And pray in the Spirit
on all occasions
with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Ephesians 6:18

I’m a herky-jerky pray-er.
Some weeks I storm the gates of heaven with ferocious faith.
Other weeks, I limp through the days with barely a whisper.

A large percentage of my prayers are focused on me and what I want.
And then I have the audacity to tell God how to go about answering.
“Lord, here’s my problem and this is what I want You to do about it.”
It’s no wonder my prayers don’t availeth much.
Am I the only one? 😉

We all have room to grow in this area, I’m guessing. How can we become better pray-ers? It’s something I’m going to explore in 2021. Here are a few ways I’m going to try to grow in this area.

• Remember that church directory from a several years ago? I’m going to dig it out and starting with the “A’s”, pray through it, taking a page every week or so. It won’t be long and complicated. When Paul prayed for people, he simply mentioned them to the Lord. (1 Thess. 1:2) When I come across a picture of someone who has passed on to glory, I’ll thank the Lord for their life and the ways they influenced me. I’ll listen for God’s prompting to get in touch with someone I haven’t seen for a while.
• I like lists, so I’ll make a list of 30 people I know and lift up one name every day for a month.
• During the sharing of prayer requests at church or Bible study, I’ll actually write them down and actually pray for them during the week.
• When someone shares a struggle with me, I’ll ask them if I can pray right then and there, out loud, short and simple, instead of using “I’ll be praying for you” as an exit line.
• If I can’t physically be with someone, I’ll write a short prayer in a text and send it.
• I’ll keep a list of people to pray for in my phone and turn to it instead of scrolling Instagram during down time.
• This year, I’m keeping all the Christmas cards we received and I plan to pull out one card every so often throughout the year and pray for God to bless them.
• I’ll ask God to bring people to mind who need prayer and immediately lift them up when someone pops into my thoughts. Then I’ll send a quick message telling them God brought them to mind and I prayed.
• Pray the alphabet.
• I won’t be so shy about making my own needs known so brothers and sisters in Christ can pray for me.
• I’m going to find a place to make a pile of stones and add one every time a prayer gets answered. Maybe pebbles in a vase on our kitchen counter or a stack of rocks in our front yard.
• Let’s all pray for church staff and those in teaching/leadership positions on our drive to church every Sunday morning.
• I’m making a prayer notebook. More on that later!

What ideas can you add to the list? Share, please!

Lord, I pray to become a faithful pray-er.