I am not a prayer warrior.  Prayer is something that I struggle with.  Some spells more than others.  But prayer is an area in which I really want to grow.  Here are some things that have been helpful to me in the past!

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How to Grow in Prayer:

• Just pray!  The more you do it, the more it becomes a habit.  Of course, we don’t want prayer to become a habit in the sense that it is rote or mechanical….but a habit in the sense that it is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear of a need or when you need strength or when you just want to praise Him!
• Pray throughout the day.  Pray when you’re doing dishes or when you’re driving.  Pray when you have a few minutes of quiet.  Pray in the shower.
• Set an alarm to pray.  Several years ago, I set my watch to beep every hour on the hour.  This was a reminder to pray.  While I don’t do that anymore, I do have a few reminders on Google calendar.  Every day when a prayer topic comes up, Google sends me an email which buzzes my phone.
• Make a prayer journal.  There are several ways you can do this.  When I was in high school, I had a journal with a page for each friend.  I asked them to send me a picture of themselves.  Every day when I prayed, I had a list of prayer requests for them as well as their picture to look at while I was praying.  I’ve also kept prayer journals with lists of prayer requests and answered prayer.  Other times I have written out actual prayers.
• Pray for others.  I’ve definitely noticed times where I am praying so hard about various things going on in my life….so hard and so often that rather than releasing things to God, I was obsessing over them.  Sometimes I need to stop praying for myself and start praying for others.  This definitely gives some much needed space and perspective.
  

There are several resources that have been great in my prayer life!

Prayer Portions by Sylvia Gunter – This big book has all kinds of prayer topics.  There are five sections on different kinds of prayer: praise, repentance, warfare, personal, and intercessory.

For the Family by Sylvia Gunter – This is basically an excerpt from Prayer Portions.  This has specific prayers for your husband, your wife, your children, your marriage, your family…..etc.  Each prayer is loaded with Scripture.

Stormie Omartian books – One of my favorites was The Power of a Praying Wife.  I also have (but haven’t finished) The Power of a Praying Woman and The Power of a Praying Parent.  While I don’t always agree with everything she writes, I have greatly benefited from these books.  You can easily pray exactly what she has written (again, prayers full of Scripture!) or you can use the topics as springboards for your own prayers.

The Presidential Prayer Team – Sign up for weekly emails so you can be praying for the President, Senators, Ambassadors, the military, etc.

Prayr List – I love this web site!  Log in with your Facebook information, and pray for your Facebook friends.  You can set it so that you pray for all your friends weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller – I read this book in college and it was SO good.  I want to re-read it!!

31 Prayers For Our Husbands – Print out reminders to pray for your husband.

Praying for my Husband from Head to Toe

-Bonnie