5 Practical Tips to Develop a Prayer Life

Prayer Learned by Praying

The only way to develop a prayer life is to pray. It doesn’t sound like a “revelation,” but the real key to a fruitful prayer life is to simply have one. A preacher once said, “No reasoned philosophy of prayer ever taught a soul to pray. If prayer waits for understanding, it will never begin. We live by faith.”

The real men and women of prayer are not those who talk about prayer, nor those who say they believe in prayer, but those who actually pray. 

Knowing that the way to develop a prayer life is to simply pray, we will discuss several tips on how we can engage ourselves more in prayer. 

1. Make It Personal

Prayer should not be a duty that we ought to do, but an activity and a habit that we want to do. It doesn’t automatically happen because, as we’ve discussed, our human nature doesn’t like the things of God. My point, however, is to have a mindset that prayer is not a duty. 

Wrong thinking leads to a wrong behavior. Right thinking, on the other hand, leads to a right action. In Solomon’s words, it goes like this: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. . .” (Proverbs 23:7). Furthermore, since we have control over what we think, we can alter our behavior towards prayer through having right thoughts concerning prayer.

2. Set a Schedule

If we would consider all the things we need to do, we don’t really have time to pray. Our time to pray must be taken from the time we have for something else. We cannot fit God into our schedule, but we must fit our schedule around God.

We don’t have time for everything, but we do have time to obey the Lord today. 

3. Withdraw Yourself

But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.

Luke 5:15-16)

If we would carefully study Jesus’ ministry on earth, we will notice many occasions when He withdrew Himself from the crowd to pray. Before Jesus bravely faced the mob who arrested Him, He was praying with his face on the ground in a solitary place in the Garden of Gethsemane . Before the calling of the twelve apostles, He spent an all-night prayer to God on a mountain.  He went “into a mountain apart to pray” and was there “alone” before the disciples saw Him walking on the sea in the fourth watch of the night. 

If we want to be effective in the ministry, there ought to be times when we withdraw ourselves not just from our busyness, but also from the people. Ministry is all about “people”; however, before we can ever minister to other people, God must first minister to us through our personal relationship with Him.

Withdraw yourself and be alone with God.

4. Have a “prayer closet.”
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​If we don’t know where we meet God – a particular location – on a regular basis through prayer, it is most likely that we don’t have a consistent prayer life. 

One of the first things Jesus commanded was that there should be a place of prayer.  While it is true that the whole earth is the Lord’s and that there is no place where our prayers may not be heard, how Christ went into a “solitary place” to pray tells us that a “place of prayer” is significant in developing a prayer life. 

On His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His disciples,

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:6

A prayer closet – a secret place where you meet God – is necessary for us to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In his book, The Book of Mysteries, Jonathan Cahn writes,

“And where is the secret place? It is where you make it. It’s where you go to be with Him. It’s the place that can contain only one person, just you and the presence of God, and nothing else. So the secret place must be totally separate, totally secret, and totally apart from the rest of your life, from the world, from even the things of God. . . It’s the most important place you can dwell. For it is there that you’ll find His presence, hear His voice, and see His glory. For they only reside in the most holy of places . . . the secret place.”

Jonathan Cahn

5. Pray Without Ceasing

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

I Thessalonians 5:14-22 (Emphasis mine)

When I was reading this portion of the Scripture for the first time, I was wondering how a person can pray without ceasing. We could easily deduce what Paul meant by “rejoice evermore,” “quench not the Spirit,” “in everything give thanks,” and his other admonitions. But how can we pray without ceasing? 

“Pray without ceasing” does not mean we must always be mumbling prayers. It means “constantly recurring,” not continuously occurring. Warren Wiersbe made a comment on this verse and said, “We are to keep the receiver off the hook and be in touch with God so that our praying is part of a long conversation that is not broken.” 

As Christians, our connection with God should not be broken. Our prayers ought not to cease inside our prayer closets, but must be a part of our life – like breath in our lungs – until our life becomes a prayer in itself. 

At least an hour of concentrated prayer is necessary,  but praying without ceasing means going beyond the confines of time and letting the spirit of prayer be within us anywhere and at any time. God knows the desires of our hearts. Our Father knows our needs before we even ask. He responds to the spirit of prayer even when our voice is silent.

Conclusion

Let me close this article with the words of E.M. Bounds: “without prayer, we create death, and not life. A Christian who is feeble in prayer is feeble in life-giving forces.”