How do I pray?
One of the most frequent discussion topics that I have as a pastor is about - prayer.
For those considering if they want to take the step of becoming a follower of Jesus and for those who have followed Jesus for decades, prayer is vitally important and yet often confusing, overwhelming, or misunderstood.
And I get it. Prayer is somewhat a mystery to me as well. And that is not necessarily a bad thing! If we are engaging in a relationship with the Creator of the universe and the Savior of you and me, then we should expect that there are going to be parts to this faith that are beyond our full and complete understanding. That’s why this journey with Jesus requires faith.
But that doesn’t mean that we give up or don’t try to dive deeper into the mystery of our loving Jesus.
The mysteries of our Christian faith are an invitation to go deeper.
Just like a friendship or a dating relationship with another human, we can seek to learn and grow in love with God. And prayer is the important mutually-engaging, two-way avenue for communicating with God, learning more about God’s character, and more deeply experiencing the love of Jesus.
Prayer is about experiencing and engaging with the presence of God in every part of life and in every part of our day.
How do we do that?
Great question!
It simply starts with giving God our attention and our time. This will look somewhat different for each person because life looks different for parents compared to teens and for retirees compared to college students. But it will always require giving God our attention and our time as we dwell in His presence.
Dwelling in God’s presence can look like quiet morning prayers over coffee and it can also look like praying for our children as we change their diapers or clean up their messes. It can look like praying through the news stories we read online, and also asking God to give you His eyes and heart to see and love others at your job. It can also look like listening for God’s voice on a walk through your neighborhood and also reciting the Lord’s prayer every day at lunch.
Prayer is about spending time listening to God and talking with God.
Be in God’s presence.
The goal is drawing closer to and being with God - not doing something or having a “productive” meeting with our Creator.
A helpful tool I use for prayer most days is P.R.A.Y. (As defined by the 24-7 Prayer Movement):
P – Pause; breathe deeply and be still in God’s presence.
R – Rejoice; what’s been good today? Thank God for it.
A – Ask God to help you and those you care about.
Y – Say Yes to God; welcome His love, His plans and His presence into your day.
This 4 step framework helps me shape my time with God and guide my listening and talking with God on both good and hard days (i.e. - when I am less in the mood for wanting to say “yes” to God).
There have been many wise followers of Jesus over the years and across the globe who have centered their lives on “practicing the presence” of God and engaging deeply in prayer. If you would like to go deeper, let me point you to some of that wisdom that I have personally benefited from:
Books:
Eugene Peterson is one of my most respected pastors and authors. I have learned deeply from everything I have read from him - and Praying with the Psalms is a great devotional resource.
What should we do when God seems silent or absent? God on Mute is a great and honest conversation on that topic.
If you are a pastor or in church leadership, The Praying Pastor by David Busic is a great resource on incorporating prayer more deeply into both your personal walk with Jesus and also your rministry.
A wonderful resource centered on the Lord’s Prayer is Praying with Jesus.
Another great book for church leaders is Lead with Prayer.
Online Resources:
Wanting to deepen, start, or re-start a habit of prayer? Here are several great resources from 24-7 Prayer about building a daily habit of prayer. I especially appreciate their resources on the Lord’s Prayer.
I am a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene and if you are a part of the Nazarene denomination too, we have great weekly prayer resources and current prayer requests from both Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and Nazarene Missions International.
If you are not a part of the Nazarene denomination, you can join me in being a prayer partner with International Justice Mission as they fight human trafficking around the globe. Their prayer request resources help me know how to pray for global needs and specific anti-human trafficking initiatives.
Learn more about the Lord’s Prayer in this BibleProject podcast episode.
The Psalms are a great resource for our own prayers. Here is a video overview of the Psalms, also by the amazing BibleProject team.
Other Tools:
My daily devotional is the Lectio 365 app with prayer and devotional times in the morning, midday, and evening. I love that it is both text and audio, so I can listen to while walking home from dropping my kids off at school in the morning.
Read through Bible verses on prayer in your physical Bible or on the YouVersion Bible App.
A journal. A physical, handwritten journal has been one of the best ways for me to engage in prayer (listening and writing/speaking) with God. It helps get the words, feelings, and questions out of my head and on to paper as I write them down. Often, my journaling about the events of life will slowly wind its way into a closing prayer asking for God’s guidance, love, and forgiveness.
Regardless of where you are starting from in your journey with Jesus and engaging in prayer, God wants you and I to simply start. Tools are great, but nothing can replace the practice and experience of simply, consistently spending time in the presence of God in prayer.
Today, let’s spend time in God’s presence.
