How I Pray

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites… (Matthew 6:5)
“And when you pray, go into your room… (Matthew 6:6)
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling…” (Matthew 6:7)

When you pray….Not should you pray, or if you pray.

When you pray.

Praying. Praying is one of the things that disciples do.

One of the questions I hear from people is, “I know I need to pray, but how? How do I pray?” That is a legitimate question. As we have seen in the last few days the Bible does not give us one pattern or one way to pray. There are many ways to pray. The main thing is that we pray.

The following is how I have been organizing my prayer times for the past ten years or so.

1. I write. I don’t do well just sitting there with my eyes closed. That’s a recipe for a nap, but not very helpful for me to pray. So, I write. I write down my prayers in a journal. I find that I can concentrate and focus much better when I write than when I sit with my eyes closed.
2. I divide my prayer focus by the days of the week:
   • Mondays – I pray for friends and ministry partners around the globe. I pray for my friends and pastors in Russia, Brazil, Korea, and Uganda.
   • Tuesdays – I pray for each person in my family. My wife, each one of the kids, my mom and dad, Helen’s mom, and my sister and her family. And when there are needs in the extended family, I include them as well.
   • Wednesdays – I pray for my friends.
   • Thursdays – I pray for the Little Church and Lakewoodgrace
   • Fridays – I pray for our elders and deacons
   • Saturdays – I pray for each of our staff
   • Sundays – I pray for the weekend services

This way, when I tell someone I will pray for them, I pray for them on their particular days. Also, I find praying for different topics helpful because when I don’t organize my prayers in some fashion like this, I end up praying the same thing every day.

This is how I do it. The main thing is you find what works for you. And, most importantly, pray.