Being Intentional with Prayer

I will be the first to admit that my walk with God falters more frequently than I’d like.  I have a difficult time disciplining myself to do a quiet time daily or to wake up on Sunday for church.  One thing that I’ve worked on over many years and actually feel decently adequate at is prayer.  There are times I pray more or less than other times, but overall, I make a genuine effort to be intentional in my prayer life, even if other aspects of my spiritual life suffer.

{1} Keep a Prayer Journal

A few weeks back I posted this photo on instagram.  I talked about how I ran with purpose on this particular day by praying.  I’m certain that we each have activities in our every day life that don’t use much brain power or focus and although the time is already being used productively (i.e. running, driving, baking) it could be used for more – for prayer.  There are runs that I take where I specifically think about who I want to be praying for on that run.  If I’m driving, I’ll turn the music off sometimes just to think and it can sometimes turn into prayer.  I haven’t tried this baking before, but I thought it could be a great activity to pray during (if you’re not already using that time cleaning or prepping for the next stage of baking).  Use monotonous activities to intentionally pray.

{3} Consider your words before they’re spoken.
How many times have you heard “I’ll be praying for you”?  I’m not the only person who has said that or heard that.  The problem I’ve realized with this is that many people don’t actually end up praying for that person.  That doesn’t make you a horrible person, but there are ways to be more intentional with that prayer.  When you say “I’ll be praying for you” then either 1. Go ahead and send up a little prayer.  If you can remember to pray later, that’s great, but at least you went ahead and prayed for that person like you said you would and whether they believe you will or not, you know you did.  2. Write it down.  There are times when I don’t always pray right away, or I will say a little prayer, but I want to make sure to continue praying for them so I’ll write the prayer request down in my prayer journal.  Before you say “I’ll be praying for you”, make sure that you consider those words and do your best to fulfill your words.  If you don’t intend to pray for that person, then don’t say it.

{4} Pray God’s Will, not yours!
This is by far the most important aspect of praying intentionally.  We can pray until we are out of breath, but if it’s not God’s WILL then you’ll either get something you shouldn’t have to begin with (and therefore, regret it) or you’ll not see any response.  This is by far the hardest part of prayer too though because sometimes we don’t want God’s will – at least not at the time.  If you’re praying for healing on a loved one… it’s hard to understand why God’s will would not want healing of that loved one as well.  So instead of praying “Lord, I pray for healing and comfort during this time, but most importantly, I pray for your will to be done in this situation, whether I like the outcome or not” we pray for our own selfish desires. Believe me, I know… those words are ROUGH, but if you begin praying God’s will more intentionally, you’ll find greater peace and comfort and eventually God will reveal himself to you.

How do you remain Intentional in Prayer?  Any other suggestions for doing this?
Do you keep a prayer journal?