Have you ever felt really out-of-your depth whilst praying? Stuttering over your words? Or just don’t feel worthy enough to pray?
Here are some tips to kick-start your prayer life!
The Ultimate Guide
When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He gave this example:
‘Father, Hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us and lead us not into temptation.’ – Luke 11:2-5
This example covers the important points in prayer. Glorifying God our Father and acknowledging His kingdom, asking God to provide for our needs of the day, asking for forgiveness and strength to forgive others and finally to grant us self-control to help us not to fall into temptation and sin.
Worship songs
For me, I have found that it’s harder to pray and concentrate when I am not immersed in worship songs, before I talk to God. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Singing is like praying twice?’ It sure feels like it too! Most worship songs are taken from God’s Word and you are praying whilst you sing. So if you’re a music person, perhaps this will help you!
Devotionals
This has been one tool that has helped me in my prayer life. Devotionals have a scripture to focus on every day with a little message attached to it. I like to base my prayers around the ‘theme’ of that day, especially when I feel lost or clueless about what to pray for. There are loads of devotionals to choose from. The Bible App and UCB have some great ones about a whole load of topics!
Bible time
It can be tempting to feel like the bible should be read like a book, from front to back. But do you ever feel like you are just skimming through to get to the end of a chapter and complete your reading for the day? Take it slower, and don’t feel like you have to read loads in one go! Even if you’ve just read one verse, think about what you’ve read and pray about it! Pray about how to apply it to your own life, and ask God what He is trying to teach you through it. The bible is the ‘living’ word of God which means it’s not dead and old and written only for one time in history, but it is still relevant today!
Best Friends
God is literally my best friend and everything I do I always try to include Him in it which sometimes looks like I’m talking to myself (which I have been caught doing multiple times!) Although He is an All-Powerful, Omnipotent God, He loves to be involved with every area of our lives even the boring things, so talk to Him as if you would a best mate!
Find your style
Ultimately everybody’s prayer life with God is different and unique and it will take some time to find what works for you. My personal style is writing. I love writing prayer letters to God in my journal, and even though I don’t get a physical written letter back, I know that God is always listening to my heart and reading these letters.
I hope these tips have helped, and remember if you are struggling with prayer, you are not alone, and God sees us trying!
‘And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.’ – Romans 8:26
