Resources for Prayer

The topic of prayer is deep and wide. There are so many different ways you can pray and ways you can integrate prayer into your daily life. The thing I have found to be most important is that I am intentional about praying. It’s not about checking it off my list, it’s about making sure I make time to spend time with God. Whether that’s in quiet prayer, early in the morning before anyone else is awake in my house, or taking time to write in a prayer journal, or keeping a list of people to pray for. The practice of prayer doesn’t need to be “perfect” it needs to be intentional and regular.

Prayer, like anything else can take some practice before you get comfortable with it. But the more often you do it, the more comfortable you’ll become with it.

One of my favorite ways to step into my morning prayer time is to put on some instrumental worship music and read one of the “Praise” psalms found at the end of the book of Psalms. The final five psalms (146-150) all begin with “Praise the Lord!”

Praising Our Father in heaven is a wonderful posture to start a time of prayer – not because God needs the praise, but because He deserve the praise and we need to give it.

We are meant to praise the Lord and to be in relationship with Him. Prayer is part of that relationship. It’s an ongoing conversation we can have with God, the maker of heaven and earth! What an amazing truth that we have access to God because of what Jesus did on the cross!

If you are wanting to be more intentional about prayer in your daily life, I’m so glad. Me too!

Here are a few resources I’ve found helpful as I have been making an intentional effort to pray regularly and deeply, desiring to grow closer to God’s heart.

Instrumental Worship Music

One of my favorite instrumental worship albums is available on Spotify and is called Instrumental Songs of Worship. Sometimes I find myself singing aloud the lyrics, even though this album is instrumental, but mostly I find that playing the beautiful, quiet songs in the background helps me to focus my mind and my heart so I can pour out my words to God’s ears.

Books on Prayer

Prayer : Experiencing Intimacy with God by Tim Keller

Tim Keller certainly had a way with words. This short book will remind you that prayer is truly a gift and the fact that we can come boldly before Our God is in itself a mystery to be wondered about and cherished.

I have really been enjoying reading through Into His Presence: Praying with the Puritans by Dr. Timothy Chester. Inside you’ll find a selection of prayers that Dr. Chester has updated into more modern English, while staying true to the intent of the original writers.

The prayers themselves are lovely, as is the printed hard copy book. It would make a wonderful gift for a friend who wants to delve deeper into prayer.

Podcasts on Prayer

This summer Phylicia Masonheimer did a wonderful 5-part series on prayer on her weekly podcast, Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer. Each short episode jumped into a specific topic on prayer like adoration, thanksgiving and supplication. The very first episode in the series was on a common question many people struggle with: Why Pray if God is Sovereign? Listen on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.