How to increase your prayer frequency

Some people are always praying. And then there’s the rest of us.

A simple yet effective way to increase your prayers is to link praying with other activities that you do on a regular basis. These activities then serve as reminders for you to pray.

The best activities to use as reminders are those that are somewhat mindless. This way, when you are reminded to pray, you will be able to do so without messing with your normal daily rhythm.

Here is a list of 15 activities to do this with. Commit to praying every time one or more of the following events occur, and you will quickly find your prayer life expanding enormously.

1. Before you drink. We’ve had it beaten into our heads to always pray before we eat. What about drinking? In theory, if you’re getting your recommended daily intake of water, you should be drinking about eight glasses a day. Eight separate prayers a day to begin with isn’t bad.

2. When your watch beeps. For this to work, you have to set your watch so that it goes off every hour on the hour. Many digital wrist watches have this feature. When you hear the alarm, talk to God for a couple seconds.

3. When you receive an unexpected gift. It’s a gift when you complete a project. Pray. It’s a gift when someone thanks you for something you’ve done or is polite to you. Pray. It’s a gift when you make it to the restroom on time. You get the idea. Pray.

4. When you are using the restroom. Alright, some of you are thinking I’ve lost my respect for God on this one. I haven’t. On average, we use the restroom once every three to four hours, that is, about five to six times a day. I won’t get into the amount of time we spend in the restroom during each visit, but as you can imagine, the prayer time can add up. I’m serious about this.

5. When you take a shower, brush your teeth, shave, or put on make-up. Again, the amount of available time can add up quickly. Use it wisely.

6. Right before you go to bed at night. It’s a classic for a reason. After a long day (or a short day for that matter), spending even a minute in prayer can put everything in perspective.

7. Right before you get out of bed in the morning. Starting you day communicating with Christ can be a rudder for the rest of your day. You can spare a few extra moments no matter how late you are.

8. When you leave your house. I find this particularly effective when I get the feeling that I’m going out to war when I leave. I’m going to be fighting traffic, fighting selfish desires, and, oh yeah, leading people toward Christ. We all need God’s help in these battles.

9. While you are driving. Whether you’re in rush hour gridlock or peacefully cruise-controlling it, driving can be an excellent time for prayer. Turn off the radio and listen to God. It’s a bonus if there are others in the car to pray with you. Just don’t close your eyes.

10. Before you watch T.V. or a movie or hop on the computer. If you’re on the computer half as much as I am, you’ll be praying twice as much as most people if you adopt this one.

11. When you are getting dressed. You get dressed every morning (unless you work from home or something crazy like that :)). This one seems to work particularly well for praying for one specific request because it helps ensure that you remember to pray for that request each day and it becomes a habit.

12. When you arrive at work or leave work for the day. This one’s a little like the classics of praying before getting up in the morning or before going to sleep at night. It can serve as a frame for structuring you work time. You start by asking God to help you accomplish His will, work through until you reach the end of the work day, and then end with thanking God by recapping what He’s allowed you to accomplish.

13. When you pass stores that do not glorify God. For example, when you see those strip clubs or porn super stores, pray that the owners and customers would come to know Jesus and that the business would be utterly confused and fail.

14. When you pass businesses that do glorify God. For example, pray for the leaders of churches, homeless shelters, crisis pregnancy centers, Christian bookstores, and any other establishments that bring honor to Jesus.

15. When you hear sirens. My parents taught me this one when I was only a wee lad. Every time a fire engine or ambulance wailed passed, we prayed for the safety and salvation of this who were injured and those who were going to help. Of all these suggestions, this is the one I most always remember to do.

“…pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – Thessalonians 5:17-18

Serving Suggestions

(1) Adopt some of these habits. Some will work better for you than others. Even if you only practice a few of them, your prayer frequency will still increase substantially.

(2) What are some additions you’d make to the list? How do you stay praying throughout the day? I’m looking forward to reading your suggestions in the comments.