Last night at church the pastor talked about prayer, and how sometimes we can get bored with it. He pointed out that it’s not wrong that we pray about the same old things, but sometimes saying the same old things about the same old things is the problem. Too often we don’t think about what we’re saying, much like when you say, “Hi, how are you?” and you don’t expect someone to actually tell you how they’re doing, or when the person house-sitting for you tells you to enjoy your trip and you say, “You too!”
It’s good for us to have variety to our prayer lives, and you can have this variety by praying the Bible. The best place to start is the Psalms, since those are designed to be prayed and/or sung, and they’re very emotionally open. Now this isn’t the only way to pray, but it’s certainly a good one. You can pray a passage right through, or pause at each phrase and pray.
The pastor gave some examples from his life while explaining the basic principle. To pray the Bible, you go slowly through a passage, taking time to talk with God anytime the text makes you think of something. Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read His Word, even if it’s unrelated to the text.
You and God can have an engaging conversation. This isn’t just for “super Christians” either; anyone can do this, and anyone should. You can do it for five minutes, you can do it for an hour. It doesn’t matter how long you pray, what matters is that you’re talking with God.
Related:
Praying First
Prayer
Daniel’s Praying
A Prayer Lesson Learned
An Honest Prayer – Jeremiah
Keep Praying
A Little Bit on Praying
Talking to God About Anything