Experiment with new ways to pray
There are dozens of different ways to pray—many of which have been used by Christians for centuries. Enrich your prayer life by praying in ways that are new to you.
- Check out brief, helpful summaries of 25 Christian Prayer Methods You Can Implement by Paige Dean on JustDisciple.com.
- The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun contains many prayer exercises and is a must-read for anyone interested in faith practices.
- Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer by J. David Muyskens contains 40 devotional readings with a suggested prayer practice for each.
- Practice praying continually with the advice in Turning Your Thoughts into Prayers by Jan Johnson on Renovare.org.
- Try a new prayer posture.
- Explore ways to pray for local, national, and world events. Read How to Pray Through the News on wycliffe.org. Find a news source that is as politically neutral as possible. The Associated Press and Reuters are consistently judged as less-biased than other popular sources.
Use a prayer guide
Prayer guides to help structure your prayer time. Here are a few from the CRCNA:
- Seeking God’s Face by Philip F. Reinders provides a simplified daily office designed especially for thoughtful Christians. Inside you'll find an entire year of daily prayers and readings, each featuring seven elements, including an opening prayer, a psalm and Scripture reading, suggestions for personal prayer, a prayer based on a classic creed or confession, and a closing blessing.
- The Office of Social Justice offers many different justice-focused prayers.
- The CRCNA offers a daily prayer guide for all who would like to lift the work of its ministries up to God.
Use technology to encourage you to pray
- Explore the PrayAsYouGo website and app. Description from the website: “Pray As You Go is a daily prayer session, designed to go with you wherever you go, to help you pray whenever you find time, but particularly whilst travelling to and from work, study, etc. It is not a 'Thought for the Day,' a sermon, or a Bible study, but rather a framework for your own prayer.”
- Check out the Lectio365 app from 24-7Prayer.com—“a free daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible every day.”
- Set an alarm on your phone or another device to remind you to stop and pray at certain times of the day, or schedule prayer time using your online work calendar.