Prayer Guide 1: Where to Begin with Prayer

To prepare your heart and mind for your time with God, take a few moments to do the following:

● Sit and take a deep breath or two to help calm yourself from your busy schedule.

● Concentrate on God and His presence.

To help further prepare your heart for prayer, you might consider:

● Sing a hymn or worship song to prepare your heart.

● Write down some areas where there needs to be confession, redemption, or

reconciliation.

● Open to a Bible verse(s) that have always spoken to your heart and read them

aloud.

Pray the following prayer to usher into the presence of the Spirit:

"Dear Lord Jesus,

"During this time, I want to think about you and only you. Please help my mind to be focused and my heart to be still. Over the next few moments, I pray your Spirit would help me to understand the purpose of my prayer time and, in the end, draw me closer to you like never before. These next few moments of prayer are not about myself, but to experience the divine wonder of you. Remind me of my salvation. In your son’s name, Amen."

After this prayer, choose one or two of the following Psalms to pray to yourself or out loud.

Say these words to our God:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithful continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1-5

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:8-10

I lift my eyes up to the mountains - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber, indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither sleep nor slumber. Psalm 121:1-4