There is no such thing as a prayer-less Christian. If you are a Christian, by definition, you are a pray-er. This is because you are a child of Heaven, and therefore your heart beats to talk and commune with your Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Yet, though all Christians pray, is it not also true for all of us that we don’t pray as we ought? Do our hearts not cry out, “Father, forgive me for I do not pray, I do not want to pray, and I don’t really enjoy praying”?

If you are anything like me, you know the feeling of wanting to grow in this most important spiritual discipline. Do you want to delight in prayer? Do you wish you prayed longer? Do you long to look forward to prayer and wish you didn’t have to say amen? Let me provide you with one simple technique that facilitates a healthy prayer life. It’s nothing new, but it works.

To put it plainly, take up the word and pray. The Bible and prayer are a match made in heaven, and like every match, shouldn’t be separated without consequences. Prayer is part of a two-way conversation between the soul and God; if one part isn’t present, it won’t tend to work. Think about it this way: I might have a fine conversation with my wife over lunch, but if my wife isn’t home when I have it, it isn’t really a conversation, is it?

Often, we expect to just sit down and pray and assume we are going to have a myriad of things to express to the Lord. But what we often discover is that we can only think about the five most pressing issues in our minds, and they are often very self-involved. That’s because, deep down in our fallen state, we think more about ourselves than God. But the Word of God corrects all of this. It brings us back to the center and enables us to focus our attention upon the love of our soul and to delight in the author of our salvation.

What do I mean by take up the word and pray? What I am encouraging you to do is pray the scripture, rather than reading the bible and then attempting to pray about whatever comes to mind. Take the bible, read the bible, and then pray the bible.

How does one do this? Let me provide you with an example using some of Psalm 40.

• Pray and ask the Lord to bless your time in Word and prayer
• Read Psalm 40 in its entirety without stopping
• Read through each section, praying through what comes to mind:
  • (v1-3): David remembers that the Lord bends His ear to hear his cry and saves him in his hour of need. This causes thanksgiving to well up within me, for I am a nobody and yet the Lord of creation listens to my voice! I praise Him for His fatherly kindness. When I remember His saving power, it reminds me of a friend who has been enduring a very long battle for almost ten months, and I ask the Lord to settle him upon solid ground and to enable him to weather the storm.
  • (v4-5): David declares that those who trust in the Lord are blessed. As I hear this word, it reminds me of how often I don’t trust the Lord; this leads me to repent of the fact that so often I trust in things other than God. David declares also that the Lord does wondrous things for His people, and so he will proclaim them to others. This reminds me of my duty to speak to others of the goodness of the Lord. So often I fail to do this, so I confess my cowardice before the Lord and ask Him to help me grow in my boldness and courage in speaking of Him.
  • (v6-8): David declares that the Lord wants obedience more than sacrifice. This reminds me of how often I can go through religious motions but not really devote myself to obeying His will. On one hand, I look pious, but on the other hand, I live in rebellion. This is humbling, and I repent of it, confessing my sin. I pray that the Lord, by His Spirit, might help me grow in obedience, to put on righteousness and walk in it.
  • etc etc

By the time you have gone through one Psalm doing this, you will be surprised at how much time will go by. You will never run out of things to pray, and it will help you stay focused. If you finish a Psalm and you want to carry on, do another! The other thing you could do is go from a Psalm to the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. You can use any portion of Scripture; however, I would recommend using the Psalms every day and then adding other portions on top.

Let me give you a challenge. I guarantee you that if you do it and do it legitimately, your prayer life will be better than when you started. If its not, I’ll eat my hat. For the next ten days do the following and see what happens:

• Put your phone on airplane mode
• Put a timer on your phone for fifteen minutes
• Turn to Psalm 1
• Do what I have set out above
• Don’t stop until you hit fifteen minutes, but feel free to go beyond if you want
• The next day, do it again with Psalm 2
• Rinse and repeat