Creative Ideas for Prayer Time
By Clare Blake, from “Woman Alive” June 2001
- Get rid of rubbish – confess the sins that are making it hard for you to feel close to God, such as wrong actions or words, unforgiveness, and bad attitudes.
- Choose the time of day that works best for you, when there will be least distractions and you will be most focused.
- Beware of rigid formulas – change the sequence, stand rather than kneel.
- Be creative in your approach to reading the Bible. If you have never tried biblical meditation before, use the follow simple steps as a guide:
i. Take a word, verse or short passage of Scripture
ii. Read it slowly
iii. Pray, asking God to help you understand it and speak to you through it
iv. Read it again
v. Think about the word/verse/passage in detail – what do we learn about God? What do we learn about ourselves? Can we work it out in our lives?
vi. Write down what you have learnt - Be flexible – listen to worship and teaching tapes or read a chapter of an inspiring Christian book to help you get in the right frame of mind. Read from a different version of the Bible. If you normally pray inwardly, pray out loud.
- Try to set aside occasional longer times when you can really soak in God’s presence.
- Write a psalm
- Memorise Scripture – write a verse on a card then break it into small easily learned portions. Use it to encourage yourself when things are tough.
- Go for a Prayer Walk – this can be an opportunity to praise God for His creation or in a town to pray through the streets, for businesses, schools etc.
- Personalise Scripture – insert your name and let God’s Word bless you; for starters try Psalm 23.
- Pray with someone – for shared encouragement and motivation.
