5 Ways to Grow in Prayer
If you want to lose weight, never make your lazy friend your gym buddy. Find someone who loves working out, knows how to use the gear, and can call out your bad habits.
Is it wrong to confess that prayer wasn’t a strength of mine? I mean, I have been in ministry for a long time. I should be better at it. I knew I needed to find others who were further along in this spiritual discipline. I needed “spiritual gym rats” who had walked miles in prayer.
- Find prayer warriors and join them
Monday mornings from 8:30-9:30, I found them: a group of people praying for churches, praying for our city, and sharing personal needs. These warriors gather at Fellowship Midtown and are growing me. Jordan Bowen (Hillcrest Community Church) and Tim Caldwell help facilitate, but it’s really the depth of the whole group that inspires me. With many area churches represented, it’s like all the instruments of the orchestra- the unique voice of each person’s walk with the Lord, their gifting, and personalities join together to pray for you and Kingdom expansion. Join us!
- Use the Monthly Prayer Guide
Ever feel like your prayers are repetitive and “stuck?” Each month, Logan Bloom, Servant Leader Network, writes a timely prayer guide that you can use personally, with your small group or house church, or prayer team. Download the Monthly Prayer Guide. It grounds you in scripture and often reflects the needs of the moment. It is an easy way to join believers across Central Arkansas in prayer. Send a copy to a leader you know.
- Join your church’s prayer gathering
I know you’re busy. It’s often another night out. But I can testify that I’ve never come away from a corporate time of prayer and thought it wasn’t worth it. Many churches across Arkansas have a rhythm of prayer outside of Sunday morning services. God does his best work when we join him in prayer, seek his face, and access His power that changes things.
CityChurch Network connects churches who are praying for God’s presence and power across our state through Arkansas Prays. Check out the calendar and sign up your church to join together.
- Walk it out in your neighborhood
The start of Kingdom impact is prayer. Prayer is the foundation, the sustaining, and completion. It’s how CityChurch Network began 25 years ago. It’s also the source of your greatest impact for your neighborhood.
I bet if you could see the names of your neighbors, you would pray for them. If you got a reminder, I’m sure you would! As my wife and I walk our street, we pray blessings on every home, that there would be peace. That God would allow us to build meaningful relationships. That we could serve them and have them in our home. That we could share our story of grace with them.
The BLESS app helps with that. Pulling from public data, you can pray for them by name. Check it out at TheBlessApp.com
- Write it out | Sing it out
Put a pen in your hand, grab your journal, and put your head and heart on the page. There’s something unique about writing something down. It helps organize your thoughts. It clarifies your thinking when you’re honest. The times I journal my prayers and come back to them months or years later are so powerful to see God answer. It becomes a mile marker of the journey I’m on.
Songs of worship are often said to be simply prayers written to melody. Sing along with the gift of grace. Let your heart’s affection be centered on the One who knows all of you and loves you beyond your wildest dreams.
So, don’t feel bad if you’re not a good pray-er. Just like a parent loves it when a child just wants to be with them, so our heavenly Father enjoys our presence, not our performance.
Let us find solace in the words from Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel:
“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.”
