Easy to Say and Hard to Do

It is easy to talk the talk and harder to walk the walk. Most of us want to have a fruitful prayer life. Yet sometimes it's really hard to pray. Here are some practical suggestions to help you see greater effeciveness in your prayers.

1) Set aside a specific time for prayer. Get up early. Block off a certain time. Find a quiet place. Give prayer a place of priority in your schedule.

2) Discuss your life with the Father. Too many times we say our prayers and then move on. We have taken care of our guilt but we have never really gone into the throne room. Make your prayer time personal. Talk honestly about your struggles, your fears, your days and weeks. And then listen carefully when He answers.

3) Start with the Bible - God's Word. Read through a portion of Scripture and then make an effort to apply that specific Scripture to your life. When you read a command to “forgive others” ask God to help you release the bitterness and the hurt that makes you resist that command. Forgive them. When you read about the importance of “thinking pure thoughts” confess the areas where your thinking is polluted and ask God for help to think better. This practice will help you focus on the deeper issues rather than the superficial.

4) Keep a prayer list. Write a list of the people for whom you pray (you can add me). Be specific. What needs do you want to help carry for your friend? When someone asks you to pray for them add them to your list. Then make it a point to connect with those people and tell them you are praying for them regularly. This is important because the next time you are tempted to skip your prayer time you will remember that you told someone you were praying for them and then hopefully in your desire to be faithful you will make time to pray.

5) Remember to notice God’s answers to prayer. God answers in many ways. Sometimes He gives us what we expected. Sometimes He answers in unexpected ways. Sometimes He removes a burden. Other times He gives strength to bear up under the burden. Sometimes He gives to us the things we want. Other times He changes our wants by teaching us to be content. Sometimes He answers right away. And then other times He waits until we are ready. Notice the answers and when you notice His answers take the time and energy to thank Him.

6) Read some books on prayer and the biographies of people who prayed Prayer Hyde or Hudson Taylor are good). I don't mean that you should do this instead of praying, do it as an encouragement to prayer. These books and resources remind us of the things the Devil hopes we forget. They will as Hebrews says, spur us on.

What I don't want to do is to make you feel guilty or condemn you about your lack of a prayer life, rather, I want you to feel hungry for a greater prayer life. I don’t want to beat you up spiritually, I want to spur you on. I want you to see prayer as a chore that you dutifully peform every day but as an awesome privilege to spend time with the Father.

Keep going, you can do it.