Prayer Effortless and Wonderful

The question often comes up in classes on prayer. "How many of you struggle with prayer? Raise your hands, now."

It probably sounds hopelessly arrogant, but I've never really struggled with prayer--not with the crafting nor frequency of it. Many times, I'll drift off to sleep with a prayer that's been going on all day long. Prayer has, for as long as I can remember, been an internal monologue deep within, from me to God, full of hopes, dreams, ambitions, requests, and worship. In fact, the hard thing for me is to just shut up and let him talk back to me.

To be completely honest right off the bat, I don't know why this is. I don't know how I've managed to do this, nor do I know how you could, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a prayer life can't be taught. It has to be something that comes from within. I suppose that, in large part, my opinion on this subject isn't worth much. But I'll give it a shot anyway.

I suppose the first thing to do is simply to develop a habit of running to your Father with everything. God knows every facet of your situation better than you could, of course, and I believe He's always ready to help us--but I also believe that He wants us to ask. So, in your everyday life, foster a habit of asking God for help in every situation, no matter how trivial it seems to you. When you wake up, begin the day by speaking to Him first of all, before you ever open your mouth to say a word to another human being. Thank Him for what He's done and what He will do.

Just cultivate a habit of speaking to him at every spare minute, whenever something occurs to you. Something I've found helpful is, when a certain person, no matter how long it's been since you've seen them, pops into your head, to simply say a quick prayer for them.

In the end, my one piece of advice is to simply create a life of prayer. Never stop praying. Make it part of your life, like breathing or eating. Make it effortless, and then it will become a wonderful part of your friendship with Christ.