In the Creative Prayer series, we have looked at several creative practices that can greatly enhance your prayer life. As we wrap up the series, I want to leave you with some ideas on how to change your prayer routine.

Perhaps your prayer life isn’t vibrant because you have a monotonous routine! If this is the case, I encourage you to shake things up. Here are 4 practices you can try!

1. Incorporate Random Written Requests.

Recently my wife and I have been doing something to change what we pray about before eating dinner. As you can imagine, most of our prayers during this time were all about the food we were about to enjoy.

So I took a pack of playing cards and wrote a general prayer request on each one. Some of the requests were very general, like praying for the orphans in the world, while others were more specific, such as praying for a family that we know. Each night, we shuffle the cards, randomly select one and pray for that request. This simple practice has made our prayers before dinner much more meaningful.

2. Pray Over Your Calendar.

I think it would be safe to say that your life is busy right now. If you are like me, you have to keep a calendar in several places so that you don’t forget the things you have to do. Why not also use your calendar as a guide of what to pray for each month?

I have my calendar on my computer, on a dry erase board at work and on my phone. All of my important events for the month are readily visible and I am trying to pray over them as they are approaching. So next time you check your calendar and get overwhelmed, pray about it!

3. Retreat to a Secluded Place in Nature.

There is just something about experiencing God through His creation! I’ve realized over the years that staying under a roof all the time can keep you solely focused on your own little world. But getting out in God’s creation vividly reminds me of the beauty and power of God.

As busy as Jesus was, He found time to get away. Jesus made it a habit to retreat from the madness of life and spend time with God:

“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there” (Mark 1:35).

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5:16).

4. Set Alarms on Your Phone.

This practice can be a helpful reminder to stop what you are doing in the middle of a busy day and pray. Many people prefer to use their basic alarm app but I have begun using a free app called Echo. Echo gives you the option to set alarms to pray for specific requests but it also has several other helpful features. Echo keeps track of my prayer requests and allows me to organize them accordingly. It also has a mode where the app scrolls through my requests on a timer so that I can pray for each one in succession.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately I believe that God just wants us to speak with Him, regardless of the method. But I sincerely hope that some of the methods discussed in this series are helpful to you. I know they have literally revolutionized my prayer life. May God increase the fervency and the frequency of your conversations with Him!