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Last week the battery on my car died. Twice. Thankfully the first time I had an issue, my husband was there with his truck to give me a jump start.

I think sometimes that’s what we need in our prayer lives: a quick boost to jolt us out of our spiritual rut and get us back on track! Today I want to give you five simple ways you can jump-start your own prayer life if you’ve been feeling the life has been drained out of it.

1. Go to a prayer meeting (or grab a prayer partner)

One of the best ways to jump start your prayer life is to find others to pray with. Even the Bible is clear that there’s something special about corporate prayer (Matthew 18:19-20). If you can’t find a group, you can invite a friend for coffee and pray together, or even pray by phone or find a group online. As frustrating as technology can be, it really opens doors for community for those who otherwise might not be able to have it, whether because of location or inability to get out of the house!

2. Listen to our podcast

If you didn’t know already, Alana and I have a podcast called the Praying Christian Women podcast where we discuss all kinds of prayer topics, and on our “Coffee Break” episodes with listener questions we also carve out some time for “Prayers for the Unsaved” where we actually give you an opportunity to pray right along with us for the unsaved people in your life. You can also get our entire 30 Days of Prayer for the Unsaved delivered right to your inbox for free when you sign up!

3. Read a book (or listen to an audiobook) about prayer

There are so many books on prayer, we couldn’t possibly list all of our favorites, but here are some good ones to start with that I personally love and recommend:

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

The Daniel Prayer by Anne Graham Lotz

Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey

Adventures in Prayer by Catherine Marshall

4. Pray in a new and creative way

When we start to think of prayer as a one-size-fits-all practice, it might get…um…boring. There. I said it. It’s okay, though. It just means you need to look at it in a different light. As Jennifer Kennedy Dean so simply put it, “Prayer isn’t an activity…it’s a relationship.” And not just any relationship, a relationship with the Almighty God! Sometimes we lose sight of this, and see prayer as a duty or obligation, losing awe and reverence for this sacred privilege. We need a shift in perspective - or even sometimes to realize that we’re flat out believing lies from the enemy!

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

• Take some time to praise God. Read through some Psalms of praise (Psalm 8, Psalm 19, Psalm 145, to name a few of my favorites!)

• Incorporate your personality into the way you talk with God. If you love hiking, talk to him on a hike! If you enjoy crafts, create a pretty prayer scrapbook, do some Bible journaling

• Do some prayer journaling in creative ways. I like the A.C.T.S. method, using each letter for a prompt: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. You can also visit our website and check out our Prayer Journaling e-course if you’re new to the idea of journaling and would like some more ideas!

5. Stop prayer-crastinating: the power of the one minute prayer

The best, quickest and most powerful way to jump-start your prayer life is simply this: PRAY!

The Holy Spirit is our teacher, and there’s no time like the present. One of my favorite prayer tips from Alana was the “One Minute Prayer.” Set a timer, choose a topic or person and pray thoroughly for just one minute. You will be amazed at how much praying you can get done in this seemingly short amount of time.

So much of our prayer hangups come from mindset. When you realize that it only takes a minute to pray, you’ll stop the prayer-crastinating and enter the throne room - and meet God there.

We always love to hear from you, so if you’re in a prayer rut and need prayer and encouragement, please let us know and we’d love to pray for you!