Prayer is one of the single most important practices in our spiritual life. John Wesley famously said, “Prayer is where the action is.” He gets this, of course, from the biblical witness that encourages us to “never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT). If the apostle Paul hopes to see us in prayer constantly, then it must be important! In fact, something beautiful to ponder is the fact that Jesus is in heaven praying for us as we speak. His daily agenda is to pray for His people!
In Hebrews 7:25 we read, “Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf” (NLT). Intercede is a fancy word for prayer. Pondering this is comforting, because we are on the mind of our Savior and He intercedes in prayer for us daily, but it is also a call to action—we are supposed to imitate Him, and so we ought to be a prayerful people.
So it is important to ask, how can we deepen our prayer life and maintain a fulfilling connection to God through prayer? First, it’s key to remember that we can talk to God anytime, anywhere, and about anything. God does not slumber, and His throne room is always open to His children. He has given us access to Himself the same way a good father is available to his children in the household. God will meet us in any location, for He is the One “in whom we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28 NLT). And we can talk to God about anything because He “knows exactly what you need even before you even ask Him” (Matthew 6:8 NLT). So when it comes to prayer, there is no wrong time, place, or topic, as long as we bring a reverent and faithful heart.
Another important question to ask is how we should pray? There is no “one size fits all” method to prayer, and it is completely normal to practice various types of prayer. There are three main structures for prayer that I want to consider here.
Pre-Written Prayers
One structure is to use pre-written prayers. This would include reciting the Lord’s Prayer (found in Matthew 6), praying the Psalms, or praying prayers from prayer books. Sometimes this way of praying is helpful in taking the pressure off of trying to “know what to say.” Instead, we can turn to timeless words of Scripture and/or church history and pray them afresh for ourselves.
Spontaneous Prayer
A second structure for prayer is to pray spontaneously. These would be moments where we just speak from the heart to God as one speaks to a friend…no formula, nothing pre-written, just talking about whatever is on our heart and mind. This way of praying is helpful in deepening our relationship with God; we bring to Him our raw thoughts and feelings, our praise, our requests, speaking to Him about whatever is on our mind. This type of prayer is free flowing and enables us to be fully authentic before God.
Silent Prayer
The third structure for prayer is silent prayer, where we are still and simply sitting in the presence of the Lord. In this way of praying, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf (Romans 8:26) in ways that go even deeper than words. This is a relaxing, restful, meditative way to pray.
After exploring these structures and methods of prayer, it is essential to remember that you can use all three. In a session of prayer, you could begin with the Lord’s prayer (pre-written), then pour out your thoughts and heart before God (spontaneous), and when the words run out sit silently in His presence (silent prayer). The most important thing in prayer is not so much how we do it, but the heart we bring to it. And hopefully, as we bring our true hearts to God in prayer, we behold His heart for us more fully, and we encounter His love more and more.
Prayer
God, thank You for the gift of prayer, thank You for access to Your throne room, thank You for listening to the cries of my heart and the words I bring before You. Help me to grow in my prayer life. Help me to prioritize my prayer life. And help me to strive to live into a life of prayer, to pray without ceasing. Amen.
