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Top 5 Ways To Pray

One of the things I often hear in my work with Integrity Restored is “I can’t pray, God can’t hear the prayers of a sinner like me”. This is a common feeling for those struggling with pornography addiction for sure, but also in my estimation, a common refrain for almost any Christian at any given point in time.

Even the disciples, who lived, worked and walked with Jesus asked Him to teach them how to pray (Matthew 6: 9-15).

Below we have put together a quick Top 5 list on “How to Pray” which we hope will kickstart a robust prayer habit for you this Lent.

1) Make time to pray even when you don’t want to. If prayer is the way we communicate with God, shouldn’t we make the time to do it every day? Imagine you didn’t speak with your wife, husband, kids or friends for months at a time, how strong would that relationship be? Prioritize this prayer conversation every day.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” – Colossians 4:2

2) Keep it simple! So often we can feel like our prayers need to be an eloquent, fancy, persuasive monologue for God to hear us, but nothing could be further from the truth. God hears even the simplest prayers…” Lord, I love you, Help me”, and delights that we are talking to Him. Would you talk to your best friend the way you “think” you should pray? I doubt it, and your friend would think you’ve lost it. There are no special words necessary, just a heart seeking a relationship with Him, our Creator.

“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will hear you” – Jeremiah 29:12

3) Take advantage of sacramentals like Rosary Beads, Holy Candles and Holy Water and a prayer space to physically connect us to the act of praying and get us into the “spirit for a conversation” with God.

“the Word of the Lord is living and effective” – Hebrews 4:12

4) Use scripture as the basis to hear what God is saying to you. If we start our prayer with a quick trip in the Good Book, we will be amazed at how the Lord is speaking directly to us. The next email you get from us will be a short “how to” on doing a daily “Lectio Divina”, but suffice it to say, open your prayer with thanks, read a few lines from scripture or the Daily Readings and then talk to God about it. I promise you it’s a powerful tool to hear our Lord in our daily lives.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” – Romans 10:17

5) Anticipate answers! Prayer is not about just checking a box, but is a true engagement with our God who loves us. Look for the times when prayer has been answered each day, you may be pleasantly surprised. Through the people in our lives, what we read, what we see and hear, God is actively answering prayers if we just keep our eyes open to look for it.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” – Matthew 7:7

We hope this QuickStart prayer practice helps you this Lent open the lines of communication between you and our Lord. We are here praying for you in a special way this season and want to ask for your prayers as well.