Prayer Can Be Caught

My seven-year-old grandson can drive! Oh, don’t worry, Jack doesn’t take the car out on the highway. But he can drive our tractor/mower and our all-terrain vehicle on our rural property. Again, don’t worry. He can’t do it without Grampy sitting with him. There is a safety mechanism that requires him to sit on the seat—or the engine turns off. And since Jack can’t reach the gas while sitting, it will be a few years before he can mow without me!

I am amazed, however, at what he picks up simply by watching how his Grampy does it. He knows where the key goes and how the gear shift works. He can steer, although that still needs some improvement.

Jack did not learn his tractor skills from reading a manual. No, he watched and copied what he saw.

Prayer is caught, too.

Pray with Others

One of the best ways to learn to pray is to listen to others pray. When we hear how others approach God, that can give us insight into how we can approach God.

But don’t just listen. Get in a prayer group or two, and pray with other people. You will quickly gain confidence in your own prayers, and you will learn as you listen to the dynamic prayers of some in the group.

You may be thinking, I barely can pray by myself, how can I get the nerve to pray with others?

Years ago, when I launched Pray! Magazine, we had weekly prayer times for our staff (optional attendance). Our young designer (early 30s) was a relatively new believer and did not have a lot of confidence praying out loud with others. She came faithfully, but never prayed out loud. For probably a year or more she came every week, but did not pray verbally. But then one day, she offered a one-sentence prayer in a shaky voice. Then the next week, she offered a 3- or 4-line prayer. Then multiple prayers in one prayer meeting. And she was off and running.

Now 26 years later, today this woman is a powerful intercessor who has a burden to especially pray for our nation.

That can be you, if you put yourself in proximity to other prayer warriors and learn from them.

Catch prayer from others.

–Jon Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network and Love2Pray. He is also the author of The Power of Personal Prayer and Praying Like Paul.

Note to Love2Pray Members: You can listen to a number of good pray-ers at our “Social Media Recommendations” page.

Share article with your friends: