 |
Ten Ways to
Jump Start Your Prayer Life
by Rev. Glen VanderKloot
I think many Christians believe in prayer. They understand why they
should pray and really want to. They really want to deepen their prayer
lives, but they don't really know how. So today I want to suggest 10
ways you can jump start your prayer life in order to grow a more
intimate relationship between you and God. Let me encourage you to pick
a couple of them to implement in your life starting this week.
1. Set aside a time and place for daily
prayer. This is the single
most important thing you can do. When we establish a regular routine
for prayer, we will make sure that our prayer life is not just 'on the
run', or when our backs are up against the wall, or when our buildings
are being brought down by terrorists.
2. Begin your prayer times by slowing down
and quieting down. When we come to payer agitated and
stressed, it is especially difficult to hear God's voice and to sense
God's presence. Spending a quiet minute or two focusing and breathing
deeply can help quiet our minds and spirits and make two-way prayer more
probable. Allow for some silence in your life. This silence doesn't
have to be long. It can be as short as 30 or 60 seconds to begin with
and then gradually extend it to longer times as you get more comfortable
with silence and waiting and listening for God.
3. Pray the prayers of faith. We
have some tremendous prayers of faith available to us. These are
prayers that have stood the test of time. The very first one is
one taught to us by Jesus himself.
The Lord's Prayer
The Prayer of St. Francis
Luther's Morning and Evening Prayer
The Serenity Prayer
I have printed some of them out for your use.
Prayers of Faith
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen
The Serenity Prayer
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things that I can
And the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.
A PRAYER ATTRIBUTED TO ST. FRANCIS
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
Luther's Morning Prayer
We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear
Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and
harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin
and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds we may serve and
please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that
is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one
have no power over us.
Luther's Evening Prayer
We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear
Son, that you have this day so graciously protected us.
We beg you to forgive us all our sins and the wrong which we have done.
By your great mercy defend us from all the perils and dangers of this
night. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls, and all
that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the
wicked one have no power over us.
4. Have a prayer conversation with God.
Simply begin a conversation with God, like you might with a good
friend. It could go something like this:
Good Morning, Lord. It's Glen.
This is my situation.
This is how I am feeling.
This is how I need your help.
What should I do?
Silence.
I am concerned about these people.... Because....
What should I do?
Silence.
Lord, guide me in...
Thanks, Lord for listening
I am counting on you.
5. Pray the Bible. Sometimes when we
try to pray we are so unsettled and so caught up in the affairs of daily
life that we have a hard time focusing our attention. Taking a few
moments to read something from the Bible can help us redirect our
attention toward God. Use a Bible passage you are already familiar with
to help you get started praying. Focus on the contents of the Scripture
passage and allow it to steer your time spent in prayer. Slowly read a
single verse or short passage two or three times. Pause for some
silence in between each reading to allow God's word to sink deeply into
your heart and mind. Record some of your favorite Bible verses in a
notebook and pray with one or more of them when the need arises. All of
Scripture does not speak equally to us. Pick out those verses that
mean the most to you. Put yourself in the Biblical story and ask God
what he might be saying to you about yourself, your life, your
priorities, your relationships, your time, your money management - you.
6. Write out your prayers. Name
what is going on in your life.
Sometimes simply by naming and articulating what we are thinking,
feeling or experiencing - such as "I'm thinking about changing careers"
or "I feel lonely" or "I feel hopeless about..." or "I am overwhelmed"
can help us gain focus and reclaim a portion of the power our life
experiences have drained from us. Writing it down and composing a short
prayer and giving it to God can be an empowering ritual. Many people
find keeping a prayer journal to be a helpful discipline.
7. Recall how God has helped you in the
past. God told Israel over and over to "Remember how the
Lord God brought you out of bondage in Egypt." It is as we remember
the past saving acts of God that we gain greater trust in God's power
and love. And so Jesus says "Eat the bread in memory of me." When
we are caught up in our stress, pain or suffering, it is easy to forget
how God has helped us in the past. The trials of life can cause us
to lose perspective and weaken our sense of trust in God's caring
presence. But as we remember how God has helped us in the past we can
be filled with hope for today and
tomorrow. "O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come."
8. Pray with an outline. A
prayer outline helps to keep us on track and also makes sure that our
prayers are much more than just 'gimme, gimme, gimme'. Let me suggest
four different prayer outlines that folks have found useful.
a. ACTS
A - Adoration - praising God for who He
is
C - Confession - owning up to our sins
T - Thanksgiving - thanking God for all
he has done
S - Supplication - prayers of request for
ourselves and others
b. Five finger prayer
Thumb - pray for those closest to you
Pointing finger - pray for those who guide
us: teachers, doctors,
clergy, counselors, social workers, mentors
Middle finger (tallest one) - pray for
those who stand tall:
government, civic, and business leaders, police and firefighters
Ring finger (your weakest finger) - pray
for those who are weak:
the poor, sick, infirm, infants, homeless, and the powerless
Pinkie (the smallest, the least) - I pray
for me and my needs
c. Take a TRIP with God - ask questions.
T. - For what am I thankful?
R. - What do I regret?
I. - Intercession - whom do I need to pray
for?
P. - What is my purpose or plan?
d. PARTS of Prayer
P - Praise
A - Ask
R - Repent
T - Thank, and
S - Share
9. Develop a Prayer Rolodex. Put
together a rolodex with names of them.
Use either 7 or 30 cards. On each card put together a short list of
people and then take one card each day and pray for the people on the
list. A short list allows you to go deeper into prayer for each person
and yet keeps several people in your prayers every day. If you use
seven cards, you have one for each day of the week. If you use 30, you
have one for each day of the month.
10. Pray the Prayer of Jabez. Many
Christians have found the prayer of Jabez to be a powerful prayer for
their lives. We don't know a great deal about Jabez. There are just a
few verses about him in I Chronicles 4:9-10:
"Jabez was honored more than his brothers; and his mother named him
Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and
that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt
and harm!" And God granted what he asked."
God honored Jabez and answered his prayer
Personal Prayer of Jabez
Lord, I pray that you would bless me indeed,
Do something so big in my life that it is obviously from you.
Increase my influence and opportunities for you and
Give me a sense of your continual presence and direction.
Protect me and keep me out of Satan's traps. Amen.
Are these 10 ways the only ways to pray? Of
course not! They are simply some tools you can use to jump start or
beef up your prayer life. I hope you will pick a couple of them to
implement in your life starting this week. How you pray isn't
important. What is important is that each of us prays every day. Amen.
Rev. Glen VanderKloot
Faith Lutheran Church
Springfield, IL
www.faithlutheran.com
|
