5 Things That Help Me In My Prayer Life

Maybe you're like me, you want to have a great prayer life, but it's a struggle.  Well, put yourself in my position, I'm a pastor and people expect me to have a vibrant prayer life.  The truth is, some times I do and some times I don't.  It's a battle for me.  I've heard the typical advice for having a great prayer life and much of it I found to be less than helpful.  Nevertheless, there are some things that I have found helpful and I'm hoping they will help you too.

1. Pray Now!  No, really pray right now.  Ask God to help you with your prayer life.  Did you do it?  Keep reading, because there is more to this first one than whether you did what I asked you to do.  Pray now is a principle.  There are blogs, posts, and podcasts that will tell you to set aside a specific time each day to pray.  They aren't wrong, but I have a really hard time with that.  My schedule changes enough that doing this is very difficult.  On my normal days I have a specific time and place, but I have more days than I would like that don't allow me to keep that schedule. So, I practice the "pray now" principle.  I pray when I need to pray.  If something happens during the day that needs prayer, I "pray now."  Just two days ago someone was asking me for prayer regarding something going on in their life.  I practiced the "pray now" principle.  I asked if I could pray in that moment and we did.  Start practicing this principle.
2. Organize your prayer list.  I use some Bible software called Logos that has some prayer functions that allow me to keep track of what I am praying for and to schedule what I pray for and what days I pray for those things on.  You could do this using a prayer notebook, but I like technology.  You don't have to use Logos, in fact there are some apps you can get on your phone that might be more helpful to you.  Logos is more of a professional level of software.  Check out this site for a list of apps that might be good for you.  I am thinking about introducing one of these apps to my life group to help us pray for each other.  You can check out several of them here.
3. Pray aloud.  I know, it feels weird, especially when you aren't with other people.  For me this is a big one.  When I just think prayers it is much easier for me to get distracted or even fall asleep.  So, I pray out loud.  You don't have to shout or prayer so people in the next room can hear you, you can just whisper loud enough to keep you focused.
4. Pray with others.  Some people regularly pray with their spouse and this is great, but that isn't something I do, but we do pray together when one of us needs prayer or when we have someone we both want to pray for.  I also pray with my life group, prayer meetings, and so on.  If you are a beginner, this can be really helpful.  Hearing others pray will help you as you learn to pray.  Eventually, you just have to go for it when it comes to praying in public.  Trust me, no one is judging you based on how you pray.  I have heard people say swear words when they pray simply because they didn't know any better.  Take some advice from Nike and "just do it!"
5. Write them down.  I don't do this often, but sometimes when I am struggling or when I just want to be able to go back and remember what I prayed I will write the prayer out in a journaling fashion.  It also helps if I am having an especially hard time focusing.  

There is no way around the fact that prayer requires discipline in order to improve, but hopefully these things will help you on your journey.

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