Keeping that Prayer Resolution Thing
I will assume that several readers made some sort of resolution to make 2009 a more prayer-
driven year. Who wouldn’t want that? The problem comes when life crowds out, drowns out, and distracts us from the best of intentions. Before sharing some encourgement and ideas, let me go ahead and get this out of the way: I am a hypocrite today. My own time with God was good, but a little “skinny” because I overslept. But God is a perfect Father, the best possible friend, and the lover of my soul. I don’t think He is pouting about it.
So how can you and I keep our prayers creative, fresh, real, consistent … all those things we want them to be, but struggle to always enjoy? Here are some suggestions:
- Be persistent until you get consistent. I posted a whole article about that simple truth HERE a few weeks ago. Basically, just DO it. Build the habit into your life.
- Pray with some structure. Jesus gave us some instructions HERE. A simple way to follow His plan for praying is P-R-A-Y: Praise (tell Him what you praise and adore Him for). Request (Tell Him what you need). Apologize (Confess you sin and ask for His forgiveness). Yield (Surrender all of your life and plans and worries to Him.)
- Notice that “R” comes before “A.” Every notice that before? It is liberating. Jesus said to ask God for stuff even before we confess. My inclination is to do the opposite. I want to “come clean” before asking for something. But we don’t have to measure up or qualify for the blessings of God. WOW.
- Write them out. Write some love letters to God. Journal them if you want. Or just do it when you sense that you need to. Writing out a sincere letter to God sometimes breaks you out of the rut if all your prayers start to sound alike.
- Get a prayer partner. That doesn’t mean you have to pray together every day. But you can agree to have your personal prayer time at the SAME time as your partner. That builds in accountability. Get together once a week to share what God is doing in you. And then pray for each other.
- Pray the Scripture. Pray back to God what He already has inspired. Change the pronouns to personalize the Scripture. THIS book is a great resource for doing that.
That’s enough for now. If you have some creative ideas, please leave the rest of us a comment.
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