Try Out This Prayer Method to Grow in Consistency
We all know that praying is an important part of our spiritual life.
Yet for most of my life, my prayers were to pass a test, win a football game, or for a girl to like me. Prayers were a request list to God to make my life the way I wanted.
Now, using a particular method, my prayer life has become a rich and meaningful ritual of mine. Here is the journey that led me to make a change...
First, I read John Piper's book, "Let the Nations be Glad". He mentioned prayer like this...
We are on the front lines.
God is back at headquarters.
Prayer is a radio between us and HQ to bring spiritual forces to bear in a spiritual battle.
Then, I became aware of praying the ACTS method.
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication (prayer for others)
Lastly, my father-in-law modeled consistent prayer for people in his life via note cards. He has a notecard for each day of the week. He then prays regularly for several people and things each day of the week.
Eventually, I stumbled across the idea of a daily prayer chart. Combining all that I had learned from these various ideas into one daily ritual. Each day of the week I pray for a part of the world, for family, friends, teammates, students, former students, the fruit of the spirit, the armor of God, leadership qualities, and certain people to know Jesus. I then have a few things, my marriage, kids, wife, goals, etc that I pray for each day.
For me, this balances a tension between being disciplined, praying for a lot of things regularly, and praying for God to work.
What are some of the things you do to pray?
