Pattern Your Prayers
This is the second of 3 short posts about how to practically develop a rhythm of prayer!
Paul - the OG prayer warrior
Sometimes I read Paul’s encouragements to pray and wonder how he put it his own statements into practice. Think about it;
Be constant in prayer - Romans 12:12
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances - 1 Thess 5:16-18
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God - Philippians 4:6
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests - Ephesians 6:18
Devote yourselves to prayer - Colossians 4:2
That’s prayer goals. But if you’re like me, it’s certainly not where you’re at.
posture yourself to pray
The reality is we have jobs, families, and responsibilities that are good and God-given. Paul’s assumption isn’t that we’d give up all of those things to pray 24/7—rather that we’d have prayer on the tip of our tongue and the top of our mind in every situation, circumstance and occasion.
He wants our default posture in life to be prayer, without exception.
pattern your prayers
How do we do that though? Great question.
The key to any new rhythm is setting a pattern that can be repeated. That removes the need to remember or find motivation, so that you just need to show up.
I’d ask yourself this question: are there times throughout your day that you can bring in a pattern of prayer?
Here’s some examples: brushing your teeth, every time you eat, before you start work, after each meeting you have, every hour on the hour, when you finish work. The list could go on forever.
mark your moments
There are moments that mark all of our days, and they’re opportunities to pray; with thanksgiving, presenting requests to God, or lamenting.
Start small, and then start marking more moments in your day with a pattern of prayer. In many ways, that’s exactly the spirit of Paul’s encouragements.
Everything we do, every single day, is an opportunity to marvel at the goodness of God or express our dependance upon him. God is present, inhabiting each of those moments already—so why not build a pattern of prayer into them?
