When the disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray” in Luke 11, Jesus gave them a pre-made prayer, or what some call a liturgy, to pray to God. In various seasons of our lives when we’re exhausted, tired, traveling, grieving, doubting, or distracted, liturgies can carry us through and guide our prayers. As we learn the pragmatics of prayer, we’ll begin habituating and fine-tuning a daily prayer rhythm.

Practice: Create a daily prayer rhythm by deciding on a daily time and place to pray, and we pick out a pre-made prayer to talk to God.

As disciples of Jesus, we long to pray our own words and share what’s on our minds and hearts. In prayer, we bring our pain, hopes, joys, and fears to God in a personalized way. Gratitude, lament, and petition or intercession are all dimensions of talking with God that we can spend a lifetime exploring.

Practice: Fine-tune our daily prayer times with transitional aids and learn to use our bodies in prayer. Begin and/or end your days in gratitude and start asking through petition or intercession.

Prayer is not just when we talk but when we listen to hear his voice. As Jesus said in John 10v27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” This is a Spirit-generated desire in the heart of a disciple of Jesus.

Practice: Practice Lectio Divina and a listening prayer.

There comes a point in our spiritual journey when prayer goes beyond words to simple loving presence, or what the ancient Christians called “union” with God. This type of prayer has come to be called “contemplation,” based on 2 Corinthians 3v18. To contemplate is to look, to gaze upon the beauty of God, receiving his love pouring out toward you in Christ and by the Spirit, and then giving your love back in return.

Practice: Begin your daily prayer rhythm with silence and a breath prayer.