One of the most important things we can do to strengthen our walk with Jesus is to engage in an intentional regular time of personal prayer, but it is often one of the most difficult challenges in our Christian experience.  We WANT a consistent personal prayer time, we know we NEED a consistent personal prayer, but HAVING a more consistent personal prayer time is a more difficult matter.

I’ve been a Jesus-follower for well over 40 years now, and sadly I must admit maintaining a consistent personal prayer time has not become automatic.  My greatest challenge is not a lack of desire, but rather distractions both before I start and during my prayer time.   

Helps for Your Personal Prayer Time

Today, I want to share with you, from the example of Jesus, three ways you can put yourself in a better position to have a more consistent and effective time of personal prayer.  We find Jesus’ model in Mark 1:35-39.

1. An OPTIMAL time.  Jesus went out to pray “very early in the morning.”  The morning is the best time for me for two reasons.  First, I am a “morning person” and my mind is most attentive and creative before lunch.  After lunch, I am pretty much mentally useless.  Second, the morning provides a quieter time with fewer interruptions and distractions.  I also like to spend time praying in the morning because it seems to set up my day for better focus.  Others find a time during the day or even at the end of the day when everyone else is settled down and in bed.  The specific time is not as important as HAVING a specific time, the one that is ideal for you.

2. An UNDISTRACTED place.  Jesus “departed and went out to a desolate place.”  Two words are key: departed and desolate.  Jesus intentionally withdrew from the norm.  For me that means I have to shut down the computer, close the tablet, and hide the cell phone.  I cannot focus on prayer when notifications continually compete for my attention.  Ironically, the things from which we withdraw are the things that create the need for us to withdraw.  We better focus on our prayer when we appoint a constant, specific place and not allow our toys to come with is. 

In the movie War Room, Elizabeth cleaned out a closet and shut herself up in there regularly to pray.

3.  A SPECIFIC plan. The passage says that when Jesus arrived at the desolate place that “there He prayed.”  The tense of the verb indicates that His prayer was an intentional, continual action.  Jesus did not go to His place to say a prayer but to pray.

When I have no specific plan for my prayer time, and I try to just pray what comes to mind, I find my prayers scattered, distracted, and rather formulaic.  I tend to repeat the same tired lines as the last time I prayed, only this time with less sincerity and meaning than the time before.  Without a plan for my prayer time, it devolves into a mindless, and worse, a heartless ritual.

I will share more ideas next Friday about some personal prayer time plans, but for now, let me challenge you enter your prayer time with a plan to talk to God and a plan to listen to Him talk to you.  Let your prayer time be more of a dialogue with God than a monologue to God.