I’ve been trying to improve my prayer life. I’m kind of hesitant to share this because I don’t want anybody to think that I’m down on other methods of prayer or that I think I’ve gotten it figured out. But I really think this could be helpful to some folks because it’s been really helpful to me.

The idea is to have a more well-rounded prayer time with God versus just working through a list of requests. Again, not that that is a bad thing! But my own personal experience was that I was reading off a list to God, but it wasn’t relational or even God-centered. And it just felt very one way.

Use this approach to prayer as far as you find it useful, and if you are satisfied with your current prayer life, don’t mess with it! Here’s what I have found to be helpful in recent history. It has 5 steps, phases, or movements – whatever you wanna call them:

• Praise, thanksgiving, and worship
• Confession and repentance
• Petition and supplication
• Intercession
• Meditation

And here’s a restating of them in more common words that can serve as prayer prompts:

🙏🏼 Lord, you’re amazing…

🙏🏼 Please forgive me…

🙏🏼 Help me…

🙏🏼 Help others…

🙏🏼 I’m listening…

Now a little bit about what happens in each prayer phase

🙏🏼 Lord, you’re amazing… (Matthew 6:9) this a “hallowed be thy name” time like Jesus taught in what we refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. Or as the Psalmist said in Psalm 100:4 — I will enter his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise. I try to start with BIG stuff, like Salvation, Creation, His Sovereignty, Eternity, that kind of thing. Then I get closer to home with anything that comes to mind that I need to think him for. For me, I’ve nearly always just led a study or preached or something so I make it a point to thank him for the effectiveness of that tell him I know I can’t do anything apart from Him. You can do the same, no matter your occupation.
I also listen to worship music during this time. I use Pandora radio station but because of my ‘likes’ it’s a lot of Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Third Day, etc. I know people get really passionate about who is singing to them but I’m not. For prayer time I’m looking for songs that remind me how small I am and how BIG God is. If I feel like the song is missing that, I just skip it and go to the next one. I also write a lot of praise down. I think it helps me get going. I’ve been burning up journal pages. As you can tell I can get longwinded when I write. God doesn’t mind at all when I’m praising him 😃

🙏🏼 Please forgive me… (1 John 1:9, Psalm 139:23-24) this was missing for me. Oh I’d ask God’s forgiveness when something stood out to me or when someone called me out for something. But this as helped bring my attitude before God, my motives, my spiritual laziness, as well as any commandments I’ve broken. This section has put a light on my roles as husband and dad. I’ve learned I can justify impatience or being short. The Lord doesn’t let when I’m confessing and repenting more regularly. This is always humbling and cleansing. Much needed.

🙏🏼 Help me… (Matthew 7:11) asking for help next works great after confession. Lord help me be more faithful in all the areas I just said I’ve failed. I also just air out a lot of stuff I know I’ll worry about if I don’t bring it to him. And I ask for his help with silly stuff that would embarrass me unnecessarily if I shared with y’all. But just know I’m not afraid to ask my Heavenly Father for anything. And it actually feels a lot more natural to do so after confession.

🙏🏼 Help others… (James 5:16) this phase of prayer is where YOUR name likely comes up if you’ve asked me for prayer. I get a lot of prayer requests from people and if nothing else I make sure the names get said to God and ask he meet them however his perfect will allows. I also pray for my wife, kids and grandkids. My foster baby and the foster care system. My extended family. Our church — always for Unity and gospel fruit. Also for the different ministries in the church. Often for some pastor buddies. And sometimes I get really worked up stuff going on in the world or some group of people I’ve noticed being overlooked or wronged, so I’ll ask for help for them rather than just be quietly mad about it.

🙏🏼 I’m listening… (Psalm 1:2) I’ve really come to appreciate this. I tell God I need his guidance. I ask for his wisdom. I tell him I don’t know everything and I don’t know what I’m doing. I tell him I’m listening. And at this point, even if I’ve already read a devotional I’ll still go to the Word and read something slow with a pen in my hand. Many times it’s a Psalm that corresponds with the day of the month. I go slow, pause often and just meditate on what He’s saying. Often times I’ll think of something I forgot to pray for from an earlier part of my prayer time. I circle back and say it / write it down. Sometimes the Lord will bring someone to mind I need to check on or encourage. This’ll weird some people out — but I hear him better after the first 4 phases of prayer.

That’s it. I don’t get this done every day, but I am getting it in lots of days.

I think a question people may have and one that I had was how long should this take? Well, I don’t know. Sometimes it’s 15 mins. Or 10. Or sometimes 30. Sometimes I’ve gotten interrupted and had to pick back up. It’s really not about filling a time quota or even “getting through” all 5 parts of the prayer method. It’s about time alone with God. That’s the win. But I know I don’t need to rush through it. Any more than you should rush through time with anyone you love. And yeah I know we can spend time with God all day. But these focused times, even if their brief, help make the rest of our day with him more meaningful.

That’s all for now. Sorry this has gotten long and I know this is kinda different for Facebook, and it could be received differently the wrong way. I promise I don’t think I’ve arrived at this. I don’t think I ever will. But meaningful prayer is worth pursuing. Jesus is worth it. He’s worth all our time, devotion, everything.

Hope someone found this helpful and God is glorified.

Y’all keep looking up!