5 Habits Of An Aspiring Prayer Warrior - Establishing A Life Of Prayer

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The theme of the last two years for me has been prayer. My understanding of the power and purpose of prayer has grown more than ever. These years more than any other in my life I have felt a gentle pulling on my soul to draw closer to God. 

I don’t know how your prayer life is, but I can admit that at the start of 2016 mine was nonexistent. I was heartbroken and had suffered a loss that I was fighting to keep from blaming God. Speaking with Him was just not on my list of things to do. Somewhere during the year that changed. God healed my heart and my desire for a deeper relationship with Him began to grow exponentially. 

We all long for something more. We all want that deep connection with the Lord and the power of prayer working in our lives. The good news is that connection is available to every believer! It's a birthright. All we've got to do is steward our hearts and time well. Here are some of my tips for growing and cultivating a deeper prayer life!

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Does God Hear Our Prayers After We've Sinned?

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I am well acquainted with this lie. It is one that I still have to fight through. It seems so hard for us to consistently believe that God really really loves and not only that! He likes us. He enjoys our company even when we have been imperfect. He’s not tired of fixing our messes or helping us through our struggles and strongholds. 

We have to renounce partnership with this lie because it keeps us from reaching out and growing in intimacy with our Father. You need to know first and foremost that God’s position and fondness for you never changes. Any perceived distance or silence generally means that you have allowed imaginary walls to go up, but before we get into that let's look at where this lie comes from.

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Prayer - Where To Start When You Haven't For Too Long

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You pray. You wouldn’t say that you never pray. You pray before meals with your family. You’re always willing to lead out with prayer at church or bible study. But when the idea of a prayer life comes up you rack your brain for the last time you remember getting alone and talking to God. 

The shame moves in like an old uninvited friend that you never know how to ask to leave. You love God. You believe that prayer is super important, but why can’t you seem to pray regularly? You know it’s been days, weeks, months and your new house guest, shame, convinces you that it is better to not think about it too much and instead keep moving forward.

Does this sound familiar to you? It could be the story of my Christian life up until a couple years ago. What do you do when you realize you haven’t prayed for far too long? Where do you start? 

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How To Pray Consistently: How To Pray When You Don't Even Want To Want To

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I wrote a post a couple of years ago on prayer called Where To Start When You Just Haven’t For Too Long, and that is still one of my most popular posts. I find it’s helped a lot of people who wanted to press back into prayer and communion with the Lord but weren’t sure they were welcome back. 

I also find there this other group of people who struggle with prayer because they don’t find much desire within themselves even to want to pray. I identify with these folks and have been in this position before as well. If you find yourself in that place today here are some things to consider.

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7 Common Misunderstandings That Could Hinder Your Prayer Life

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Hey y’all! To celebrate the launch of our Intentional Prayer Journals, we are spending the Month of November focusing on the topic of prayer. I can admit that for much of my Christian life, prayer was a total mystery to me. I was convinced it was something I was obligated to figure and do for God in exchange for my salvation.

There are a few misconceptions I see pretty regularly in the church. These misunderstandings or lies, influence the way we pray as well as the tone and frequency of our prayers. Scripture says the “Truth makes us free.”(John 8:32) So to kick off our prayer month, we are going to look at seven common misunderstandings people may have about prayer. 

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5 Books That Will Radically Change Your Prayer Life

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We were created to crave intimacy. We want to be known, and we want to be pursued. People can never satisfy these desire. These are God-sized longings. The reason we lack the deep and satisfying prayer life we need is usually due to a lack of understanding of how God feels about you and how He sees you.

I am sharing five books that completely changed my prayer life. These books challenged me and stretched my understanding of God’s love and as a result deepened my intimacy with Him and increased my hunger to want to be in communication with Him.

Here are the five books and what I think you will take away from each. Also as a disclaimer, this post does contain affiliate links to the books on Amazon. Know that I value your time and trust, and I would NEVER recommend anything that I don’t fully love and stand behind. You can click any of the book titles or images to put them on your Amazon wishlist! Christmas is right around the corner, and you’re going to love these!

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