Have you ever been inspired by your teenage grandson? I have been calling each of my grandchildren on a regular basis to find out what they are up to and to get personal prayer requests. On a call with one of my older grandchildren, when I asked what he was doing to grow spiritually he mentioned that he was slowly reading a book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer, by Tyler Staton. Being a good grandma, I wanted to get the book from the library and read it before our next call. It took a long time to get the book from the library because it was in great demand. I have only read the introduction and two chapters of this book, but I am captivated by what I’m already learning about prayer. Here are some of my takeaways and application from this book and others I have read.

Prayer Is a Conversation with God

Talk to God about the little details of your life. Talk to Him about how you’ve been disappointed in things that have been happening to you and your family lately. Tell him how happy you are about the blessings He has given you that you don’t deserve. Talk to you about what you’re anxious about. Just talk to Him! Prayer is about having a relationship with God.

Prayer Is Intentional Communion with God

Last Fall, I took The Practicing the Way Course by John Mark Comer and Practicing the Way. Near the end of the course, we were encouraged to craft a “Rule of life.” The rule of life is basically a rhythm of how to incorporate what we learned in the course. In the course, the author covered three basic rhythms to build into our lives:

1. A daily prayer rhythm that includes a reading of Scripture in the quiet of solitude.

2. A weekly Sabbath.

3. A weekly touchpoint in a community.

In a daily prayer time, you can spend time listening to God’s voice, ask God to supply your needs, journal your prayers and God’s voice, intercede for others, and practice gratitude prayer. I tend to set aside a time each morning for quiet prayer and Bible reading, usually in my office. At other times, I like to go on morning prayer walks.

Implementing Daily Rhythms

Dom John Chapman once said,” Pray as you can and don’t try to pray as you can’t.” This can refer to how long you pray or how short you pray. It could refer to where you pray. You could pray while running errands or walking down the sidewalk or exercising. Or you could pray at home in your room with the door closed. If you can’t concentrate, try writing your prayers in a journal with pen, pen and paper. There are lots of ways to pray!

When can we pray? I just finished a reading a book called Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks with Monks and Amish Farmers Helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human, by Carlos Whittaker. Whittaker spent seven weeks unconnected from technology by living with monks and with an Amish farm family. The four weeks he spent with the monks allowed him to appreciate the ringing of the monastery bell to mark the times the monks were reminded to pray. I don’t remember the exact times Whittaker mentioned in his book, but these are similar times I found through internet research:

• Nighttime 2 or 3 am
• Dawn or 5 am
• Early morning or 6 am
• Mid-morning or 9 am
• Midday or 12 noon
• Mid-afternoon or 3 pm
• Evening or 6 pm
• Night or 7 pm

Some people besides monks try to lift their prayers to God at the above mentioned times to help them build a habit where they can pray “pray constantly” throughout the day. Not a bad idea!

Action Step

So, how do we make prayer a daily habit? Remember that prayer is a conversation with God that can be ongoing throughout our day and that it is intentional communion with God, which means setting time aside to pray daily.Implementing daily rhythms that include different types of prayer, ways to pray, and times to pray will help build a habit of prayer.

May God bless you on your wellness journey!

Joni

PS What experience do you have with prayer?