Very early in the morning, while it was sTIll dark, Jesus got up, leFT the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. MARK 1:35
Prayer is most effective when it isn’t something we do every now and then, but when it’s something we cultivate. To understand how to make prayer a part of your life, we can look at the example Jesus gave during his life on earth...
- Have a Certain Time: Jesus got up early in the morning to spend time with his God. Make a daily appointment with God — whether it’s first thing in the morning, at lunch, or in the evening — and faithfully keep it.
- Have a Certain Place: Jesus had a specific place he went to pray. Having a designated place to pray helps us remove distractions and frees us to worship and even pray out loud if we want.
- Have a Certain Plan: When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, He gave them a prayer outline. We call it The Lord's Prayer. As we pray every day, our plans for our prayer time can vary, maybe including worship music, Bible reading, and quiet time to listen to God. It doesn’t always have to look the same; it just helps when we have a plan for connecting regularly with God.
CREATE A PRAYER PLAN
- Think about your past relationship with prayer... • What situations lead me want to pray? • What prevents me from praying?
- Think about your life right now... • What am I thankful for? • What’s on my mind? • Who else can I be praying for? • Where do I see injustice or suffering?
- With these thoughts in mind, make a prayer plan... • What time of day can you can devote to a few minutes of prayer? • Where’s a place that you could go to to pray? • What do you want to talk to God about…
- Commit to your plan. You could put it on a post-it and put it somewhere you’ll see. Or put it in your planner.
- As your week goes on, evaluate your prayer plan and adjust. • Change the time of day. • Try another location. • Add another couple of minutes. • Add a second prayer time if you’re ready.
- Write your prayer plan down. When establishing a plan, writing things down often leads to more successful outcomes.
- If you already have an active prayer life, what could you commit to as a next step?
(Used with permission from htps://21days.churchofthehighlands.com/files/prayer-journal-2020.pdf.)
