Another habit that can transform the way you pray is to reconsider your punctuation. What I mean is this: we treat the word “amen” as the period at the end of the sentence. Prayer over. Let’s eat! Or go to bed. Or do whatever is next. That next thing being something other than prayer. This keeps our prayer life siloed. It has a beginning and an end. That amen-as-sentence lets us know prayer is over, and we can now return to normal life. The problem with this is that, for the Christian, prayer is meant to be normal life. We are instructed to do it “without ceasing”.
Instead of thinking about the amen as a period, what if we thought about it as a comma? The verbal prayer is over, but what comes next is also a prayer. What if we were very intentional about the very first thing we did after we said amen? A kind word to a family member at the dinner table. A deep breath of thankfulness. Prayer is not just the words we say during a small portion of the day; it is a posture—a way of life.
4. Prioritize Listening
Let’s get back to that laundry list of desires we so often bring to God. Again, these are not bad. Scripture commands us to bring them to God. But that is not all the Bible says about prayer. It tells us to be still. It commands us to wait and to listen.
The quickest way to transform your prayer life is to stop doing all the talking. Just listen. Ask God, “What do you want to tell me today?” and see what He says. Ask him what matters to Him about your work, family, or daily plan. Or just wait in silence and let the Spirit communicate to you.
If prayer is a one-way street, it is going to quickly meet limited effectiveness, especially when the silenced party is the Divine Creator of the Universe, who probably has something important to communicate to you.
A lot of Christians struggle with this because they are not sure if what they hear is God or just their own inner voice. The one piece of advice I would give is to try. You cannot discern God’s voice if you never leave room for it. There will be a learning curve. There may be uncertainty and mystery. That is the fuel of faith. It is not a sign you are on the wrong path; it is an indication you are making room for something more than yourself.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Maryviolet
