7 Ways to Pray | CrossPoint Church

We’re always a simple word or a single step away from a conversation with God. And yet taking that step or saying that word can sometimes feel confounding or daunting. These seven ways to pray draw from the deep well of Christian history to make praying a habit to enjoy in our crazy, bustling, wearying times.

1. Praying with the Bible

There are different ways to use your Bible in your prayer time. You can personalize Scripture by putting your own name into a verse, writing out a prayer from the Bible and adapting it into your own words, or creatively crafting words of Scripture into a poem.

2. Praying through the Bible

There are four steps—reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating. Each time you go through the Bible passage, take time to pause, notice, and interact with the Holy Spirit.

3. Practicing the Presence of God

Being aware of God in our daily lives takes being intentional. Welcome Jesus into whatever you are doing. You might want to set a timer at various intervals to remind yourself to call to mind the presence of Jesus.

4. Hearing God

As we practice listening to the Lord through prayer, we can test what we hear from God with three helps: Scripture, impressions of the Holy Spirit, and circumstances.

5. Praying with Lament

We can learn from the example of the psalmists, who often move through their prayers of lament in four stages: address, complaint, request, and expression of trust. Follow this pattern to pen your own prayer of lament.

6. Praying Imaginatively

Imaginative prayer involves entering into a biblical narrative and interacting with the characters in the story, including Jesus or God the Father. Some people do this visually, as if they are in a film. For others it might be more of a journaling experience.

7. Praying the Examen

Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order of priests, practiced a five-step process called the examen: give thanks, ask, review, repent, renew. The regular practice of the examen can free us from the effects of unconfessed sin and help us become more sensitive to discerning God’s voice and moving forward with Him as we reject our sinful desires.