Prayer has always been something I care deeply about, but if I’m honest, consistency is where I struggle. Over the years I’ve learned that how we approach prayer often reveals more about our priorities than we would like to admit.
One thing I’ve intentionally built into my prayer life is beginning with gratitude. It’s incredibly easy for me to jump straight into asking God for things. When life feels heavy or stressful, my natural instinct is to start bringing requests immediately. Starting with gratitude forces me to slow down.
When I begin prayer by thanking God for who He is and what He has already done, it changes my perspective. It reminds me that even when I’m walking through a difficult season, God has never once abandoned me. Gratitude grounds my heart before I bring anything else to Him.
The Conviction of Not Planning to Pray
One of the lessons Carson discusses in the opening chapter of Praying with Paul hit me harder than I expected. He points out that one of the primary reasons many Christians do not pray is very simple. They never actually plan to pray.
At first that sounds almost too obvious. But the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable the truth became.
Carson explains that “what we actually do reflects our highest priorities.”¹ When I look honestly at my schedule, I can see the reality of that statement. When prayer is not intentionally planned, other things always fill the space.
Work, responsibilities, family needs, distractions, social media, exhaustion. All of it crowds in.
When I allow that to happen repeatedly, the message my actions communicate is clear. Something else has taken priority over time with God.
That realization is painful because it exposes a deeper heart issue. If I truly believed that prayer was essential, I would structure my life around it.
Following the Example of Jesus and Paul
Carson also points out that the apostle Paul appears to have intentionally planned time for prayer, just as Jesus Himself did.²
That detail matters.
If Jesus, the Son of God, regularly withdrew to spend time with the Father, it should immediately destroy the idea that we somehow do not need structured time with God. The thought that our spiritual lives could function without intentional prayer is honestly absurd when we consider the example Jesus set.
Yet this is exactly the pattern I often fall into.
I go through short seasons where prayer becomes central again. During those times I find myself spending long periods talking to God, listening, reading Scripture, and simply sitting in His presence.
Then life gets busy.
One unexpected distraction leads to another. My schedule fills up. And because prayer is not intentionally planned, it slowly disappears from my routine.
Before I realize it, weeks can pass without consistent personal prayer.
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The Gift of Accountability
One of the things that has helped me recently is my husband. He is the type of person who will stop everything to pray before moving forward with a decision.
If we are facing something difficult or uncertain, his instinct is immediate.
“We need to pray.”
That simple posture has been incredibly helpful for me. It reminds me that prayer is not just something we do when we have extra time. It is the first response to life, not the last resort.
His example has challenged me to take prayer more seriously again.
Correcting the Direction of My Prayer Life
If I am honest about my current prayer life, I cannot say that I am proud of it. But I do see this conviction as a gift.
It is a reminder that something needs to change.
Prayer is not a burden that God requires of us. It is an invitation into relationship with Him. The Creator of the universe allows us to speak directly to Him, to bring our fears, our gratitude, our struggles, and our requests into His presence.
That reality is astonishing.
I do not want to keep treating that invitation casually.
If prayer truly reflects what we prioritize, then I want my life to reflect that God comes first.
Footnotes
- D. A. Carson, Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014), 1.
- Ibid., 2.
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