Lifelines That LastSample

Lifeline of Prayer

You’ve heard the saying: they march to the beat of a different drummer. What beat do you feel when you place your hand over your heart? Your heartbeat is your drumbeat. What drumbeat do you march to? I think we all want our hearts to be in tune with God’s heart. We want our hearts to be moved by the things that move the heart of God. We want to march to His heartbeat.

The early church did, too. They marched to the heartbeat of God. How did they do that? How did they know what it was? How did they know what their lives and their walk needed to look like? They were devoted to prayer.

Praying wasn’t just a customary thing to do, a ritual they repeated before a meal, but prayer was integrated into every part of their lives. Acts 3:1 shows us that Peter and John were on their way to the temple for the 3:00 p.m. prayer time. This was a daily activity for them. They stopped for prayer throughout the day. Prayer became their heartbeat. It drove their actions.

What happens when we pray? We align ourselves with God. We take a hot minute to focus on Him, to quiet ourselves, to sit with Him, to seek His guidance, and to realign our steps. In the book of Acts, we see the early church pray before they make decisions, pray when they are worried about someone’s safety, pray when they don’t know what to do next, and pray when they are full of joy. Prayer. It’s their heartbeat.

What made prayer so natural for the early church? They were devoted to doing it regularly. They weren’t afraid of it. They didn’t shy away from it. They embraced it because they knew they needed to talk with God. They wanted to bring God into everything…big or small. How? Through prayer.

We aren’t going to be perfect at prayer, and that’s OK. No one is. However, we can get more comfortable with praying. How? By being devoted to praying. The more we pray, the more comfortable we will become praying.

Here are some things you can do to make prayer more a part of your daily life.

• Set a chime on your phone to ding every hour. When you hear the chime, stop and say a quick thank you prayer.
• Don’t tell someone you will pray for them without actually stopping right then to pray for them.
• Set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier. Use that 10 minutes to begin your day with prayer.
• Before you go to bed, go through the ABCs of God as a prayer. God, I love you for you are Adoring, Beautiful, Compassionate, my Deliverer…continue through the alphabet.
• Text one friend each day and ask how you can pray for them today. And then do it!
• Turn off the radio and spend your commute communing with God.
• Choose one Psalm a day that you pray through. Write it on an index card and carry it with you throughout the day. When you have a minute, pull it out. Read it. Pray it. Memorize it.

When prayer becomes a natural part of your day, it strengthens your lifeline. Do these things with your small group, your church, and your family. Let’s be devoted to prayer.

Application Questions

1. What does prayer look like for you on most days? Is it your heartbeat or an afterthought?
2. Who is someone you really enjoy hearing pray? Why? What about the way they pray do you enjoy? Think about how they pray. How does it make you feel? What do they say? How can you focus on those attributes in your own prayer time?
3. Why do you think being devoted to prayer strengthens your lifeline? What role does prayer have in your relationship with Jesus? Why is it important?

To participate in the 4-week devotional journal, “Gather” or to learn more about Ignite Life, visit www.ignitelifelv.com.

This plan was published with gratitude by The Colorfully Candid Paradigm.