BY ANGELIA CORNATZER
Since the 1950s, there has been a nationally recognized day of prayer! The National Day of Prayer is on May 5th this year. Take this opportunity to be an influence where you are. Maybe you work at an office and could talk to your boss about doing a 10-minute prayer break on May 5th with your co-workers. If you work from home, think about organizing a zoom call to participate in the National Day of Prayer. If you are a student, organize a prayer gathering before school! If you are a part of a church, communicate with them and look at the possibility of having a prayer gathering on May 5th. Brainstorm how you can gather with your friends, co-workers, or community on May 5th to commune with the Lord together, as thousands of others around the country are praying as well.
Some of the suggested prayer topics that the National Day of Prayer’s website provides are: government, education, business, church, and family!
Don’t let the National Day of Prayer be the only day that you intentionally spend time in prayer. As our lives continue to get faster and busier, we must not neglect communication with our Creator in the midst of it all.
Get creative with your prayer time! Sometimes we think that time spent in prayer has to be a certain way or time, but God wants us to spend every moment in communication with Him. Let’s take a look at how we can incorporate prayer into our daily, routine, and mundane moments.
When you wake up first thing in the morning and when you get into your bed at the end of the day are perfect moments that can be protected for prayer time. Typically, the first thing we all do is pick up our phone and scroll away. For one week, try spending 5-10 minutes in prayer as soon as you wake up, and as soon as you get in bed at the end of the day. I doubt you will regret this practice.
Sometimes we can be unsure of what or how to pray. Thankfully, Jesus showed us! Maybe your prayer time will be praying Scriptures, such as Psalm 23 or John 17.
Think about writing out a prayer that you can memorize and continue to say each day. This prayer could be what you recite before and after your day.
As we commune with God, we can get creative with how and when we do it! Did you know that we spend over 17,600 minutes driving in the car each year? Imagine if you spent even half of your drive time in prayer. That would be 8,800 minutes in prayer each year! Think about the quiet moments that you can include God in. Maybe for you that looks like praying as you drive to work each morning or as you wait in the pick-up line for your children. How powerful!
We all have moments in our day that we can turn into prayer-filled times. When I was in college, a friend told me she would pray as she walked to each class. Think of the things that you do each day and pick places to put prayer! Do you have a lunch break? Do you drive to meetings? Do you brush your teeth or take a shower? All these moments can be spent in prayer with the Lord! Set an alarm on your phone for a certain time to pray each day. Look into getting an app, such as Prayminder, that will send you alerts for you to pray for certain things at certain times.
If you are starting out trying to incorporate prayer, don’t be discouraged. Baby steps are big steps! In the middle of adopting this spiritual discipline, don’t lose focus that your prayer time is time with the Prince of Peace, the Creator of the Universe, the Wonderful Counselor, our Emmanuel. How beautiful is it that our God wants us to talk to Him without ceasing in each day and moment, and that He created a way for us to do so!
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”
