Help for personal prayer

Many people have found prayer particularly challenging. They muster up all their self-discipline and courage. They get on their knees and then say, “What do I do now?!” Personally, I have often found it helpful to have a variety of resources available to help me stay focused during prayer. I share this not because I am a spiritual giant with much to offer. I share these because I often find it such a struggle to get started in prayer and even after getting started to then stay focused.

I may be a little unusual, but I have found a countdown timer extremely helpful. If I have set aside a certain span of time for prayer, I found that I would be checking the clock way too often to make sure I didn’t go overtime—like that’s a real worry! I found that if I set a countdown timer, my mind is no longer distracted by the clock.

Perhaps the most helpful resource I have ever found for prayer is God’s Word itself. Sometimes we pray way too mildly because we may not be sure that something is God’s will. When we turn Bible verses that we are reading into actual prayers for ourselves and others, we can be pretty sure we are praying in God’s will. You’ll see an example on page 2 in the downloadable document (below).

Finally, I have often found a pattern of prayer has helped me to stay focused and balanced in my prayers. It’s so easy to only come to God when we want something. We all have friends that only seem to pop up when they are in need. How do you feel when you see them coming? I think you get the idea. There are many similar prayer methods, etc. The following pattern has been a tremendous help for me.
Click here to download Resources for Personal Prayer (pdf)..