4 Wrong Attitudes To Have About Prayer

4. Making your prayer life an idol

My prayer time is usually spent writing in my prayer journal, which has been a great benefit, but also has a few pitfalls. One huge benefit of writing down my prayers is that I have a tangible way to collect and organize my thoughts. This easily becomes a pitfall when I find myself more in love with my words than with the One they were written for. Another benefit is that I have a record to look back on and see how God answered my prayers in unexpected ways. This sometimes leads to checking prayer off my list of things to do simply so that I don’t have a missing date in my back log. Never let the obligation of prayer outweigh the holiness of prayer. A good way to avoid making your prayer life an idol, is to switch up your routine. Pray on your knees, pray out loud, write your prayer on a sticky note and put it on your bathroom mirror, pray on the way to work, pray in a group, wake up early to pray, go on a walk and pray – keep it fresh!

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. – Luke 11:9

The worst attitude towards prayer is to believe that it doesn’t work. This list was in no way intended to silence those who already have doubts, or who are afraid they are “doing it wrong.” Rather, this is hopefully a helpful way to troubleshoot your prayer life if and when you are going through a dry spell. The best thing you can do is to jump in head first, and pray as the Lord burdens you to pray. The Christian who prays has access to a powerful weapon.

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