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Worried About Your Prayer Life? Pray for It.

Guideposts blogger Bob Hostetler was once unhappy about his prayer life. Here’s what he did about it.

How to get your prayer life back on track.
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Some years ago, I was unhappy with my prayer life. I had been a follower of Jesus—and a pastor—for many years, and even preached and taught frequently on the necessity and value of prayer, but I didn’t pray with the frequency and the depth I craved.

So I prayed about it. I prayed for my prayer life. I prayed for the grace to start every day with prayer. And soon after I started praying that way, an idea came to me.

My friend Marlin, who attended the same church I did, lived just a block away. So I approached him about becoming my prayer partner. But my appeal to him was more specific than that.

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Marlin and his wife had preschool children in their home, so praying there was impractical—and just fine with me, because I had a plan. I asked Marlin to show up every weekday morning at my door at 7:00 a.m. (after my own children had already left for school). I told him I would have the coffee ready, and he and I could pray in my living room for a half hour. I also told him not to tell me when he couldn’t make it.

We would pray together every weekday morning, and on those mornings he didn’t show up, well, I was already out of bed anyway, already drinking my first cup of coffee, so I went ahead and prayed without him.

It did the trick.

He supplied the discipline I lacked to get up every morning for prayer (I like to think I did the same for him, but I think he just had far more self-discipline than I did).

In any case, it all started when I prayed FOR my prayer life. I told God that I was unhappy with my anemic prayer life. I told Him that I wanted “a closer walk with Thee.” I told Him that I longed to begin every day with prayer and establish a daily habit that would play a part in molding me into the man I wanted to be. And He answered.

By the time Marlin moved to a different state, a new prayer regimen had taken root in me, one that has lasted many years now. It was itself an answer to prayer—for my prayer life.

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