From November 9-13, Harbor is dedicating ourselves to prayer for our families, our church, our islands, and our world. To prepare yourself for a week of dedicated prayer, here are some pro-tips on becoming a better pray-er:
- Plan your prayer. If you don’t have a plan for prayer, you won’t pray. What happens when you see someone at the store, and say, “Hey, we gotta grab coffee!” You know it’s never gonna happen if you leave it at that. You’ll forget about it! You won’t meet unless you both take out your phones right then and put down a specific time on the calendar for that coffee. It’s the same with prayer. If you don’t make an appointment for it, it won’t happen. So you might need to actually put a 30-minute appointment on your calendar every day. Or if it’s too hard for you to pray for 30 minutes, schedule 3 times a day when you’ll pray for 10 minutes: first thing in the morning, lunchtime, and bedtime.
- Get passionate in prayer. Many Christians have been told that we need to be silent and still before God. And what do we call it? Quiet time! They told us if you want to pray, you need to find a quiet place, and just sit in silence. But what happens when you do that? You start thinking about what you need to do today or you start thinking about the TV show you watched last night. The only way to overcome that is to pray about things you’re passionate about. There must be something that’s made you sad, frustrated, or overjoyed in the last 24 hours. Pray about that!
- Pray out loud. I can’t pray for very long just silently in my own mind. I need to at least whisper. Some people need to fully verbalize their prayers, so they pray out loud all the time. When you pray out loud, it forces you to put your thoughts in order. It keeps your mind from wandering too far. If that’s too weird in your house or apartment, with your roommates or your family around, go take a prayer walk. Just walk around your neighborhood and talk to God. Two birds, one stone!
- Pray in community. Martin Luther (the father of the Reformation) said, “At home in my own house there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through.” There’s something about spending purposeful time with other Christians that focuses your mind and heart like a laser beam on Jesus. So pray with your family. Pray with your community group. Pray with your ministry team.
- Pray through Scripture. If you read all Paul’s prayers through the whole New Testament, you see him always praying Scripture. That’s called biblical meditation. It’s not about emptying your mind, it’s about filling your mind with God’s word. Reading the Bible a verse at a time (or even a phrase at a time), then stopping, and thinking, and praying about it. Praying for God to help you understand it. Praying for God to help you apply it. This is how we hear God’s voice: by reading his word, listening to what it says, and responding to him in prayer. You’ll never run out of things to pray about!