12 Fresh Approaches to Add to Your Prayer Life Today
In the journey of the Christian faith, prayer serves as a direct line of communication with God—an intimate conversation to express hopes, fears, and gratitude, and seek guidance.
Incorporating fresh approaches to prayer doesn’t mean abandoning tradition; rather, it’s an invitation to breathe new life into your spiritual practices. Just as the world around us changes, so too can our methods of reaching out to the Almighty. Whether it’s through journaling, contemplative walks, or incorporating modern technology, there are countless avenues to enrich your prayer life.
Discover how these 12 new ways of praying can add depth and meaning to your relationship with God.
1. Prayer Journaling
If you want a fresh approach to prayer, try prayer journaling. It’s as simple as picking up a notebook or journal and just writing.
Seeing your prayers on paper helps you to focus your thoughts, understand problems or root sins in your life, and praise God for things you might otherwise overlook. Plus, it’s a physical record of your spiritual journey, showing your growth and God’s faithfulness over time.
One easy way to incorporate prayer journaling into your life is to keep your notebook on your bedside table. At the end of each night, write out the praises and prayer requests of that day before going to sleep.
2. Say Silent Prayers
You may have heard before that prayer is a conversation with God, and it’s true! But like any good conversation, prayer involves speaking and listening.
Do you find yourself rushing through prayers, listing your requests, and not giving God any time to speak to you? Instead of hurrying through, a silent prayer allows you to focus your attention on listening to what God has to say.
So embrace the stillness, quiet your spirit, and be open to hearing God’s voice.
3. Pray Through Praise And Worship
When words fail us, we can let the song lyrics of our favorite worship songs become our prayers. Whether it’s the hymns of old, or contemporary worship songs, we can sing along or simply be still and listen.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, try playing worship songs throughout your day. Even in the background, the encouragement and truths about God will reach your mind and heart.
4. Take Prayer Walks
Another powerful way to add prayer to your life is by going on a prayer walk. This can be as simple as walking from one room to the next in your home and praying. You can pray for the people who will be visiting those rooms or thank God for all the wonderful memories you’ve had in your home.
A different idea is to simply go for a walk and pray. You can pray for the different families in your neighborhood as you pass by their homes, or make an effort to be in prayer with God during your entire time walking.
5. Guide Your Prayer Time With ACTS/PRAY
ACTS and PRAY are acronyms that give us a guideline for how to pray. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (requests). PRAY means Praise, Repentance, Ask, and Yield. You can combine ideas from both acronyms to create your own unique prayer structure.
If you struggle to stay focused during prayer time these acronyms are a great way to remind you what to pray about.
6. Personalize Scripture
Besides just reading your Bible, try taking one or two verses and putting your name or a loved one’s name into the text.
For example, let’s say you’re struggling with anxiety in your life. Philippians 4:6 reads,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
You can personalize that by saying, “I will not be anxious about anything, but come before you God with thanksgiving, prayer, and supplication, and wait until you answer my requests.”
This is just one of the many Bible verses about anxiety. Pray through each of them, and you’re sure to experience more joy and peace.
7. Fasting
While fasting is not prayer, many people choose to pray during their times of fasting. Fasting means giving up something you really want to create more time for God. This may include one meal a day for a specific amount of time, or social media during the season of Lent.
The goal of fasting is to use that time for prayer and Bible reading to strengthen your faith. By setting aside time each day for prayer, you will begin to see God work in your life.
Fasting is also a powerful reminder of our dependence on God. During our times of hunger and loneliness, we can realize how faithful God is and how much we truly need Him.
8. Engage In Corporate Prayer
For hundreds of years, churches gathered for worship and a sermon on Sunday, then for corporate prayer on another night during the week.
While that may not be popular in churches today, corporate prayer means gathering as a group with the purpose of praying. It’s a unique opportunity to share prayer requests, pray for those around you and your community, and be blessed by those praying for you.
The Bible says that when 2 or more are gathered in God’s name He is there with them. Corporate prayer allows us to meet before the Lord and align ourselves with His will.
9. Open Your Heart Through Listening Prayer
It can be difficult to pray when you feel as though God isn’t answering your prayers. Yet, sometimes the issue isn’t that God hasn’t answered–it’s that we haven’t taken the time to really listen (or obey).
Similar to silent prayers, listening prayers shift the focus from our desires and agendas to solely seeking what God has to say. It’s a beautiful act of surrender, allowing God’s voice to take over. Sometimes it takes a long moment of silence to release control of your heart and be open to receive God’s wisdom, comfort, and direction.
10. Say The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is a powerful model of how to pray from Jesus himself. Taken from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, these scriptures teach us how to pray with humility and authenticity.
But remember, the Lord’s Prayer is not a rigid formula to say as a robot. It is a method similar to the acronyms ACTS and PRAY – a guideline for growing deeper in your prayer life.
The Lord’s Prayer is also a great prayer to recite when you feel too distracted to pray.
11. Find a Prayer Partner
Having a trusted friend that you can consistently pray with adds a new depth to your prayer life. It can be encouraging to have someone pray with you and also know they are praying for you while you aren’t together.
Consider asking a close Christian friend or someone at your church or small group to commit to praying together once a week. You can even meet online or over the phone if your schedules are busy!
12. Read Prayers From Past Christians
Sometimes when words fail us, we can rely on the words of those from the past. Try checking out a book from your local library or downloading an ebook of a past missionary or Christian author.
Looking for suggestions? Try Elisabeth Elliot, Hudson Taylor, C.S. Lewis, or Amy Carmichael to start. Their honest and raw prayers show the faithfulness of God and His intimate plan for their life, and yours!
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