What does it mean to live a life of Prayer?
To live a life of prayer means that you are devoted to it, and that prayer has become a habit as simple as breathing. A believer with a successful prayer life is someone that runs to God whenever there is a moment that they’re free from responsibilities.
A perfect example of this is Jesus.
Jesus would wake up well before the sun rose to spend time with His Father through prayer.
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
He didn’t do this once or twice, this was a consistent habit that He did on a normal basis. We know this because the scripture actually prophesied this about the Messiah. (Related article: The Prayer of Jesus & How to Pray Like Him)
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.” (Isaiah 50:4-5)
The Bible says that Jesus grew in “wisdom and in stature” (Luke 2:52), well, this verse reveals how He did that. The Father woke Him up every morning by the Holy Spirit and they would spend time together.
Jesus also would withdraw Himself throughout the day to pray.
“And great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” (Luke 5:15-16)
So Jesus didn’t only pray in the morning but He would also separate Himself from people and spend quality time with His Father.
And Luke, who wrote this account, said that He did this “often”.
Jesus would sometimes pray at night, and even all night on occasion.
“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)
“And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.” (Mark 6:46-47)
So we can see from these few passages that Jesus lived out a perfect prayer life. He was devoted to it. It certainly wasn’t something He did once or twice a week. No, but it became His life.
He would pray morning, noon, and evening, and often much more than this. He would wake up well before the sun rose to pray and stay awake well after the sunset.
This is what it means to live a life of prayer; to make an intentional, daily time of prayer and to devote yourself to it so that whenever you are free from responsibilities you break away to be with your Father.
How to live a life of Prayer (Helpful Tips)
Tip #1: Spend time in secret prayer daily
The first tip is to find a place and a time where you can spend time in secret prayer. This should be somewhere that is fairly consistent, and it should be a time that is easy to schedule into your day. (Related article: 7 Tips to Develop and Maintain a Consistent Prayer Life).
Many people think that we must spend the first waking hours of our day in prayer. Although this is great for some and can be a great habit, it may not work for others.
Everyone has different schedules and everyone is more alert at different times.
Our alone time with God should be a time when we are the most alert and where we can have the least distractions.
It could be the morning, the evening, or the afternoon, or heck, even all three. [Related article: Praying Three Times a day (What the Bible Says)].
There is biblical precedence for any time of the day so pick a time that works for you and stick to it.
Tip #2: Speak in tongues often
Speaking in tongues, or praying in the Spirit, is a wonderful gift that God has given to each believer.
I have so many articles on this topic so I am not going to go into too much detail about it, but I will leave a link to some of these articles if you are interested. Also, I am going to cover how tongues can assist us in our prayer lives.
[Related articles: Is Speaking in Tongues for Everyone? (Biblical Answer), Praying in the Spirit: What it is & How to do it, How to Receive the Holy Spirit and Speak in Tongues (Explained)]
The apostle Paul revealed His personal prayer life in 1 Corinthians 14 when he said, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”
Notice, Paul said that when he spends time in prayer he transitions between praying in tongues and praying in his native language, he would sing with tongues, then he would sing with his native language.
This is a huge blessing to our prayer lives because when we do this we are praying in the Spirit.
This is why Paul says “I will pray with the Spirit..and I will sing with the Spirit.”
Not only did he do this in his private time but he also did it throughout the day.
We know this because Paul says,
“I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18).
Paul says that he spoke in tongues more than anyone at Corinth. This means that he was probably speaking in tongues when he woke up, got ready, traveled, in between preaching the Gospel and discipling, and when he went to sleep.
It seems like he obeyed his own command of “pray in the Spirit at all times” doesn’t it?
I wonder what the church would be like if we all spoke in tongues like paul did. We certainly would be a people who “know their God and carry out great exploits” (Daniel 11:32).
Tip #3: Sing to the Lord often
Another thing that was essential to Paul’s prayer life, that could help us live a life of prayer, is singing to the Lord. (Related article: The Prayer Life of the Apostle Paul & How to Pray Like Him)
We saw that Paul mentioned that He would sing to the Lord in tongues and in his native language in 1 Corinthians 14, but we also see it in Acts 16 as well.
“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25)
The apostle Paul not only sang to the Lord often but he also commanded us to do it as well.
“Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-20)
Notice also that this scripture says that singing to the Lord with hymns and spiritual songs is a way for us to stay filled with His Spirit on a continual basis.
Tip #4: Pray during mundane tasks
We all have daily tasks that we have to take care of that require little to no brain power (i.e taking out the trash, sweeping, doing dishes, folding laundry, mowing the lawn, getting the mail, driving, etc.)
None of these require focused thinking. In fact, most of us if we’re honest let our minds wander as we do these things. Instead, we should harness the thoughts that don’t benefit us or grow us and direct them to God.
So as we are doing the dishes we can talk to Him, thank Him for some things, ask Him some question, sing, and speak in tongues.
This simple habit will help us live our lives in communion with God. (Related article: Practicing the Presence of God: What it is & How to do it)
Tip #5: Thank God for Everything
The Bible tells us that we are to thank God for everything at all times, and it says this in multiple places.
“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6)
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
So as we go throughout our day, whenever something good comes to our mind, we should say a quick prayer of thankfulness.
It doesn’t have to be longer than a few seconds, but it does have to be sincere.
As we do this and make a habit of it we will find that joy, peace, and hope will come into our lives like never before.
Complaining will be a thing of the past because we simply don’t know how to complain because we are so thankful for all the things we have been given. And our love for the Lord will abound!
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it helped you in your walk with God.
God bless you all!
