Maybe you, like me, will carry many prayer concerns and practices from the old year into the new. But the turn of the calendar page gives us an opportunity to shake things up and blaze new prayer trails. Here are five suggestions if your prayer life is ready for a change:
1) Pick a prayer theme. Some people choose a Bible verse as a theme for the year. Yours might be “blessing,” prompting you to focus on blessing others with your prayers. Or “strength,” reminding yourself to pray for daily strength. Or “growth.” Even “hallelujah.”
2) Plant a prayer garden. God spoke these words through the prophet Hosea: “Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12 NIV). Why not plant a prayer garden—large or small, indoor or outdoor. Let the garden’s regular need for watering, weeding, etc., call you to prayer. Every time you give the garden your attention, you give God your attention too.
3) Plan a prayer retreat. Have you ever gone on a prayer retreat? Say, for an afternoon, a day or even a weekend? Why not schedule one now, at a retreat center, monastery or resort, and let it shake up your prayer life. Do it early because you might want to repeat it once or twice in the months to come.
4) Purchase a book that helps you pray. Every reading of these books never fails to lead me into prayer: With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray, The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer, A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie and Guideposts’ own Pray a Word a Day (electronic versions are available now).
5) Find inspiration online. Each year Guideposts’ OurPrayer prays for millions of prayer requests, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the Guideposts website, OurPrayer Facebook page and Twitter. And, with the addition of the Abide Christian meditation app into the Guideposts family, it’s never been easier to pray in meaningful ways than in this new year.
Try one or two or even all five and shake up your prayer life in the new year.
