Posted on August 10, 2026 by Rev. Jonathan Conner
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Prayer is central to the Christian life, yet many believers struggle with knowing how to pray consistently or confidently. In Part 4 of the “Doing the Faith” series, Pastor Conner explores practical, biblical ways to deepen your prayer life through time-tested practices, Scripture, and the rich prayer tradition of the Church.
Christianity is something you do.
Salvation, as we have shared over the last several articles in this series, is what Jesus does; Christianity is what we do. Christianity is a verb. As the generations before us put it: lex orandi, lex credendi (“the law of praying is the law of believing”). Our practice of praying and worshiping—the things of the faith that we do—both reveals what we believe and shapes what we believe.
Over the last several articles, we’ve explored worship, Bible reading, and devotions, discussing both why they matter and how to practice them. In this article, we turn to prayer. Prayer is part of doing the faith, and Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to pray:
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2)
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:5–6)
When it comes to prayer, the question many people ask is, How?
Here’s the good news: there are numerous ways to pray.
Here’s the bad news: we aren’t always very good at practicing them.
For our spiritual well-being, we need to give intentional attention to our prayer lives. Author Andree Seu perceptively observed, “You’re one prayerless day away from being capable of any sin.” That’s a sobering thought—and it should be.
I’ve heard from many of you who have expressed frustration with prayer because you feel like you’re stuck on repeat, praying the same things in the same way every day.
It doesn’t have to stay that way.
We are all capable of growing in our prayer lives, and this article will explore several practical ways we can do precisely that.
Before we detail personal prayer practices, we should first acknowledge and give thanks to God for the rich prayer heritage we have received from tour spiritual forebearers.
Our Divine Service is characterized not only by numerous liturgical prayers—the Kyrie, Gloria, Agnus Dei, Sanctus, and Nunc Dimittis are all prayers—but also by a remarkable collection of prayers. We pray one of them, called the collect of the day, every Sunday.
Consider the prayer we prayed on Transfiguration Sunday (February 15th):
O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshadowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
If you’ve prayed the collects with any frequency, you’ve probably noticed their regular pattern. We might capture it like this:
Confess who God is → Confess what He has done → Ask for what we need → Tell Him why we are asking → Pray in Christ’s name
This pattern is instructive because it teaches us to focus first on who God is and what He has done and promised. That, in turn, gives us confidence to make our prayer and to trust that He will hear and answer it.
By teaching us to confess who God is and what He has done and promised, it also keeps our prayers from becoming entirely absorbed with ourselves and our own wants and needs. It’s a marvelous model for prayer.
Turning to our personal prayers, we begin with rote prayers—prayers we memorize and pray word for word.
Two likely come immediately to mind: the Lord’s Prayer and the common table prayer (printed above the kitchen in Zion). These are prayers we can pray every day, and perhaps you already do.
In the previous article, we discussed how the Lord’s Prayer can (and should) be part of our daily devotional ritual, whether individually or as a family.
Martin Luther also included additional prayers in the Small Catechism to be prayed by rote (memory). I include them here:
“The eyes of all look to You, [O LORD,] and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15-16)
Then shall be said the Lord’s Prayer and the following:
Lord God, heavenly Father, bless us and these Your gifts which we receive from Your bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
These are all excellent prayers to pray by rote, and generations of Christians have done exactly that.
Sadly, rote prayers are sometimes dismissed because they lack spontaneity or are thought not to be “from the heart.” We’ll discuss spontaneous prayer in a moment, but I don’t want us to rush past the value of memorized prayers.
Those who dismiss rote prayer for not being “from the heart” fail to appreciate the ability of these memorized prayers to shape the heart, and the mind.
Yes, rote prayers can become mechanical and mindless if we allow them to. But they can also establish the mental and spiritual framework for a richer, deeper prayer life.
A mature prayer life does not consist of only one kind of prayer. Rather, it incorporates multiple methods and approaches.
Rote prayers are a meaningful part of a healthy and faithful life of prayer.
Did you realize that most of our hymns are essentially musical prayers—prayers we sing by memory?
Have you ever considered memorizing hymn verses to sing as part of your personal prayer life?
Music has a way of slowing us down and helping us pay closer attention to our words. As you read the three hymn verses below, read them with the tune in your mind—or, better yet, sing them aloud. Notice how the melody causes you to slow down. Notice how you hear the words differently.
Abide with Me
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
LSB 878, stanza 1
Take My Life and Let It Be
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
LSB 783, stanza 1
The Common Doxology
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Our rote prayers can be enriched through music. Our hymns and praise songs are a wonderful way to utilize music to enhance and deepen our prayers.
We’ve all had a song stuck in our heads. Wouldn’t it be far better to have a hymn or a musical prayer playing in your mind throughout the day?
Learning the hymns and praise songs of the Church can do exactly that.
At our recent Discipling Event, DCE Kathryn shared a helpful acronym for praying for other people.
All of us have, at one time or another, said, “I’ll pray for you.” Many of us follow through later, but Kathryn encouraged us to pray right then and there with the person.
For many of us, that thought is intimidating.
What do we say?
How do we begin?
Kathryn suggested using the acronym BLESS:
This isn’t a memorized prayer, but it is a guided prayer. The guide gives our prayers direction and focus.
A BLESS prayer might sound something like this:
Lord, bless my friend’s body. Give her physical health and strength to do the work You have set before her. When she feels weak, give her strength in You. Thank You for her job. Give her grace to do her work well and to see it as a beautiful part of bringing order to Your creation. Lift up her spirit when she is discouraged or depressed so that she may see Jesus living and reigning for her. Strengthen her relationship with her husband and children so they may find great joy and unity together. Turn her eyes continually to the promises You have given her in Christ. Lead her to church to hear Your Word preached and to receive Your forgiveness in the Sacrament, that she may be renewed and strengthened in You. Thank You, Lord. I ask You to grant this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Depending on the situation, you may choose to pray through only one or two parts of the BLESS acronym.
Either way, it provides a simple framework that helps guide your prayers and gives you confidence to pray with someone in the moment.
Earlier, I encouraged you to pray the Lord’s Prayer by memory every day. Much like the BLESS model, the Lord’s Prayer can also serve as a prayer guide—or even better, a prayer springboard.
Springboard prayers use key texts such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, the Catechism, or other passages of Scripture to launch us into deeper, more thoughtful prayer. They begin with meditation on God’s Word.
Imagine leaping up and landing with your full weight on a springboard (or we may prefer the term diving board). What happens when you do this? It launches you.
God’s Word does the same thing.
Let’s leap onto the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer and see how it launches us into into deeper prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven…
Put your weight on this. Medidate on it.
What does it mean to begin with the word our? To start a prayer using a plural possessive?
What does it mean to call God Father?
What thoughts come to mind when you imagine His heaven?
Spend a few moments reflecting on those questions, and then allow them to launch you into prayer.
Such a prayer might sound like this:
Father in Heaven, it brings me great comfort to pray our Father. When I do I’m reminded that I’m not alone. I belong to Your people. I belong to a we. And it brings me great happiness to call you Father, that you invite me to use such an intimate, familial word to address you. Thank you for being a good Father to me. And Father, the reality of Your Heaven brings me hope because I know Your promise to bring Heaven to earth when Jesus comes. I’m excited to experience the happiness of your eternal Heaven and to experience Your everlasting happiness. Thank You, Father. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Fortuitously, the Lord’s Prayer can be broken into seven lines, which corresponds nicely with the seven days of the week:
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Perhaps you might use the Lord’s Prayer as a springboard over the coming months, allowing you to launch into deeper prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer isn’t the only text that works this way. Scripture itself—and the Catechism—can also become springboards for prayer.
Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, has written a wonderful little booklet on prayer entitled A Simple Way to Pray. In it, he offers several questions to guide meditation on Scripture or the Catechism.
After reading a passage, ask yourself:
Then go to God in prayer. Let’s consider Psalm 1:1-2. It begins:
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
What does this passage teach us?
Clearly, it teaches that meditating on God’s Word matters. The one who delights in His Word is called blessed—literally, happy.
What does this passage lead us to thank God for?
That He has given us His Word and, through it, the way of true happiness.
What sin does it expose?
Sadly, we have too often neglected God’s Word and fallen in line with the wicked, sinners, and scoffers.
After reflecting on the passage, our prayer might sound something like this:
Merciful Lord, thank you for giving me Your Word. You allow me to know You and the way of life and happiness. I do not take this for granted. Forgive me for the times I have neglected Your Word and gone along with the world’s sinful and foolish ways. Teach me to turn from sin and foolishness, to treasure Your Word by meditating on it, and enable me to experience the happiness that comes through living in line with Your Word, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Here’s the beautiful thing about springboard prayers:
Our resources in Scripture and the Catechism are nearly limitless.
The Psalms alone provide enough material to enrich and deepen our prayers for the rest of our lives.
If you desire a fuller and deeper prayer life, start leaping onto the Psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, or the Catechism.
They will launch you into the deep waters of thoughtful prayer.
This is a good place to acknowledge a reality every Christian experiences from time to time: spiritual drought.
These are seasons when God seems distant, our prayers feel unanswered, and it becomes difficult to sense His presence.
Scripture doesn’t ignore these moments. Instead, it gives us words to pray in the midst of them.
“Why, O LORD, do You stand far away? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1)
“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)
“I say to God, my Rock: ‘Why have You forgotten me?'” (Psalm 42:9)
Because these dry seasons will come, we need to prepare for them.
Like Joseph storing grain in Egypt before the famine, we are called to lay up spiritual stores while times are good.
F. W. Boreham expresses this beautifully:
In the heyday of spiritual prosperity we must lay up in store against days of darkness and doubt. In the days of opened heavens and answered prayers let us record the experience on the tablets of memory, to feed upon when the heavens are as brass and prayer a tinkling cymbal.
The dry seasons will come.
To prepare for them, we cultivate a disciplined life of prayer now.
Our church’s DCE has encouraged the practice of breath prayers.
These are simple, brief conversations with God—sometimes as short as:
Lord, have mercy.
God, help me.
These prayers can become part of the rhythm of everyday life.
You’re about to walk into a difficult meeting:
Lord, give me calm and calming words.
You’ve just received upsetting news:
Lord, help her.
The doctor calls with encouraging test results:
Thank You, Lord.
Your children are arguing…again:
Lord, give me wisdom and patience.
Prayer doesn’t always require long, carefully crafted words.
Sometimes the shortest prayers are the ones we most need.
Spontaneous prayers are exactly what they sound like—prayers offered in the moment, when we weren’t necessarily planning to pray.
During the first week of February, I attended the Iowa caucus. As the meeting began, the leader invited everyone to stand. I assumed we were about to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Instead, he looked at me and said,
“Pastor, would you open our meeting in prayer?”
I hadn’t planned on praying.
But because I had practiced the different prayer methods we’ve discussed throughout this article, I was ready.
I didn’t struggle to find the words.
That highlights something many of us fail to realize:
Spontaneous prayers aren’t really spontaneous.
We may not have planned to pray in that particular moment, but those prayers are shaped by everything that has come before them.
Our habits of worship, Scripture reading, devotion, and prayer either strengthen—or weaken—our ability to pray when unexpected opportunities arise.
If we want to grow in our ability to pray “from the heart,” we must also grow in our spiritual disciplines.
That, after all, is exactly what this series has been about.
These are the things we do as we do the faith.
Faithful worship.
Regular Bible reading.
Consistent devotions.
All of these enrich and strengthen our prayer lives.
How could it be otherwise?
There’s much more that could be said about prayer.
We could explore prayer journals, prayer boxes, prayer walks, and many other helpful practices.
But this is enough to get us started.
And starting is half the battle.
If you’ve already established healthy prayer disciplines, wonderful.
If you haven’t, don’t try to do everything at once.
Choose one practice we’ve discussed.
Begin there.
When it becomes part of your life, add another.
Then another.
Get praying.
And do the faith.
— Pastor Conner
Read Part 2: Reding Our Bibles
Rev. Jonathan Conner is a contributor and speaker for Lutheran Family Service in the areas of mental health, godly living, and parenting. He is a regular guest on the podcast Issues, Etc., and the multi-part series Kids Have Questions. Pastor Conner is a graduate of Concordia Seminary St. Louis and currently serves as the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Manning, Iowa.
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