How to pray for an hour- 18 prayer activities

How to pray for an hour or more:

Prayer Activities:

Pray out loud, mouth your words or write in a journal. Praying in your mind is meditating more than interceding.

Remember: Prayer is not me asking God for what I want. Prayer is GOD ASKING ME to ASK HIM for what HE wants.

1. Sing along with or quote Worship Lyrics

If you don’t have music, just quote the lyrics…don’t worry if you don’t have them right!

2. Personal Agreements: See the end of this packet

Currently, this is the most exciting part of my prayer time. I do this 2 or 3 times a day.

3. Personal Alignment: aka repentance

Repentance should be the most joyful part of your day. You get to ‘rethink’ and realign with agreeing with Jesus. Remember, there is a kingdom answer to everything.

Options:

Brain, Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Hands, Heart, Knees, Feet

Lord forgive my brain for thinking thoughts that don’t agree with Jesus. etc

Attributes of Love (1 Cor 13.4): IE ‘Lord forgive me for being impatient. Forgive me for being unkind…’ etc etc

Armor of God (Eph 6)

Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 3)

4. Find-a-Psalm

Open the book of Psalms and read around until you find a verse or two that matches your mood. Write that verse in your journal and pray through elements of the verses.

5. Thankful list/ place

a. Open your journal and write down 50 things you are thankful for.

b. Sit in a room of your home and look at objects and be thankful for what those objects bring to mind.

6. Prayer-read a passage

Open your Bible and find a passage and pray through elements that come to mind for you or others. Proverbs are a great place to start.

Prov. 3.4 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your understanding.

Lord I pray my son learns how to trust in You over his own understanding. Help me do the same…

7. Prayer-read a Jesus story

Open to a gospel and pray/ write your thoughts around each character.

Story of Jesus walking on the water.

Jesus, help me not be like a disciple who just stays safe on the boat. Help me instead be more like Peter and be willing to step out on the boat. But more than anything, make me like Jesus who has enough faith to know that my mission will be empowered by God regardless of problems I face.

8. Re-read your prayer journal to see how far you or loved ones have come.

I usually spend almost 20 min doing this. Its fun to send someone a note about where they were a year ago…or 10 years ago. That blows people’s minds… I frequently open with this activity if I am praying in the morning because I can just re-read past prayers if I am not awake yet.

Dear friend, I was re-reading my prayer journal and stumbled upon praying for you when you lost your job 5 years ago. You were very afraid and God came through with a better job!

9. Write a letter to Jesus about what is going through your mind today.

This is where my journal journey started and is still the heart of my prayer time. Feel free to use initials or nicknames for people if you fear you are writing sensitive information.

10. Read a Bible passage/ devotional and write your reflections.

This is basic SOAP (scripture, observation, application, prayer) journaling. Write down what your thoughts are and what should change today.

Lord, I see Peter stepping out of the boat to follow your call. I need to step out of my boat of comfort and walk towards your destiny regarding how I handle my time and finances.

11.Work through your prayer list.

Create a list of people to pray for. This is important. If you ever come to prayer and your mind goes blank…crack out this list. My list is around 350 people listed in concentric circles. Family, church volunteers, pastor friends, co-workers, church members, former youth students, past church members.

If the people are believers:

Pray for spiritual fruit, wisdom and gifts.

If the people are far from Jesus:

Pray for God’s drawing and against the devil’s deception.

Pray for the right Christian to cross their path at the right time.

If they are addicted:

Pray for them to be empowered to crucify their fear of death.

12.Intercede for an extended time for people:

When praying for someone for an extended time, imagine you are marching around Jericho… you don’t know how many laps but you are going to keep marching ‘till the walls fall.

a. Pray (or write) through the Lord’s prayer for them:

Lord I lift up my friend, lead them to know you as their loving Father in heaven. May they get to the point of saying ‘Holy is your name.’ May your kingdom come and your will be done in their life. Etc

b. Pray or write through the Beatitudes for them:

Lord, lead my friend to acknowledge their poverty in Spirit. Help them align their grief with their demand for comfort and be led back to you. Etc

c. Fruit of the Spirit, Love attributes also work.

13. Pray for your church:

This is the most neglected part of people’s personal prayer time. Your local church is your spiritual ATM or gas station. Life is not about ATM access or gas, but you can’t get anywhere without them.

Pray for the power, presence, purpose of God to be active in the House of God.

Pray for the finances to be overflowing.

Pray for new people to come and be discipled.

Pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to invade every service.

Pray for the pastor and staff to have the wisdom, fruit and gifts of the Spirit to lead everyone in their world closer to Jesus.

14. Pray for your Nation, leaders, world leaders

15. Pray for the evangelism of another nation.

16. Evening Meditation/ intercession:

This has been very beneficial for me!

If its meditation, I take a scripture or usually a worship song and just sing it over and over until I fall asleep.

If its intercession I think to myself: Let your kingdom come, let your will be done in (friend’s name) as it is in heaven.

Then whatever person pops up, I put their name in.

17. Listening for God’s voice:

Calm yourself and your Spirit and listen for the quiet voice that is speaking about courage and character. Write down what you hear and then go back and edit out what doesn’t line up with scripture. This subject will be handled in a different hand-out.

Remember, the power of your prayer time is being available to God to agree with His will in your world as it is in heaven. Imagine you are a giant farm watering system and the time you are taking is watering all the seeds you are planting.

God Bless-

Pr. sean

I am who Jesus says I am!

This journal is my prophetic title deed and I will see everything written in here.

I am a kingdom seeker, a foot washer,

I lay hands on the sick and they recover, I cast out demons with a word and they stay out

I abide in Jesus, His words abide in me and my anointing that abides

I am growing in character, growing in power, and hearing God’s voice better every day.

I am preparing to do the greater words Jesus promised.

I go into all the world, and make disciple-making disciples.

I love fighting the devil, and love enforcing God’s will,

I feed and am sustained by seeing God’s will in my world.

I grow stronger as I pray, longer because what God promised he can produce.

I do not grow weary in well doing, I get stronger day by day.

I know God’s working for my good because I love him and am seeking his purpose.

Greater is the Spirit within me then is than everything in the world.

No weapon formed against me will succeed and everything that comes against me is accursed.

I am crucified with Christ and Christ lives through me.

I am undefeatable because the life of Jesus flows through the wounds of this life.

I am free of hurts and wounds of my past and all demonic chains.

I am on a path that shines fuller like a sunrise because I am a son of God and part of the bride of Christ.

I am filled with abundant life as I carry my cross and put my flesh of death.

I am the hand of God extended and out of my belly flows living water.

I lay hands on the sick and they recover.

I am who Jesus says I am. I am hidden in God’s hands, protected by his wings, covered in his Shadow, directed by his eye, and empowered by his arm.

I rejoice in the cross because it’s there my flesh dies.

God is for me, so who can be against me.