Learn How to Make Time for Pray Daily with These Practical Tips

What’s Inside: Learn How to Make Time for Prayer Daily with These Practical Tips

Our lives are busy. From managing families, taking care of our homes, cooking, cleaning, working and the list goes on… it can be hard to find time to pray in busy times.

As followers of the Lord Jesus, we are to cultivate a relationship with prayer with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is when we go to God and give Him praise, talk to Him, share our hearts desire with Him and sit before Him as He speaks to us.

As Christians, we should want to make prayer a first in our everyday life.

Prayer shouldn’t be an obligation, chore or a duty. Prayer should be a privilege and opportunity where we commune with Him and become close to Him.

Prayer is when we go to God and give Him praise, talk to Him, share our hearts desire with Him and sit before Him as He speaks to us.

Healthy Expectations of What Prayer Should Look Like

I think one of the main reasons why Christian fail in their prayer life is because they have high expectations of what their prayer life should be. These high expectations usually come from well meaning friends and family. Your prayer life is your conversation with God and cultivating a relationship, and is yours alone. Let’s get rid of rules and assumptions from others and just work on desiring to commune with our Saviour. It’s that simple.

Priorities in Prayer and Doing What is Important to Us

I’m going to say something that sounds judgemental so please take it for what it’s worth.

I met a lady on social media who was very emphatic in saying that she had no time at all in her day to pray. None. Looking at her social media presence revealed to me that she had posted about 8 times that day. There were game notifications and videos.

Sweet Sister, let’s have a real talk about what we do with our time. I am convinced that every person can find time to pray if they have the desire to do so. When Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, he said,

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:21

If you want to find time in your day, you can’t make excuses. It is my prayer to help you to find that time. No condemnation. No bashing. I want to help you. But you have to want to.

The first thing that I want you to do is pray in sincerity and ask God for the desire to build relationship with Him by praying daily. Take a second and do that prayer. Repeat that prayer daily and ask God to help you do just that.

Tips to Make Time for Prayer Daily

Let go of expectations.

We talked about this above but I can’t stress it enough. You can’t compare yourself to a Christian who has been serving the Lord for 20 years. In the beginning, make your prayer time 5 minutes then bump up to 10 minutes and so forth.

Prioritize prayer- You know it’s important so it’s time to give God first place. Prioritize prayer by making it a daily habit to be consistent. It’s okay to put other plans on hold. Start off with God’s will first.

Start off small – try praying just five minutes each day in the morning or evening – as this can leave room for a quick run-down of prayers at other times throughout the day if needed. You’ll be surprised how much more focused and calm everything feels once you’ve given some space to all things spiritual.

Set alarms- Set alarms. Got an iphone? Smart Phone? Set alarms on your phone to help you make time for prayer. Making prayer a part of your daily behaviour ensures that it will become a habit. Don’t be afraid to use technology to your advantage. Sometimes we have to humble ourselves and admit we can’t just remember to do it all.

Pray when you are most alert- Are you a morning person? If so, make your prayer time with God in the morning. If you’re a night owl, make your prayer time in the evening. Pray when you are at your best and most alert. There’s no use fighting against your natural patterns.

Make Lists

Give your distractions a name- I’m going to go there. Put a name to every single thing that is taking you away from your prayer time. We’re going to make it so that you can’t make an excuse. Don’t just say “I don’t have time”. Make a list of exactly what it is that is keeping you away from your daily prayer time. Stop right now and jot down every interference in paper. Make your list.

Make a List- Put a name to every single thing that is taking you away from your prayer time so we can find a solution

Okay- now that you are done, divide that list into two more lists. Make a neccessary list and an unneccesary things to do list?

Things on your necessary list might be:

Cooking breakfast
Cooking dinner
Dropping the kids off at school
Commuting
Going grocery shopping
Cleaning the house
Taking time to care for your toddler
schoolwork and homework

All of the things listed above need to be done- there’s no getting around that, but what about the second list? Does your list include time wasters like the following:

Playing video games
Scrolling through facebook, tiktok, instagram,
Watching television

I am not saying to get rid of those ‘time wasters’. I am, however, saying that make prayer a priority first and then give them time after spending time with God.

Both of the lists above could be considered good things. But when we allow certain things (especially from the unnecessary list) to usurp time for prayer, they could be an idol in our life.

Check out these other related PRAYER posts.

Where Your Treasure Is There will your Heart be Also

Finding a Solution to Make Prayer a Daily Habit

Let’s find some solutions on exactly how to make prayer a daily habit with all the things listed above:

Cooking breakfast- make this a time of worship and prayer for those you are cooking for. Pray for their specific needs.
Cooking dinner- Same as above
Dropping the kids off at school- Pray over your child’s day and ask God to help them retain what they learn. Ask God to help you impart Godly wisdom to them so they put God first.
Commute- Praying while driving is a wonderful place to praise, pray and worship the Lord.
Going grocery shopping- this might be a bit more difficult since your mind is preoccupied with shopping, but pray for those with whom you come in contact with. Pray for their salvation. Pray for their needs.
Cleaning the house-It’s easy to get irritated as you clean messes from family members. As you clean, pray for the mess makers and thank God for them. It really changes your attitude.
Taking time to care for your toddler- Teach your toddler how to pray. Your life will speak volumes.
schoolwork and homework- these need your undivided attention so I’d say pray before you start and ask God to give you understanding.

As for playing video games, time on social media and watching television, I’d make sure that I don’t allow these things until I’ve taken some time to commune with God.

Sweet Sister, prayer is our lifeline to God. There is no condemnation. May the desire of your heart be fueled to spend time with your God in prayer. Let’s put away the excuses and look at our day with new eyes so we can find time necessary to make time for prayer daily.

God bless you as you cultivate your prayer life with the Lord.