When I was a young married woman before children, I loved to spend time with the Lord in prayer. My church at the time taught us to pray using the Lord’s Prayer as a template. The goal was to pray for one hour each day. In fact, one hour was the minimum if anyone wanted to be “spiritual.”

And then the babies started coming…four in four and a half years, plus a straggler. I couldn’t go to the bathroom without getting interrupted. Forget about prayer! I struggled with prayer for years, wanting to spend time with Jesus and never getting enough. It was a tough season.

And then the Lord taught me something through a cartoon of all things. It showed a woman in deep prayer and reverence. Chaos broke out in the background, and the kids started shouting. The mom raised her head and shrieked, “Shut up! I’m trying to pray!” The Holy Spirit convicted me.

I was pursuing a prayer life instead of a praying life.

A prayer life is about the act of praying, the outward expressions, the checking off the box on your spiritual checklist. It might even be for show to demonstrate what a mature Christian you are because your prayers sound so poetic and religious.

A praying life keeps things simple. It’s a way of holistic way of living in communion with Jesus in which your heart, soul, mind, and body are engaged. Your life is saturated with prayer as you seek to do everything that you do with the Lord (Dallas Willard).

We tend to make prayer complicated.

Matthew 6:5-8 (NIV) describes the simplicity and humble posture of prayer.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Continue reading verses 9 to 13 for Jesus’ beautiful prayer model.

How do we pursue the simplicity of a praying life?

1. We cannot wait for the noise to stop before we pray.

Rarely will life quiet down long enough so we can pray. We all have active monkeys vying for our attention.

The outer monkeys. Have you heard, “Five little monkey jumping on the bed”? Twenty-five years ago, I had those every day. There other outer monkeys: work, school, extra activities. All good things. But there is never enough time in the day, and we may feel that we are too busy to pray. We can prioritize prayer and actually put it on our calendar. This can create space for a prayer life, but then we still need to work toward a praying life. We can pray as we go.

The inner monkeys. Henri Nouwen talks about inner monkeys. When we sit down and become quiet, we think, “’Oh, I forgot this. I should call my friend. Later on I’m going to see him.’ Your inner life is like a banana tree filled with monkeys jumping up and down.”

Instead of fighting off the monkeys, invite them into your prayers. As a thought enters your mind, turn it into a prayer. I think about my mom and her health; I can pray for her and ask God to heal her. I think about a situation at work; I can thank God that He has given me wisdom and that He is answering. I think about what I should make for dinner; I can thank God that He provides for my family, or I can ask Him to bless all the people who played a part in getting food to the table.

2. Our prayers don’t require many words.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 tells us, “God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

There is an ancient practice called “Breath Prayer.” You breathe in. As you breathe out, you say a prayer. A classic breath prayer is “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Other breath prayers are:
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
“Here I am, Lord.”
“When I am afraid, I will trust you.”

The simplest prayers can link earth to eternity. The Lord isn’t impressed by our words or poetic delivery. Years ago, I was part of a Moms in Prayer group. We met once a week to pray for our kids. A new woman, Jenny, joined our group. She was a newer believer and very nervous about praying out loud. We encouraged her for weeks that God wasn’t concerned about her words. He saw her heart. One day I felt really burden about my children. A few women prayed for my request, and I didn’t really feel anything. Then, Jenny took a step of faith and prayed. “Lord, please help Joddi-Jay.” I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit and started to cry. God responded to simple words from a sincere heart.

3. Prayer is about communion, not just communication.

I learned a lot about communion in high school. I lived in a farming community 40 miles from my high school. During the summer, I had no way into town to see my friends. So I walked around my stepdad’s 40 acres of property. I took walks with God along the dirt roads. Sometimes I talked; other times I listened. The walks were glorious because I knew God was with me. I experienced that prayer didn’t only happen during sacred times or in sacred places like a church building. Prayer happened outside on dusty roads with a teenage girl and Jesus. I cherished those days.

Communion with God can be found anywhere. Brother Lawrence discovered this truth long before I did. A 17th century monk, Brother Lawrence dedicated his life to acquiring the presence of God. His early ambitions for spiritual status were not realized. He was assigned to the kitchen and soon Brother Lawrence committed himself to worshiping the Lord there. He prayed and communed with God during every task. Peeling potatoes and scrubbing pots and pans were opportunities to commune with the Lord. His story is written in the book called, The Practice of the Presence of God.

Brother Lawrence showed us that outer activity and inner communion occur at the same time. We miss out on all that God has for us when we divide the two. We live on both levels simultaneously, and the most meaningless activity can be a means of prayerful worship.

How is your praying life? God has so much of His presence for us to experience. As we practice His presence during mundane tasks, we will be able to follow the Apostle Paul’s instructions in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Respond to God’s invitation to pursue a praying life with simplicity.

*What if Jesus Was Serious About Prayer? by Skye Jethani provided some content for this post.