Ephesians 6: 13 says ”And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints”. NIV
Paul is encouraging his readers to pray with all kinds of prayer and to keep on praying. After all, we are all kinds of people – all different and each one unique, who make up the body of Christ. You are unique – you have a personality that is you. Some types of prayer will come easier to you than others because they are a natural expression of you. God doesn’t want you to pretend to be someone you’re not when you pray.
If you are currently struggling in your prayer life then one reason may be because you are trying to be like someone else and model their prayer life. Whilst it is vital to have good spiritual role models and understand the biblical principles of prayer, you might find yourself struggling because what suits others just may be doesn’t suit you. It can mean you end up feeling guilty when you don’t pray and a failure when you can’t pray like you feel you ought to. You feel you don’t measure up when you compare yourself to other believers so why even bother – you question what difference your prayers actually make. Eventually, you can end up feeling discouraged and worn out and your prayer life suffers and fizzles out. The body of Christ loses out.
Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate your prayer life. When you find your natural prayer rhythm it will inspire you, show results and lead you deeper into the things of God. You will start to thrive. Scripture says Jesus rose early in the morning whilst it was still dark to go off to a private place to pray (Mark 1:35)- if you are an early riser with time in the morning then great, but if not you’ll exhaust yourself trying to do this every day, feel stressed, guilty if you miss a day, rush it, get distracted by the million and one other things vying for your attention, get frustrated and then eventually you may give up all together. Instead of trying to force it, find another time of the day to spend that quiet quality time with God.
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