Practical Prayer

Watch This

One man’s humorous experience with prayer…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVBBpM-SXX4

Say This

Have you ever heard someone say something like this: “Prayer is easy because all you’re doing is talking to God”? While this may be technically true, prayer can often be difficult. For most of us, we are easily distracted, don’t feel like we have the time, or just don’t know what to say. In spite of this, the Bible makes it clear that prayer is a critical part of our faith, and should not be neglected.

Read This

Ephesians 6:18

Say This

In this passage, Paul instructs believers to pray with “all kinds of prayers and requests.” Paul is telling us that we should live in a continual state of prayer. To do this, prayer should not just be an occasional activity, but should instead be a way of life. As believers, we should look for practical ways to add prayer to our daily lives.

Ask This

1. How does our family do with prayer? (Rate on a scale of 0 – “we don’t” t0 5 – “Call us the Grahams…as in Billy”)
2. What are some reasons why we don’t do a better job of praying together?
3. What is the hardest part of praying for you?
4. What is a situation/person outside of our family that we could make a matter of prayer?
5. Name one specific way our family could pray for you this week?

Try This

Below are some “Best Practices” to help make family prayer time more practical, effective, and fun.  Take a few minutes to discuss these as a family, and commit to adding 2 or 3 to your family’s prayer life.

• Create a Family Prayer Journal (Keep a record of what you are praying for and how God answers)
• Family Prayer Board (Great way to remind the family of current prayer requests)
• Use the family calendar as a prayer guide for the coming week (Will help you look ahead with a prayer focus)
• Use the church bulletin as a way to pray for the church (Will help you pray specifically for church events)
• Drive-by prayer: Choose a school/church/neighbor. And pray each time you drive by.
• Pray anytime you see an ambulance, fire truck, or police car that is responding to an emergency. Use your fingers to guide your prayer: 1 – pray for the person who is hurt, 2 – pray for the driver of the emergency vehicle, 3 – pray for others in the vehicle, 4 – pray for the family of the person who is hurt, and 5 – pray for those who are about to take care of them at the hospital.
• Start sending “I prayed for you today” texts as a follow-up to anyone you pray for.
• Set reminders on your phone/tablet to pray for specific things at specific times each day.
• Weekly Family Meeting (What did we do well? What do we do poorly? How can we pray this week?)

Pray This

Dear God, 1 John 5:14 tells us that if we ask for anything according to your will, you will hear us.  We are so grateful for this promise, but we confess that sometimes prayer can be difficult. Help us find ways to be more effective in praying for our family, our church, our community, and our world. Thank you for loving us, and for forgiving our sins.  In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.