PRAYER'S TIPS

1. Schedule a Prayer Time.
Make an appointment with God.
Make it a priority.
Setting aside TIME is the most important place to begin
developing your prayers. If you never take some time to pray, your
prayer life will never grow. It will never develop. Start with a
small amount that you are willing to commit to. If you are not
willing to commit some of your time to prayer, give up now.
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH GOD
Make an appointment to meet with God just like any other
appointment. If it's not on your schedule, it will tend to be put off
easily. You would certainly remember an appointment that you have
today with the President of the United States, wouldn't you? Well,
isn't God more important to your life than the President.
MAKE IT A PRIORITY
If you have available time, that’s great. But for most of you, finding
time to pray will mean that you have to SACRIFICE something else that
you are now doing instead. Probably you are enjoying that other thing
(TV, sleep, business, friends, kids, reading, etc.) or you wouldn't
be doing it. Prayer has to be moved up the list of daily priorities
so it is high enough to bump off something else that has heretofore
been considered more urgent and important. It has to become a strong
enough priority so that you can't go to bed until it is accomplished,
like brushing your teeth.
So start right now to find that activity that you can delete
from your life in order to be able to get more God in your life. Look
at a long range perspective. We know that good eating habits and
getting regular exercise are vital for long term good health.
Unfortunately, it's easy to bump them aside on a day to day basis in
favor of things that seem more urgent. But since they are essential,
we must learn to raise them to a priority level that takes precedent
over "urgent" matters. We need to learn to distinguish between
"urgent" and "important". In the same way, it's essential to raise
prayer to a high priority so that it becomes a daily habit in spite of
everything else that we have to do also.
Next decide how much time you are going schedule it in your day
to begin your new prayer life. Be reasonable with yourself, ten or
twelve minutes might be a good start. If you can't squeeze out ten or
twelve minutes somewhere, then you're not being serious.
2
When your best friend calls, you make time to talk to him or her
even if something else that is important too has to be sacrificed.
You may not know it yet, but God is your best friend and making some
time for Him every day is going to be the best long term investment
that you have ever made.
You may need some help with resetting your priorities to include
a daily prayer time. I believe a deeper understanding of the value of
prayer can really help. It can give you the necessary motivation to
pray. I have found quite a number of explanations of the value of
prayer that have really helped me. Make your own list. It will be a great
support reference for you to back up the value of praying FOR YOU.
You could do a search on the Internet for “Why pray?” or “The
Importance of Prayer.” Pick the ideas that you really like and that are
convincing for you. Then make a list of them.
2. Just Get Started.
Night time prayer or morning prayer
Start small
Work up to longer prayers.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
"Don't bite off more than you can chew."
"Take it one step at a time."
"Keep your goal within reach."
"Just do it!"
JUST GETTING STARTED is the way to begin. Don't spend too much
time thinking about it. Don't wait until you are "in the mood". Don't
look for the "right time" or "right place". Obstacles will always
come up that make for wonderful excuses why you should be distracted
from prayer or be delayed in starting your prayer. Ignore them and focus
on just getting a start, even if it's a very small one.
If the present time doesn't seem quite right to you, then maybe
just talk to God "along the way". Pretend He is your invisible friend
next to you as you drive or walk somewhere during your day. Be open
and honest as you get started. "I don't know if you're there right
now or not, but I hope you can hear this. I'm on my way to the store
and I don't have time to stop and pray, but it would be nice if you
come along with me and help make it a smooth trip."
Incidentally, I experience that there is a force that is very
real which actively attempts to prevent me from praying. I have to
overcome that force by making effort almost every time. I believe
that you will experience this force of opposition as well. So
therefore, if I were you, I'd expect it.NIGHT TIME PRAYER OR MORNING PRAYER
Most of us decide to pray at the end of the day. This is good,
but usually by then I'm not only physically tired, but I'm
emotionally drained as well. Often it will seem that you haven't got
the spiritual energy and power to initiate a conversation with
anyone, let alone God. Who would want to invite the Almighty God to
visit them in such a state of mind?
Please realize that this is a deception. A recent experience
proves it to me. I was going to go to bed early because I felt
unusually tired. Several of the kids had been ill and I was feeling
it too. Then the phone rang. It was my best friend from 800 miles
away. We hadn't talked in a month and he was going to be coming this
way. When I hung up 15 minutes later, all traces of tiredness were
gone. I was emotionally and spiritually recharged. Why? The energy
that is generated from positive emotional give and take can revive
us. It's even better than sleep.
Prayer in the same way can revive and re-energize you if you are
tired. It can work like the energy from a loved one if you can
successfully make an emotional connection with God. Many times I have
had the experience of being energized from my prayers and then not
being able to go to sleep for a long time. Sometimes even I have
purposely avoided a "deep" prayer because I wanted to be able to go
right to sleep.
So when you get to the end of today, try not to plop down in
front of the television and watch whatever is on for an hour. I can
pretty much guarantee that it will NOT revive you spiritually or
emotionally. You might even be feeling worse after watching TV. So
end today differently than usual. Take time for an honest talk with
God.
Morning prayer is vital for starting your day so don't neglect
it. If you have to, even get up just 10 or 15 minutes earlier.
Morning prayer really helps prepare you for the various events and
circumstances that lie ahead. Think over the upcoming day as you
pray. Even review your schedule with God and look for His insights on
how to handle situations and responsibilities that you will
encounter. If you are going to be meeting a person that is difficult
for you to love, ask God for His perspective. New insights from
prayer, especially in loving difficult people, have been very
exciting for me.
source:
http://www.familyfed.org/bfd/resources/pages/10-Tips-Prayer.pdf