Make Your Prayer Time Fresh Again
Whether you go with routine #1 or #2 from my previous blog post on morning God time, I recommend closing out your time with God using a prayer template. This should be a list of prayers that you can pray through in about 5-10 minutes, but can stay soaking and praying over for much longer. I created my daily prayer list in Evernote, but you can use any note taking software or physical paper. I recommend typing it out for a while because it will probably change a lot over the first few months. Also, I like changing it up every couple months after that to keep it (you guessed it) fresh.
Praying through ACTS
One of the most important parts of prayer is having a structure. It may sound counter intuitive, but I believe that structure and discipline are the seedbeds for growth and freedom. When I pray, I use what's called the ACTS structure to guide the flow of my prayers. This acronym stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
Starting with Adoration, we praise and magnify God in a way that reminds us how awesome he is. This is where the most energy is required because you're trying to stretch your groggy brain and dull heart to try to comprehend and love someone who is far beyond your comprehension. Once you break your way through the initial resistance, it's a glorious, refreshing feeling to be awakening your heart to God!
We then naturally move from Adoration into the Confession portion, which means that we confess whatever sins we've committed and misconceptions we have held about God. I say that this is a natural transition because when we start to see God as holy and glorious, we can easily see our sinful silhouette in start contrast. Thankfully, God is willing and just to forgive us or sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9).
Now that we have tossed aside all our burdens that would keep us from getting closer to God, we can give thanks. The Thanksgiving portion of my prayer list includes Psalm 37:4, which says, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." I don't have time to go into how incredible this verse is, but I recommend you start praying through this thought daily.
Lastly, there is the Supplication section of prayer where we ask for God's kingdom to come in areas of brokenness and need. This is always the longest section of my prayer list because it contains a lot of specific things that I want to see God change and shift. This section contains scriptures targeted at various areas of concern. I recommend praying in concentric circles, meaning that you would steadily pray outwards, starting with your immediate family, then praying for your friends, people you mentor, your church, your ministry, people at your work, the persecuted church, and whatever injustices you feel called to pray about.
Praying through Scripture Daily
I include scriptures throughout my prayer list. This helps me soak in scripture every day and memorize certain verses. However, the main purpose is to keep my prayers aligned with scripture. If I don't keep the Bible in front of me, I am prone to slowly drift from what God wants to what I want.
Here are a few scriptures that I have found most impactful during my morning God time: Adoration scriptures:
Psalms 16:11 (ESV) You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV) Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
Psalms 143:5-8 (ESV) I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Confession scriptures:
1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Romans 3:23-26 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Thanksgiving scriptures:
Psalms 37:4 (ESV) Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 107:9 (ESV) For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Supplication scriptures (I have a bunch in this section of my daily prayers, but here are some great general scriptures you can pray over yourself, your family and your community):
Colossians 3:12-14 (ESV) Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Philippians 4:19 (ESV) And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 41:9b-10 (ESV) You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Also, at the very end of my list, I have a seven scripture paragraphs, one assigned to each day of the week. This way I get to pray through a consistent list of scriptures while not overburdening myself with too much to read and think about. I get to soak in each one, trying to dig deeper into that single paragraph than the last week. After you have your list typed out, print it out so you're not distracted by electronics during your prayer time.
Keep God the Focus
It may seem like it's obvious that God should be the focus of our prayers, but if we are honest with ourselves, we will find that that isn't always the case. I believe there is a weekly or even daily struggle for each of us to reorient our hearts to God's holiness, mercy and love. For some of us, the primary struggle is to see God as a loving father who yearns to talk with us. For others, it is seeing God as omnipotent and holy, deserving of all of our attention and respect.
C. S. Lewis addressed prayer in a brilliant way in his book The Screwtape Letters. In this book, which is written from the perspective of a demon giving advice to another demon, he touches on the things that will keep us from praying the way God intends: "The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether... If this fails, you must fall back on a subtler misdirection of his intention... I have known cases where what the patient called his 'god' was actually located -- up and to the left at the corner of the bedroom ceiling, or inside his own head, or in a crucifix on the wall. But whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it -- to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him... For if he ever comes to make the distinction, if ever he consciously directs his prayers, 'Not to what I think thou art, but to what thou knowest thyself to be,' our situation is, for the moment, desperate."
In other words, our aim must be to change our perspective of God from what we think to who he is. Keep yourself from shrinking God down to your size or making him into something he is not. Pray to the God of the universe who loves you and is seeking you out. Let your prayers be seasoned with thankfulness and boldness. Keep your prayers fresh. God deserves it and you need it.
Pray to the God of the universe who loves you and is seeking you out. Let your prayers be seasoned with thankfulness and boldness. Keep your prayers fresh. God deserves it and you need it.
Question: How has your prayer life been lately? What have you done that made it better or worse? What steps can you take today to bring freshness back into it?