How To Pray Consistently.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” - Romans 12-12

Prayer, consistent prayer. I've personally had quite the struggle with prayer myself and staying in consistent communication with God. So writing this makes it easier to not only help my readers but also to help myself. I'll start by saying if you ever feel like you're the only one that struggles with consistency in prayer you aren't, but if you already know that there are many of us then you are part of the few that are trying to change that.

I've done everything I've either thought to be important or vital in aiding my prayer life and many of the ways I went about it weren't all the way effective because It's either there was something I was doing that I shouldn't have been or something I wasn't doing but should have.

WAYS TO PRAY CONSISTENTLY.

So without taking too much time, let's get right into some of the ways to pray consistently.

1. DEDICATE TIME TO PRAYER.

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. - Psalms 5:3

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/When-To-Pray

To be able to pray often and stay consistent it will do you a lot of good to put some time out from your day to pray. Taking some time out in the morning before you start your day or in the evening before you bring your day to an end would make for a perfect way to stay consistent, with morning prayer being my most preferable time of the day to do so, more because chances of concentration are much higher. Make it a devotional or a meditation session, you could encompass the word of God as well as worship music, for the same. Find a private place to do this and because it can feel difficult in the beginning, try as hard as you can to do it every day until it becomes a habit and you'll be praying more often than you usually do.

2. USE EVERYDAY MOMENTS OF GRATITUDE.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Life can have it's tough moments but there's always a time and moment to be grateful for. Those small and big things in or about our lives that bring us joy, peace, fulfilment, contentment, assurance, and more. Using those times to speak to God and express your gratitude will help you with nurturing a more consistent prayer life. The truth is there's always something to be grateful for, so being able to acknowledge those very things and then give thanks to God for them regularly will increase the time you spend in communion with him. Prayer is communication with the father, simply uttering how grateful you are every single time you have something to be thankful for, which to be honest is literally every time, will definitely insure more time spent speaking to God which is ultimately prayer. It doesn't have to be a designated time and a specific place to say an entire prayer for gratitude, this is something you can say where ever you are. It doesn't have to be something you say out loud for people to hear, you could say it in your heart or just whisper a simple "Thank you, Lord". The point is to keep the general idea of being in genuine and constant communication with God a continuous thing and how that very act makes it easier for you to adopt the urge to pray more.

3. READ THE BIBLE.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.- Hebrews 4:12

Consistency in prayer is almost impossible without actively listening to and reading the word of God. From the word, we learn how, when, why, and where to pray. Constantly being exposed to the word of God will also build in you the longing to pray, and speak to God. The Bible is filled with so many instances of people constantly speaking with or hearing from God, being subjected to the frequency of communication with the Father that's found in the word will have the same effect on you. I tend to notice that when you spend time hearing from God through his word you find it easier to spend more time speaking back to him. The word is actively changing the minds and hearts of man.

4. PRAY WITH OTHERS.

That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.-Romans 1:12

I've learned that having someone to pray with makes it easier to be more consistent with your prayer life. Being around people that share your faith and beliefs, and having continuous fellowship with them will give you a way to always be in the headspace of prayer. You are more likely to adopt certain behaviors and traits from the people you are around the most, the same goes for when you so when you are around people with whom you can read the bible and pray all the time, you begin to cultivate the culture of prayer. And it surely does become easier. Having either a person or group of people that are after the same spiritual goals as you, people whom you can pray for, with, and receive prayer from, will help keep your prayer life consistent.

5. SUBJECT YOURSELF TO THE THINGS OF GOD MORE.

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”-Hebrews 8:5

Here's the truth, there will always be the worldly side and the Godly side, and to be able to have not only the capacity to pray more often but the longing as well, there's more connecting to God and his ways that we will need to do. Listen to more sermons, Christian music, podcasts, and shows, get the audio Bible, and meditate with it. Trying to be able to have constant communication with the father and actually wanting to have it will not come easy if we are pursuing everything that opposes the very nature of God and prayer. I hate to sound very churchy and all but there really is no other way of putting it. What you constantly feed your soul, it will crave more of.

6. ASK FOR GOD TO HELP.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”- Luke 11:1.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray when they longed to know how, and he taught did. I believe that asking God to help or teach you how to pray and pray more is the best way to have a consistent prayer life. And that's one of the beauties of prayer, that we can come before the father and ask for help where we need it and he is sure to offer it to us.