3 Great Ways To Learn How To Pray More

I’ve been learning so much about the power of prayer recently, and I hope that this post will help you be able to pray more and see the benefits of it!

Last week I talked to you all about reaching out and doing what God wants you to do, even when it makes you feel uncomfortable. For me lately, as I said before, that’s been intentionally going up to someone and asking how you can pray for them. If you’re like me, and you’ve talked to some people and you have some prayer requests to say, then stay tuned! Or, maybe you have some of your own things in your life that you need to pray for. That’s also REALLY important! Basically, the moral of the story is: We’ve all got things to pray about. Let’s figure out how to make our prayer game stronger! Here’s a few things that I do to help remember to pray, and to pray more intentionally.

 

1: Pray alone.

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” -Matthew 6:6

When I’ve read this verse in the past, I mostly think about how he’s probably saying don’t pray in front of people because then, it’s easier to brag about your prayers. While this is true, I think there’s a deeper meaning behind why Jesus tells us to do this.

Praying by yourself can make you less distracted, and more focused on God. Also, I find it even less distracting and more engaging if you pray out loud. Yes, I know. Talking to yourself?! You’ll look crazy! (But that’s why you do it alone;) Praying by yourself can make you feel much more comfortable with talking to God, because when you’re with other people praying, you feel the need to say exactly the right things all the time. But God doesn’t care if we jumble over our words and say the wrong things! He wants us to pour out our hearts to him. The best way I’ve found to do this is to pray out loud, alone, just you and Him. Kinda like talking to your best friend, huh?

2: Write down your prayers.

So maybe you’re not as much of a writer as I am. But that’s okay! This is something that I’m still trying to get into the habit of doing. I think though, there’s a huge benefit of writing down your prayers, personal or other, because then you have a better chance of remembering them, and then you can look back and see how God has answered! Get yourself excited about what God has done in your past, because then you will become more confident that he will be with you in the future.

Also, if you’re like me, writing things down is one of the only ways I can truly express what I’m feeling. Things that I (for some odd reason) can’t say out loud, I can write down perfectly. So maybe as you’re writing down what you want to pray for, it’ll help you organize your thoughts a little more!

3: Get a way to remind yourself to pray more.

So yeah, at first I’ll admit it- praying doesn’t come easy for most! But once you get into the habit of doing it, then you’ll find yourself depending more and more on God and his truth. Before you know it, you’ll be going through your day, looking forward to those few minutes of time alone with God!

One way I’ve helped myself remember to pray during hectic times in life is to use this app called Echo. You can download it on your phone, and put down your prayers in it. The cool thing about it? It sends you notifications of certain times you can pray for someone! Because lots of people are guilty of being on their phones wayyyy too much (myself included), this is a great way to remind yourself to take some time and pray.

Or, if you don’t want to use an app, there are many other ways you can remind yourself to pray more, too! Find a place in your house, or outside, that you LOVE. For me, that’s taking a walk outside through the woods. Looking forward to going outside, or sitting by a window drinking your coffee, is a great way to remember to pray! Find a spot, and even put a sticky note of prayers so that you can remember what to pray for.

The way I got myself into the habit of praying is because I love to run. And while I can’t pray out loud while I run, I always finish a little bit before I actually get home. Then, as my heart rate calms down, I can have a nice, relaxing talk with God. These talks became a vital part of my day, and even though I pray to him other times during the day, there’s always something special about spending alone time with the one who made you and loves you.:)