What Does it Take to Improve Your Prayer Life?
In Jesus’ Name
Are you ready to improve your prayer life?
You may have already read a lot of books or asked your Christian friends for help. But I hope to add a new perspective on what it takes to achieve a deeper prayer life with The Lord.
Many people believe that you need to be a Pastor, Apostle or super Christian, but that thinking may be holding you back.
If you're struggling with how to pray, what to say or how often you should pray, this is the place for you.
Prayer is intimate communication with The Father
Imagine that something happened in your life. It could be exciting, scary or painful. Your first thought is…I have to tell X (my spouse, mother, best friend etc.).
And you do just that.
You get on the phone and give all the details. What happened from beginning to end. You give a commentary about how you felt when certain things happened. You even ask them for advice about what to do.
Consider that you didn’t just have this type of relationship with them. You didn’t meet that person yesterday and start sharing your secrets and desires with them today.
You had to build a relationship with them first.
You had to find out if they were:
Trustworthy
Good listeners
Compassionate
Non-judgmental
Giving Biblical advice
If you've been finding yourself asking how to have a better prayer life with God, you may want to use the example of a human relationship for reference. Because God has all of those qualities I listed above and more.
Ask yourself, “Why do I think that I can’t pray or have a great prayer life?”
I want to suggest that you don’t see God as a real person you can communicate with. Like your spouse, mother or best friend.
But the close relationships we have on earth are achieved by:
✅ Spending time with the person
✅ Learning their character
✅ Trusting them
You have to develop that type of relationship with God. Spend time reading the Word. You’ll find out more about His character and begin to trust Him.
When we do this we can’t help but want to spend time talking to Him and sharing about our deepest fears, desires and disappointments.
Your Routine for Developing a Consistent Prayer Life
Practice makes habit
I believe in action driving intention. You can’t intend to have a better prayer life. You have to actually put it into practice.
Here are 3 reasons why:
Jesus prayed.
Jesus said we should pray.
Jesus taught us how to pray.
That’s good enough for me. But if you need more, here are a few more reasons:
The Bible says in Luke 18:1 - “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always out to pray and not lose heart,”
Jesus prayed on the mountains.
He prayed in the temple.
He prayed in the streets.
He prayed in the garden.
He prayed on the cross.
There was never a moment in His life where He felt that His Father would not be interested in what He was going through. God says that the very hairs on our heads are numbered by Him (Luke 12:27).
He also said that His thoughts towards us are more in number than the sands. (Psalm 139:17-18).
This tells me that God always wants to hear from us. He’s waiting for us to reach out at every moment, whether good or bad, to tell Him about our day, our feelings, our fears and our dreams.
When you feel that urge to call your friend or family member…Pause.
Tell yourself, “Let me tell God first.”
And begin to pray.
❌ You don’t need to be in church.
❌ You don’t need to get on your knees.
❌ You don’t need to be long or use big words.
You just need to start. Here’s how you can start today:
The 5-4-3-2-1 Prayer Challenge
If you need more help with improving your prayer life, here’s an activity I developed to help you get into the habit of praying.
Let’s pray 🙏🏾
Use this challenge to motivate you.
5 minutes a day
4 people you choose
3 things to pray about
2 times a day
1 whole week
And when you have achieved it at the end of the time, congratulate yourself for achieving it.
Then go and do it again.
The first time I did the challenge I missed a few times a few days. And guilt started to creep in.
The enemy tried telling me that I should just quit because I already failed by missing some days.
He wanted me to believe that God wouldn’t hear me because I wasn’t good enough. But that’s a lie from the pit of hell.
Satan is a liar. Always was and always will be.
So if he tells you that God is disappointed in you, the opposite is true.
If he tells you you’re wasting your time, the opposite is true.
If he tells you that prayer is pointless, the opposite is true.
Practice makes habit.
The more you practise praying the more you’ll want to pray.
The more you practise reading the Word, the more you’ll want to pray.
The change we want to see on the earth begins with us. We are the ones with the authority to connect with heaven and ask God to have His way in our lives.
Matthew 18: 18 says:
“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Emphasis mine)
Notice it starts with earth first. And then heaven responds to the authority we have been given because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The power lies within us and change begins with us when we open our mouths to pray.
The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time to start is now.
Wrapping it up!
Prayer is life changing. It’s open, intimate communication with our Father. And He’s waiting on all His children to come to Him and spend time with Him.
Any time. Anywhere. About anything.
Will you try the 5-4-3-2-1 Prayer Challenge today?
You’ll be well on your way to having a better prayer life.
If you need another activity to help improve your prayer life, be sure to get my Alphabet Prayer Tool.
Who said prayer was boring?
Have fun while praying and building a consistent prayer life with God.
Click here to buy Alphabet Prayer Tool.
I hope this post has been helpful!
Any questions? Comment below or shoot me an email at renee@fitandfresh4life.com.