How to Make Prayer a Lifestyle

Prayer is your daily communication and fellowship with God. The closer and more intimate your relationship with God and knowledge of Who He is, the more you’ll love to pray every time because you are talking to your favorite Person. Praying becomes your lifestyle because of your relationship with God. Sometimes, we struggle in our prayer life when we think of praying as an obligation, responsibility, or a burden. Consider the student—when it comes to personal passion activities, students are motivated, enthusiastic, creative, and diligent in accomplishing their passion projects. In contrast, assignments, quizzes, and exams can put pressure, anxieties, mental blockages, and fear onto the students. It can be the same thing when our understanding of prayer is like homework, a task, and a responsibility as a Christian rather than a passion and a burning desire that leads to a hunger for God, His presence, and His Word. 

If you are wondering how to make prayer a lifestyle, first answer these questions honestly and ponder on them:

1. How is your communication with God daily? Are you talking to Him every day? Do you make time to listen to what He wants to say to you?
2. How much do you know God? What do you know about the Heavenly Father? Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit? What are His promises in your life according to the Word of God?
3. How do you view God in your life? Is He a friend, or is He a stranger to you? Is He like a good Father to you or a Best Friend, or more like your earthly father, your leader, your pastor, or someone you know who has authority over you?
4. In what way do you feel closest to God? Is it during your lowest times? Is it every Sunday during worship or preaching? Or is it daily?
5. Do you love to read God’s Word, or do you find it boring? Do you understand the Word of God, or can’t you understand it at all?

If you notice, these questions all pertain to your relationship with God. You may be thinking, How does that help my prayer life? A relationship with God is everything in your prayer life. You cannot enjoy praying if you do not know God, and you can’t make prayer a lifestyle until you realize how much God loves you, cares for you, and longs for a daily fellowship with you.

To make prayer a lifestyle, simply fall in love with God; fall deeply in love with Your Maker, the One Who knows your heart so well. He alone truly understands you the way you are, and He wants you to come to Him just as you are every day. Prayer is an invitation to be in the King’s presence, dine with Him, and feast with Him on spiritual food, the Word of God, every day. 

Here is a short prayer for the hunger and desire to know God and His Word better:

Heavenly Father, thank You for this wonderful relationship with You. As I get to know You more each day and seek Your Word, I am confident that You will reveal Yourself to me more so that I may know You better. I long to have a deeper relationship with You and enjoy praying to You each day in Jesus’ name. Amen.

How do you develop a prayer lifestyle?

To develop a prayerful lifestyle, develop a deeper relationship and hunger for God’s presence and the things of God consistently, persistently, and in all diligence and discipline. When you train yourself to hunger more for spiritual things than worldly things, prayer becomes a habit for you because you cannot live a day without communicating with the One who loves you. Here are some practical tips that may be helpful for you in developing a prayer lifestyle:

1. Each day, as you wake up, greet God, “Good morning, Abba! Thank you for another day of life.” You can greet Him using the Scriptures, such as in the Book of Psalm, where you can find a lot of praise and thanksgiving verses. So, instead of opening social media apps on your phone the moment you wake up, begin the day with God. Do this every day. Discipline yourself, if you must, by putting your phone far away from your bed.
2. Set a specific time of the day where you are available to be still, be quiet, communicate with God, and read God’s Word. We know that our bodies work like a clock. They know when it is time to eat, sleep, and work. Include a time for prayer each day until it becomes part of your daily habit.
3. Grab every opportunity for seminars that speak of the Father’s love and about the ways of God. Equip yourself by joining Bible studies, undergoing mentoring and discipleship, and joining a community of passionate and burning believers in Christ. Make fellowship with them, learn from their stories and testimonies, and apply them in your life.

These are some basic practices that you can use to train yourself and discipline yourself every day. The more you set your sight on things above, the more you will grow in hunger for God’s presence and the things of God.

How does prayer help you in your daily life?

Praying to God helps you in your daily life because God is always faithful when people call on Him for help. Psalm 18:6 says, In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. God is always faithful to those who call upon Him. Prayer helps us in our faith journey because it is our connection to God; prayer is the bridge between the physical and spiritual realms. There are many ways in which daily prayer can help a Christian:

1. Daily protection

We know that God as our Father always protects us whether we tell Him to or not, but daily prayer is your daily connection with God and what keeps you protected. It is also through prayers that God reveals and exposes some of the schemes of the enemy, and praying can prepare you ahead of time.

2. Daily strength

Strength is vital in everyday living. Without having strength physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, you can’t fulfill God’s will in your life. Prayer can give you strength because each time you connect with God in prayer, you are strengthened by Him in all aspects.

3. Daily wisdom

Wisdom is an integral part of our lives. Without God’s wisdom, you can’t discern between good and evil or make the right decisions. But when you pray daily to God and commune with His Spirit, He gives you wisdom as you listen to Him and read His Word.

4. Daily spiritual food

Jesus said that man shall not live by physical food alone but by every Word that comes from God (see Matthew 4:4). When you pray to God every day, you feed your spirit man with spiritual food because God is the source of your daily strength. His presence satisfies all your needs, and His Word refreshes your soul.

5. Daily peace of mind and heart

Daily prayer can give you peace of mind and heart because such peace comes from God alone. Isaiah 26:3 says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. The more you spend time with God in prayer, the more you receive His peace because your mind is kept on Him at all times. 

Can prayer change your life?

Prayers alone won’t change lives, but the One you pray to does. God is the Life Changer, the Miracle Worker, and the Way Maker. It is He Who listens to people’s prayers and, amazingly, answers them. When you pray to God for healing, breakthrough, blessing, protection, and many other things, you don’t put confidence in your prayers alone but on the Heavenly Father, Who, because of His Son Jesus Christ, does not withhold good things from His children (see Romans 8:32). It’s the same thing with faith. You don’t trust in your faith in God; rather, have faith and trust in God alone. 

Prayers change, transform, cause miracles, and introduce breakthroughs in people’s lives because the One listening to their prayers is a Way Maker and a Miracle Working Father. Sometimes, God even exceeds our prayers by giving us more than is our ability to ask for. He loves His children faithfully and never fails to show His compassion, kindness, grace, generosity, mercies, and everlasting love. 

As you seek God and desire to make changes in your prayer life, may the Holy Spirit take you deeper into your relationship with the Father, your knowledge of Christ Jesus, and the Word of God. May He bless you on your new journey as you walk to live the desire He has placed in your heart in Jesus’ name.