Posturing Ourselves for Prayer
Written by Brayden Brookshier
Before we embark on the journey ahead of diving deeper into learning about prayer and practical prayer tools, let’s take this moment to consider how to approach prayer and simply try praying more intentionally in some basic ways that we can!
It’s time we admit something…
We often pray symptomatically (that is, reactively and short-sightedly).
This is when we pray with our needs, fears, worries, and concerns being the driving force of our prayer life.
These are not bad to pray about! We should! We will always have prayer requests in response to the situations and circumstances we find ourselves in. Yet, if this is the extent of our prayer life, then we stay in the shallows and miss the beauties and blessings of being out in the deep!
Instead, we can pray with vision (proactively and with farsightedness).
These are the prayers born out of love, not worry; prayers that want God for God himself and his kingdom purposes. We often find that these prayers resonate with our deepest desires and are purpose-filled and kingdom-focused.
Part of praying with vision is praying with specificity.
We quickly discover that one of the secrets of a powerful prayer life is praying with specific aims–especially the ones that align with the heart and ambition of God! Praying with specificity is what happens when we get a vision of who God is making us to become in Christ. We get a vision of our life in close union with God; a vision of the character of Christ permeating us; a vision of Christ’s power being effective in and through us. It’s exciting! And prayer is an indispensable resource that gets us to access and receive many of the blessings that the Father is eager to dispense into our lives. Yet again, the key is to ask for these things–specifically!
Think about a hunter looking through the scope of his gun. If he has an elk in his scope, then I guarantee his attention will be locked in! In that moment, he won’t be wondering what’s for dinner or when that person will respond to his email or anything else–really! At that moment, his attention is focused on taking his shot and apprehending that elk. Now, imagine the same scenario without an elk in the vision of the scope. There might be nice scenery to look at through the scope but really, the hunter without a prey in sight is far more open to distractions! He may be wondering when he can satisfy his hunger, or when that colleague will respond to his email, or anything else–really. That’s the power of specificity. If we want to give ourselves over to a lifestyle of prayer, we need a vision of prayer worthy of putting in front of the “scope” of our hearts. After all, Scripture tells us that our hearts do have vision. There are “eyes of our hearts” that need to have the light of God illuminate them so that we see things anew (see Ephesians 1:18).
As we go on this prayer pathway together, here are three practical steps that can help us start moving our feet (and our faith) as we walk with Jesus and pray passionately and often!
1. Be mindful of what setting best facilitates your prayer time.
This is different from the spontaneous and sporadic prayers we pray daily. This is about focused, elongated time given to being with God in prayer.
- Time – What time(s) of day?
- Place – What place(s)?
- Similar to why we care about the atmosphere at a restaurant: it doesn’t change your company, but influences your attentiveness.
- Soul Space
- Am I present to the moment? Or am I just “checking a box” in my relationship with God?
Note: We will explore this more thoroughly when we get to our “3x Prayer” tool. But this is enough to get you started in being a practitioner of prayer!
Sometimes prayer can feel daunting, like “Where do I start?” Try this grounding prayer to help settle your heart and mind as you seek to connect with God in prayer.
"Lord, You know my heart.
There are things I am excited about and things I am worried about.
On top of this, I feel the impulse of distractions and to-do lists vying for my attention.
With all of this, I acknowledge that my worries are real and need to be resolved, but I trust You. And I can hand those worries to You because You care and are far more resourceful than I am. I lay down my worries and distractions before You. This time together is sacred. You are fully engaged in this moment, and I am trying my best to be. Give me the desire to desire this precious time. Meet me here, though I come imperfectly. Help keep my focus on You, and let me experience the joy of Your presence and the strength of Your Spirit."
2) Lean into the variety of ways to experience God’s presence through prayer.
It could be a single or a combination of features…
- Motion (example: walking while praying)
- Stillness
- Silence
- Praying out loud
- Journaling your prayers
- Scriptural meditation
- Including worship music
- Being in scenic environments (nature)
- And so on…
Through your own experience, you’ll discover what best facilitates your time of prayer
3) Create history with God by starting a prayer journal.
Your prayer journal is meant to be personal to you, not something other people are meant to read (unless you decide otherwise). Think about it like your altars of remembrance, documenting the journey of your walk with God, which will increase your faith in the character of God and give you courage to stay close to him.
Just as the Israelites set up stones of remembrance by the Jordan River so that future generations could see what God had done (see Joshua 4), journaling is a way for us to pile up our own “stones,” showing how His hand has guided us through different seasons.
Here are a few best practices for prayer journaling:
- Do it your way. Most people aren’t writing in their prayer journal everytime they pray; nor are they capturing every “word” they pray. That’s not the point. Sometimes you’ll be led to simply summarize something you were praying about in that moment or from the day. Sometimes you might feel inspired to write full length prayers. Sometimes you might write down the impressions, visions, or words the Lord is giving to you directly. You might write in your journal daily or weekly. It might be in the morning or the evening. You might develop a formula and approach of how you journal or you might keep it dynamic and changing! Let it be your prayer journal.
- Document the mountains and valleys; the highs and the lows; your prayer requests and your praise reports. The aim is to document your own history with God! But please, don’t forget to document those moments or breakthroughs. Celebration is important. It glorifies God, and it builds our faith.
- Make it enjoyable. Self-explanatory, but worth saying!
This was simply putting your feet in the water. We are about to get into a lot more material! But let’s not miss the chance to process and discuss this module.
Discuss
- What are some things that you feel challenged to pray about “with vision” and specificity, as discussed above?
- What is something I can try this week to posture myself to be more aware of God’s presence as I seek to interact with him in prayer?