Recently, I’ve thought a lot about prayer. This is my attempt to flesh out some of my thoughts. God tells us this in 1 Thess. 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.” For us to obey this command, we must develop a habit of prayer. Let’s break this “habit” into three parts.
First, we need to establish times in our day where the only thing we do is pray. Let’s call this intentional prayer. In my life, intentional prayer mostly happens in the morning. Your ideal time may be different. Whenever your best time, carve out some of that time exclusively for prayer. Try to do it every day. When you fail (which happens to me often!), get back in the saddle the next day. God’s grace is infinite.
Second, we need to train our minds for spontaneous prayer. These are those times of unscripted, unplanned praise, confession, and supplication to God. This occurs when we consciously come to God throughout the day.
Third, we should engage in autopilot prayer. I say “autopilot” because this type of prayer is a subconscious reflex. Just like we subconsciously reach for our smart phones when we’re bored, autopilot prayer occurs when our minds instinctively transition into prayer. In my experience, this part of the prayer habit is the hardest to develop. This reflex requires us to repeatedly jog our conscious mind to pray. By repeatedly jogging the conscious part of our mind to pray, autopilot prayer takes root in our subconscious.
Prayer is not easy; it’s arduous! Nevertheless, the pursuit is worth the pain. We have uninterrupted access to the eternal God. Wow! God is amazing, so let’s develop a habit of prayer.
Pastor Chance
