I think for most of us, prayer is something we don’t do nearly enough. I know that for a long time, I really only prayed for my needs or the needs of my loved ones. Though I always thank God for all that he has done for me, mostly I just asked for things.

What guided me towards a difference in my prayer life was an initiative we as a church did several years ago. I think it was called 24 hours of prayer. I found that, in trying to pray for this amount of time, it became an ongoing chat with God, which is something I still practice. I make some long drives to do the volunteer work God has given me. I always ask that he take me there and back safely, and we have quite the conversations on the road. This would not be for everyone, but I stopped turning on the radio and I use this time to think, talk to God and listen.

Recently, we had a wonderful study on the Psalms. I always read them as a wonderfully poetic way to praise God, (not being much of a poet myself). But thanks to this study, I look at them in a whole new way, as prayers. Oddly enough when you read them as prayers, they sound and feel totally different.

Read Psalm 46 as a prayer and you’ll see what I mean:

Come, behold the works of the LORD;
     see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
     he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
     he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
     I am exalted among the nations,
     I am exalted in the earth.”