Prayer Time
To Pray or Not to Pray
Prayer is a personal thing.
Who you pray to. How you pray. Where you pray. What you pray over and about. The frequency of your prayers. Whether you even choose to pray or not. All of these factors are very personal decisions. Prayer is something that I have found is very beneficial to my self-care practices, and it benefits both my mental health as well as my spiritual health. For some, prayer is very ritualistic. To others, prayer is almost a last resort. To me, prayer is a tool I use to remind myself I am not in control and to allow me to be in communication with my creator. In my life intentionally making time for the practice of prayer while also maintaining a fluid, almost constant state of prayer, allowing for spontaneous prayer in the middle of life life-ing, is the most beneficial way of practicing prayer time in my days. It's not always consistent. I am always working on growing in it.
So, I'm not here to teach you how to pray.
I do want to encourage you to discover its place in your life though.
I find that personally, when I show up for myself in my prayer life, the universe and the powers that be, shows up for me. The what's, the where's, the why's, even the how's are entirely outside of my control in nearly all instances, yet somehow, the details still manage to work out in a way that ultimately benefits the bigger picture for my family and for those in our orbit whom my prayers are directed. In my own prayer life, there are typically 3 types of prayers I frequently utter in faith.
My 3 Prayer Types
- Desperate Cry
- Conversational Chat
- Thoughtful Prayer Session
Let me explain these 3 types of prayer a little further.
My desperate cry prayer is the most minimal, basic, and primal in nature.
It comes out of me hardly more than a word, "Jesus" and it is typically accompanied by tears and sobs.
Sometimes it is simply a whisper, other times it comes out of me as if it were bellowing from the bottom of my being. Depending on the season in my past, these types of prayers are uttered more frequently than in other seasons.
My conversational chat prayer is the most spontaneous and authentic in nature.
It is also the most frequently uttered regardless of the season of life I am in, and it happens like breathing.
These prayers are rarely audible, unless it's a communal in necessity, and these prayers often happen while I'm driving.
The conversational chat focuses on a wide range of things, from little details of life to bigger, more pivotal life issues.
My thoughtful prayer session prayer is by far the type of prayer I manage the least.
It is intentional, planned out, and by far the hardest for me to accomplish, when I do, I am grateful I managed.
These prayers are thought out, and typically lengthier in nature, both things my hyperactive mind struggles to focus through. I long for a season that I have the spiritual strength and maturity to be more disciplined in these prayers.
As a rule, if my thoughts are composed at all while I am praying, I typically abide by the following prayer outline:
A.C.T.S.
A - Adoration of my creator.
C - Confession of my misdoings and missteps.
T - Thanksgiving of my many blessings.
S - Supplication of my desires.
My desire in writing this blog is to encourage you to evaluate the place that prayer has in your life by sharing with you the place prayer has in my life. The goal was not to convince you to pray, or in any way sway who you pray to, or how you choose to pray. I believe that spiritual journeys should be authentic, not forced. If prayer has a place in your life, I only encourage you seek the still small voice inside of you to help make the decision and discern the details of your prayer life. Faith is believing in something bigger than you, something that you cannot explain. It allows you to relinquish control in the things you can't control and offers you the opportunity to remember your place in the big picture. Faith can free you of the anxiety and stress that often occur as a result of living life by little more than white knuckling your way through, trying to control the journey, the narrative, and the perception of others. I hope this inspires you to consider where prayer fits in.
~ Live Dazzling
Rebecca Jackson
