Keeping a Posture of Prayer

My childhood was filled with some of the most wonderful memories and a seemingly never-ending roller coaster of drama. There were seasons of abundance in faith and resources, quickly followed by seasons of desperate clinging for the simplest every day provision.

Financial ups and downs.

Unfaithfulness in marriage.

Constant changes with every move.

And these are just a few things I witnessed in my family before I graduated high school.

When I look back, do you know what stands out the most when people ask me how I weathered the many storms growing up?

I saw my mom pray. I saw her hands open as she knelt each morning, open to where God was leading our family.

These times are no less uncertain than the ups and downs I experienced growing up, but this time I am the mom, and I have little eyes watching me. We are all living in an unprecedented time in history and are searching for understanding to make sense of it all, to find peace, and to discern direction. At a time when our calendar is clear, our pantry is stocked (for now) and our fears heightened, how we posture our hearts will determine what we model for those around us. How we posture our hearts will reveal who or what we are trusting in to get us through. For me, I am intentionally pursuing the discipline of remaining in a posture of prayer, and invite you to join me.

Here are a few resources that I am using to deepen my prayer life and thought I’d share.

What is Prayer?

Prayer is communication. It is relational. It is personal. It is a response. No matter what the situation, we always have the choice to respond in prayer.

“Prayer, simply put, is talking to God. Prayer, for the Christian, is not merely talking to God, but responding to the One who has initiated toward us.” - Habits of Grace, David Mathis

A Model for Prayer

In the Bible, we see a guide for prayer explicitly revealed in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 ESV.

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.”

I am thankful for the pattern and structure laid out in these verses. The pattern for prayer leads with thanksgiving and gives us a model for the posture of our hearts. It starts with an acknowledgement not of how much I lack but about how much He has given. There is a powerful order that is not to be missed.

“Our asking and pleading and requesting originate not from our emptiness, but his fullness. Prayer doesn’t begin with our needs, but with his bounty. Its origin is first in adoration, and only later in asking. It shouldn’t surprise us, then, to find that prayer is not finally about getting things from God, but getting God.” - Habits of Grace, David Mathis

Next is a submission to His kingdom and His desires for my life, not my own, and then moves into asking him for my daily bread, reminding me all things come from His hand.

Repentance and confession follow with prayers for deliverance and protection, knowing He keeps us all along this sanctifying journey.

“Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.” - C.S. Lewis

Praying Scripture

One of the most powerful practices I’ve found in regards to prayer is learning to pray scripture. So many times, our words fail us, and one way I know I am praying for the will of God and not my own is to use a specific verse and make it personal. For example,

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts And your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 ESV

God, I pray that your peace, which surpasses all of my understanding, would guard my heart today and that you would enable my mind to be fixed on Christ Jesus. Amen.

Try it and watch power and clarity come to your prayer life.

Intercessory prayer

The past two years, I have had the privilege of praying with three other women in the early morning every other week. We use technology to connect and it becomes a time to focus on specific prayer requests for us personally. We don’t chit chat; it’s 6am after all, and I haven’t had my coffee yet. This has been a powerful time to confess together, rejoice with one another, and pray for one another. The honor of praying for someone else and standing in the gap for them is one of the greatest we can experience along this journey together. All too often I say, “I’ll pray for you, “ and then move along and never circle back. This is where we stop and we pray. God has answered mighty prayers for us and my fellowship with these women has deepened in beautiful ways.

“I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.” - Life Together, Bonhoeffer

May I encourage you to think of someone else that you can consistently pray with or for in the rhythms of your week?

Another way to do this is an idea I saw from Priscilla Shirer this week. Write down specific people groups you want to pray for, especially in this season. Doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, elderly, neighbors, family, missionaries, etc. Choose one every morning to pray specifically over. Let you children each pick one out and pray for during your family time.

write it down

I do love to journal, and understand not everyone is a journal-er. One of my favorite journals that I kept during several seasons in the trenches was a prayer journal. I realized lately I have fallen short of keeping one up, and so it is my goal to begin one again. A simple date and request is all I’m referring to, along with the most important part - a date and column for how he answered or is working in that situation.

What I’ve noticed is that not only does it helps me to stop carrying the burdens on my own, releasing them as I write, but it also brings me back to celebration. It’s a proverbial laying down at His feet, you see. The journal causes me to intentionally look for the ways He is working even when it is not fully answered. Looking back over the years and seeing what I’ve prayed for, I see His faithfulness on display along every step of the way, and it gives me confidence He is working on the requests in the future. I cannot encourage it enough.

In jesus’ name, amen.

The reason we have the ability to access the heart of the Father is because Jesus came and died to forever repair the separation and brokenness that sin caused. Jesus then becomes our mediator, petitioning the Father on our behalf and no longer requiring us to go through a High Priest. It is a beautiful and powerful mystery we are invited into because of His work on the cross. To know you can pray constantly, in your comings and goings, to the very One who can answer and provide for your every need is incredible.

To close, I want to share a quote from one of my favorite go-to books of prayer, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. This morning I read these words from a prayer entitled, Grace In Trials, and it so beautifully says:

“Father of Mercies,

Hear me for Jesus’ sake…Let every trial teach me more of thy peace, more of thy love.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.