How to Start a Daily Prayer Habit (Even If You’ve Failed Before)

How to Start a Daily Prayer Habit (Even If You’ve Failed Before) 

A ReBirth Living Blog

Written By: Christopher @ ReBirth Living

Prologue

If you’re a Christian and had trouble starting to pray, struggled to be consistent in it, or never even knew why most would try to, we get it. Praying hasn’t just been mystified in the media and in many churches, it’s been rebranded and misrepresented for centuries. That just means there’s plenty of misinformation and practices in the way of not only doing it, but really understanding what it is. So let’s dive into a practice that’ll quickly become the core of your day and the spine of your walk with God.

 

Let’s start with why is prayer misunderstood?

Prayer is currently defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (what feeds Google) as, “a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship”. This is a problem because even our dictionaries are labelling prayer as a request, and that ignores the primary purpose and earliest examples of prayer in scripture.

First usage in scripture…

The first time the verb for “pray” is used in scripture is the Hebrew word “palal”, and it actually means to intervene, to interpose, to arbitrate, or even to judge. It first shows up in Genesis chapter 20 verse 7, when Abimelech, king of Gerar, had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and was kept by God from acting with her in ways that would break the covenant God made with Abraham. There God warns the king directly to send Abraham’s wife back and have him pray for the king so that he and all he has won’t die!

 

This sets the tone for every other use of the word in the old testament, but a sole exception blasts the door off of our case:

 

Genesis 48:11 - And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

 

The phrase there “not thought” is that same Hebrew word “palal”, and it was translated as “thought” with the yearning and longing of a father thinking he’d lost his beloved son for years, but now gets to see his son and grandchildren! That’s critical because on top of “requests” and petitions for intercession that we’re sure Israel/Jacob mentioned in prayer regarding his son Joseph, it’s the thoughts and deep parts of the heart also being tied to the word…

So let’s cement what prayer really is.

With the prior background on what the word prayer meant in scripture, let’s finally break down what our prayer should be AND what prayer is not:

 

 

Many times prayer becomes an earnest plea coming out of the mouth of a mother groaning in her soul for her child or a friend pleading comfort from the Lord for the family that lost a family member, but great or grave occasions are the tip of the iceberg for our prayer life. If we were to dig into what’s listed in the table above, there’s

• Moving where the Lord urges in intervening for ourselves and others;
• Trusting disputes between our flesh and our spirit to the Lord and accepting His judgement;
• Continuous, trusting communication with the Lord, even when it feels like a one-way talk;
• Believing that the Lord hears, sees, and knows the state of and fixes for our broken hearts.

 

Best practices to strengthen your prayer life.

• Get a prayer journal and record things you’ve prayed for - review old entries with new eyes.
• Pray over areas in scripture that are particularly tough to understand, and record those as well.
• Search scripture for where faith was challenged and commit to memory for your own battles.
• Remember, put prayer in the light of a loving relationship, with God knowing all your secrets.
• Resist doubt, shame, fear, and lust, and pray on how God wants to heal you in Jesus’ name.

 

 

The following resources were created to support your time with God. They are completely optional, but many readers have found them helpful.

If you're looking for a simple way to reflect on this in your daily walk, we created a few journals and devotionals that may help. Here's an example of one of them: Unfolding Truth: A Guided Scripture Journal for Spiritual Growth