by Gerald Longjohn 

Ever have this nagging sense that you don’t pray enough? During my first year of college, I read “Too Busy Not to Pray” by Bill Hybels, and decided that it was time to become a real prayer warrior. My friend Steve decided to join me in my quest and we committed to wake each other up every morning at 6 a.m. for an hour of solitary prayer.

On the first morning, I woke up full of great intentions. I read some psalms, spent some time confessing my sins and pondered a glorious sunrise with genuine thanksgiving. Then I poured my heart out to God, bringing up numerous requests. When I looked down at my watch, I was deflated to realize that only 15 minutes had passed. I soldiered on, repeating a few requests and reading another psalm or to, trying gamely to make it to at least half an hour.

Steve didn’t have much success either, so we tried a different approach. We decided that we would walk around Chicago on our own, praying aloud as we walked. Again, I headed out with great intentions and quickly discovered that I was a little more self-conscious than I thought. As I walked along praying aloud, I would clam up every time I passed someone, fearful that they’d think I was talking to myself (which wasn’t uncommon with some of the street people in our neighborhood!). Strike two for my prayer life.

Here’s the problem. I had heard great testimonies about various methods of prayer and confused those methods with the ultimate goal—communicating with my Father! While those methods worked for others, they simply discouraged and frustrated me.

Finally, I decided to try a different approach. I went to the bookstore and picked up a prayer journal. Rather than recording lists of people to pray for, the journal became a place for me to write letters to my Father in heaven as I prayed. The discipline of writing my prayers as letters slowed me down long enough to think carefully about what I was praying for–without falling asleep. As a bonus, the written record of my prayer life would eventually provide great encouragement when I looked back over what I’d prayed for and how God had answered. Over the years my prayer journals record the fears of a father anticipating his first baby, the joys (and struggles) of youth ministry, and the wrestling match of countless decisions.

There’ve been some embarrassingly long gaps between some of my prayer journal entries, but I have found it to be the method that has kept me most consistently in prayer over the last 18 or 19 years. And here’s the thing; the method isn’t the point! You can pray silently in your room, pray while you walk around the pond (I promise, I won’t think that you’re talking to yourself), sing your prayers or fill up journal after journal.

But whatever you do, don’t give up until you find a way to regularly, joyfully connect with your Father!