5 Tips for Creating a Prayer Routine You’ll Actually Stick With
Looking to implement a new prayer routine in your daily life? Maybe you’re a pray-on-the-go or pray-when-I-can person, and you’re looking to create more of a steady prayer life. Or perhaps you feel like consistency is the key to a breakthrough you’ve been needing.
Either way, if you’ve been looking for a way to up your game in the area of prayer, here are five tips for creating a prayer routine you’ll actually stick with.
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Be Realistic About Your Prayer Routine
Goals are good—even big ones. But setting unrealistic goals (read: going too far, too fast) can lead to disappointment, and ultimately, the abandoning of the idea altogether. So be realistic about your new prayer routine, and you’ll actually stick with it!
If you wake up at 8:00 each morning, don’t set a goal of waking up at 5:00—at least not right away. Pick something challenging, but doable in the long term. If you’re already pressed for time in the morning, don’t set a goal of an hour. Start with small goals—like 10 minutes, for example—and work your way up to where you’d eventually like to land.
By taking it bit by bit, you’ll increase your chances of making your new prayer routine a lifelong habit.
Get more great prayer tips when you watch VICTORY!
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Determine a Purpose for Your New Prayer Routine
Once you decide on time, if you don’t have a purpose for your prayer, you may find yourself speechless, and feeling like your time has been wasted. This isn’t a plan you’ll stick with!
Of course, you should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, but it’s best to start with a game plan. For example, your purpose could look something like this:
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Worship, praise and honour the Lord
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Intercede for your nation, your city, your church, your pastors and anyone else that comes to mind
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Make your requests known to God—for yourself and your family.
If you know the first thing you’re going to do is worship and praise the Lord, you won’t struggle to know where to start. You’ll move right into worship and get into a flow that will maximise your time.
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Decide On a Place for Your New Prayer Routine
Where can you go to pray? Do you like to be outside on a deck or patio? Is your living room the quietest place? Choose a place where you’ll have privacy and quiet, without interruptions from children, a spouse or pets. If you know you’ll have this time all to yourself, you’re more likely to stick with it in the long run.
Be sure to have easy access to your Bible, Scripture book(s), and Communion elements. If you like to sit while you pray, set up a comfortable chair in your place.
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Choose a Goal for How Long Your New Prayer Routine Will Be
If you’d like to work your way up to an hour each day, begin with 10 or 15 minutes. Set a timer for the amount of time you’d like to pray, so you aren’t constantly distracted by looking at the clock.
Then, after a week or two, bump your time up 10 minutes at a time until you reach your desired goal. But don’t cling too tightly to a specific time frame. You can move heaven and earth in an effective, fervent, faith-driven prayer that lasts 10 minutes, while you can ramble for 60 minutes and not achieve much!
Keeping your time in check will help you stick with your goal, knowing you have a way to stay on schedule for the rest of your day.
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Don’t Give Up on Your New Prayer Routine
If you don’t manage to get up early each day, or can’t quite hit your goal for time spent praying, don’t give up on your new prayer routine! There will be days you just can’t get yourself up and days when you run out of things to pray about. That’s OK!
Setting a goal is to give you something to reach for, not something to cause you to become legalistic. If you miss it one day, just pick it back up the next. When you’re spending time with the Lord in the right way, He’ll meet you in your prayer time and manifest Himself to you. Then, you’ll come to desire it so much, you won’t feel like it’s a chore.
If you use these five tips to create a new prayer routine, you’ll stick with it! More importantly, it will change the outcome of your day as you begin putting first things first. Prayer is a wonderful time to prepare your heart for the day and to set breakthroughs in motion. So get praying!
Watch Gloria Copeland and Billye Brim teach you how to pray God’s will every time.