Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

One of the best ways to learn how to pray is not to read about prayer. It’s not even to listen to other people pray. The best way to learn how to pray is … to pray! 

Can you imagine a baby thinking to herself, “I’m not going to start talking until I’ve got the English language nearly mastered. I need to brush up on my vocabulary and have a few tongue-twisters handy, and then I’ll start talking”? Of course not!

Babies learn to talk by talking! Well, perhaps they learn by babbling first. But ask any parent, and they will tell you that those first da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba sounds are like music in their ears!

It’s the same way with our Heavenly Father. He’s not waiting for you to be a prayer expert (whatever that is!) before you start talking with Him. Even if your attempt at praying sounds like a baby’s babbling to you, those attempts are sweet sounds to our loving Heavenly Father.

One verse about Jesus gives us four practical prayer tips to help us practice praying—

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. (Mark 1:35)

Check out these four prayer tips:

1. early in the morning. This speaks to me of priority. I want to talk with God before I talk with anyone else—before I make my plans for the day, or even before I have any major decisions to make.

Practical application: I need to go to bed on time.

2. Jesus got up. This was a physical change of position to make sure He was alert.

Practical application: Don’t try to pray laying in bed, but find a posture where I am most alert; maybe even go for a walk while I pray.

3. left the house [and] went to a solitary place. He left the familiar and left any distractions behind. Some translations of Matthew 6:6 say we should go into our prayer closet.

Practical application: Find a place that’s just for prayer, then eliminate the distractions (like turning off my phone).

4. He prayed. This Greek word is used 87 times in the New Testament and it means … PRAY. There’s nothing wrong with reading the Bible, or listening to worship music, but I shouldn’t allow these activities to substitute for prayer.

Practical application: My mind can wander when I’m praying unless I’m intentional about staying focused. So I keep a list of things I want to pray about, and I keep a blank piece of paper ready for things that come to my mind. Both of these things keep my mind from wandering away from prayer.

How about you: Can you make prayer a priority? Can you find a place and posture that will help you pray? What can you do to stay focused while you’re praying?

Remember: the best way to learn how to pray is to pray. Get started today! Your Father is waiting to hear your sweet voice!

You may also be interested in my post Continually learning to pray.

I’ll be continuing our series on Practical Prayer this Sunday. If you don’t have a home church in Cedar Springs, I’d love to have you join us. Otherwise, you can tune in to our live broadcast via Periscope.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎