Practical Help on Prayer

One of the hardest things about our prayer life sometimes is that we don’t know what to pray for. And the reason we don’t know what to pray for is because we don’t have a plan. Here’s something I picked up from one of my mentors about 10 years ago and I still use it today. Normally, my prayer time begins with a short reading from the Psalm or a short reading anywhere in the Scriptures so as to get my heart engaged. Before I read, I say a short prayer, for example, “God opening the eyes of my heart so that I could learn great things about you.” Some of my favorite Psalms to go to are Psalm 19, 33, 23, 42, 63, any of the enthronement psalms (ie 95, 96) and 103 just to name a few. Sometimes I’ll read any short section in Isaiah 40 to 48. This is a great section of Scripture that speaks of the greatness of God and sovereignty of God. Reading a short section before I begin my time in prayer allows my mind to wander towards things pertaining to God. After my reading I’ll take a short pause just to think about what I just read and then I’ll start giving praise to God for His character based on the short reading. After my time of praise (or Adoration) I turn to confession. After adoration is a good time to confess my sins to God, because it allows me to look at my sin in relation to the character of God. Then I turn towards thanksgiving. This usually involves thanking God for my salvation. It’s always a good time to remind myself of how thankful I am for God’s saving grace after I confess my sins. Next I read a short section related to God’s goodness in the gospel. I usually will pull something out of Isaiah 53, Romans ch 5-8, 1 Peter ch 1 (just to name a few). This time is spent thanking God for the many things I can recall related to the salvation he has granted. After my time of Thanksgiving, I will start the supplication. This is when I take the time to pray for family, friends, missionaries, the church, the lost, government, etc… Below is a template I use for each day of the week. This keeps me from missing anyone that I want to regularly pray for. Give it a try and see if it helps.

Click on the image below for a larger view of this prayer template