The 30 Minute Prayer Plan

Early in my youth ministry career our family made a move to Indianapolis, Indiana where I served as a youth pastor for over ten years. We decided to rent a small house out in a farming community until we learned the area and could decide where we would later purchase a home. The first night in the little farm house we were awakened early in the morning because a cow had gotten out of the pasture and was mooing right outside our bedroom window. After a couple minutes a person was knocking on our door to tell us they almost hit a cow in the road. Turns out, there were cows out all over the place! I called the farmer and he came to round them up and get them back in the pasture. I ended up calling him several times the first few days we lived there until he found the break in the fence where they were escaping and was able to fix it. I felt bad about bothering the farmer but when I called he’d say, “No problem, I’ll be right over, we were just sitting here looking at each other.” That always made me laugh. Of course he was joking but it put a picture in my mind of life on the farm where things were so laid back that people could just sit around and talk… or not talk… and just look at each other.

Sometimes when we try to pray it feels more like the experience of the farmer. We want it to be an easy, comfortable and smooth conversation with God but it feels like we are stuck just staring into space… not knowing the words to say.

But Jesus said prayer was important. It’s actually a very important part of our relationship with God. Read what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 26:40. And He came unto the disciples and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?”

Jesus actually said it should be possible for us to spend an hour in prayer. Have you ever spent one uninterrupted hour in prayer with God? No distractions, no interruptions… just you and God… in deep conversation.

It is possible to have a high-quality prayer relationship with God. Possibly one of the biggest challenges is just knowing “what to talk about” during your prayer time. The Bible gives us answers to many elements of prayer so let’s take a look at some of them.

Here’s a 30 Prayer Plan for You
*Over the next seven days, commit to spending 30 minutes each day in prayer by spending 5 minutes on each of these elements of prayer. Find a quiet place and enjoy some uninterrupted time with God.

Praise: Praise God for who He is. Focus on His character and His traits as the one true God.

Psalm 150:1-2, “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

Thanksgiving: Thank Him for what He has done and is doing in your life.

Psalm 100:4, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Intercession: Pray for others and for their needs.

I Timothy 2:1, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”

Supplication: Pray for your own needs asking Him to meet those needs.

Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.