A Prayer to Jumpstart Your Prayer Life - Your Daily Prayer - January 1

A Prayer to Jumpstart Your Prayer Life
By Carrie Lowrance

I will praise You as long as I live, lifting up my hands in prayer. - Psalm 63:4 (NLT)

Commit to Prayer Time - Our lives get so crazy. We get overloaded at work, the kids have to be shuffled everywhere and then there are the unexpected things that pop up. It’s easy to let our prayer life become stagnant. This year, commit to spending 15, 30 or 60 minutes with the Lord on a daily basis. Pencil it in on your calendar so it becomes ingrained in your daily life.

Pray without Distraction - Sit down with your family and explain that you want to really lean into your prayer life this year. Let them know that from this time to this time each day, you won’t be available and that this is your prayer time. Make a sign for the door of your War Room so your young children will know not to disturb you.

Pray Spontaneously - A lot of people think you have to be in church to pray but this is not true. You can pray any time, anywhere. It’s always good to pray spontaneously. If you run into a friend or hear of someone who needs prayer, don’t wait till you can write it down. Pray right then and there. Pray for people whose names float through your mind during your busy day. Pray when you feel a tugging or stirring in your heart. Praying this way is excellent because you never know if the person you are thinking of needs prayer at that very moment.

Pray Specifically - Take some time to step up your prayer game. Instead of 'blanket praying’ as we all do at some point when we are absolutely exhausted, take some time to write down specifics. If you know someone who needs surgery, write a specific prayer for it. If you know someone who is going through a divorce, write a specific prayer for that. If you know someone who just had a baby, write down specifics to pray over the situation. If you know someone who just got engaged, write a specific prayer for that. Praying specifically for a person or situation not only makes you feel closer to the Lord, it makes you feel closer to the person.

Let us pray:
 
Dear Lord,

I come to You over my prayer life right now. I know that I have been lax and have been so distracted lately. I want to renew my commitment to spending time with You every day and to jumpstart my prayer life again. But I’m scared that I will become distracted and fail like so many other times. I pray that You will renew a passion in me for this part of my life. I pray that I will have a fresh, laser-like focus on spending time with You and in praying for others. Help me to recognize the stirring in my heart when someone needs spontaneous prayer. Help me to recognize when it’s You that wakes me up in the middle of the night to be a ‘watchman’ and to have the clarity to hear your voice.

In Your Name, I pray,

Amen.

Editor’s Note: Content taken from the article, 11 Ways to Jumpstart Your Prayer Life This Year, written by Carrie Lowrance. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.

Related Resource: Jesus Calling - Stories of Faith

Kerry Washington. Andrea Bocelli. Reba McEntire. Mark Wahlberg. Tony Dungy. Matthew McConaughey, What do all of these people have in common? They are all people of faith who have leaned on God in both the good and challenging times—and they’ve shown up to tell their story of faith on The Jesus Calling Podcast. The Jesus Calling Podcast provides a place for people from all walks of life to share the heartaches, joys, and divine moments that keep them going. 

Inspired by Sarah Young's classic devotional book, the Jesus Calling podcast has brought encouragement and peace to millions. New episodes drop every Thursday! Listen today on LifeAudio.com or wherever you find your podcasts.

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