
Okay. I get it. This is definitely not for everybody. The streets today are dangerous. If you are so inclined to reach out to that population, please do so in groups and with great caution.
If you want safer, you could walk the streets in your neighborhood and pray for people or with people. There are plenty of places in your own community that need prayer warriors…..nursing homes, senior centers, jails.
Look for ways to carry God to those who may not be able to access churches or houses of worship during the pandemic. Go to fire departments and police departments and offer to do prayer, even if you must do so on the outside.
7. Sing A Prayer (if God hears your pain, he’ll hear your refrain)
If you are a musician and can sing well, good for you. Singing a prayer would be no problem for you. Maybe even write a prayer/poem/song. There are a lot of good songs out now that touch our very need for God in our lives.
The Psalms in the Bible are good examples of songs. Many of them were written as poems that were meant to be sung.
You could be a musical streetwalker carrying God to a desperate world. However, there are some of us, me included, who can’t carry a tune. If I were to carry a tune to Jesus, he would tell me to carry if right back where I got it.
Of course, there’s always the shower. You can sign your heart out in the shower….sing praises to the Lord…..sing laments of sorrow and grief (God hears your pain)…..sing songs that inspire your soul. The shower noise should keep others in the area from having to hear you. God blesses some people that way.
So sing it out and sing it loud, wherever you are. God is feeling the love you have for him when you do.
8. The Three Mile Prayer
Doesn’t have to be three miles but a healthy run/walk hike is good for you. You can do any distance you want. The point is that it really is good for the heart. Cardio. And by using it a measure of prayer, it’s good for the heart of God too. Just make sure you set check your fitness watch to stop at certain intervals and say a short prayer.
Make it a pray of thanks for just being able to move those legs. Pray for someone that comes to mind as you are jogging or walking. Sing it out if you want.
Let out a yell in praise of the Lord (best to do when there’s not a lot of people on the trail). If you are moving along a forest or a lake, praise God for the beauty that surrounds you. For his creation.
9. The PO Prayer
Okay. Here you go. Felling sort of disgruntled at the way your life is going? Not happy with the hand God has dealt you? Try the PO prayer. I think you know what I mean.
You’ve lost your job, one of your family is going through some health issues, you car needs work on it. All these are tough. Let God know how upset you are about all this. Pray out a lament of your troubles.
Whatever is on your mind, say it. Lay it all out to the Lord.
Whatever you say, don’t think he hasn’t heard things like it or even worse. Don’t mince words. He can take it. After all, he’s God.
Look to David in the Psalms for examples. David told God just how he was feeling and he did not hold back. He let him have it.
10. Pray To Pray
What if you’ve tried everything but can’t seem to get into praying? You want to talk to God but the right words just don’t seem to flow the way you want them to. Maybe you’ve tried some of the ways I’ve listed above and still feel an emptiness when you try to pray.
Here’s some really good tips from Rick Hamlin posted in Guideposts.org:
“………….You know, I think if you’re trying to pray it is praying. To try to pray is to pray. You can’t fail.”Perhaps prayer is the only human endeavor where trying to do it is doing it.
I mean, if God is God, he’s got to hear us no matter what, even if we don’t feel like we’re praying when we are. We don’t feel all peaceful and in touch with something beyond ourselves.
I know what that’s like. You bow your head, close your eyes, you mutter something and your mind is flying in a thousand directions. You’re worried about your health, your family, your work, your lack of work.
You’re thinking about the grocery list and the checkbook and the laundry when you want to be praying. Can’t pray? Here are some things I do. Try ’em.
Go ahead and say it to God anyway. Say whatever is on your mind. Say the worst. It can’t be any worse than anything he’s heard. He’s God, after all.
Remember, to try to pray is to pray. You can’t do it wrong. There are probably as many different ways of praying as there are people on this earth. Each one of us has our way of communicating. Each one works.”
Good writing good buddy.
You are keeping busy with things that give you that Peace that you talk about.
I miss our socializing.