Growing up, I was never consistent or persistent in prayer. I had no idea about powerful prayer methods. I didn’t think of prayer as a gift that allows me to communicate with God. I utilized prayer when I felt that I needed it. For instance, in a snag or when hardship hit my life. It did not become a lifestyle until much later in my adult life.
After many difficult years, I was ready to give up on myself and life. Most days, I was depressed. Functioning became impossible for me. I lived most of my life at home with little interaction with my family and no energy to do anything productive. Necessities were hard to complete as well. I ended up hospitalized in Summer 2013 for close to a week. The hospital staff and patients were friendly, but I felt imprisoned by the rules. I wanted to be free, whole and healed.
A pathway to healing
While I was in the mental health facility, God spoke directly to me and through the words of people closest to me. He revealed a second chance that He had wanted me to take for a long time. He offered me His hand and a path to healing.
During my healing and mental wellness journey, God has shown me the power of conversation with Him. I want to share some powerful prayer methods I have used for years to eliminate anxiety, pull myself out of depressive spaces and gain mental clarity.
Powerful Prayer Methods
Prayer Journaling
So, I want to introduce you to prayer journaling. Have you tried it? It’s one of the best ways I release emotions of all kinds. Specifically, doubt, anxiety, and insecurities are all emotions I release during my journaling practice. My journal becomes a place where I brain-dump everything on my mind. As I write, I present the list to God and seek His guidance and comfort in our quiet time together. I ask for clarity on things I do not understand and sit silently to hear from Holy Spirit. Sometimes I don’t walk away with a Word from Holy Spirit, but I close my journal feeling lighter spiritually and emotionally. I feel the peace that surpasses all understanding.
One of my weapons against anxious and depressive thoughts is the Sword of the Spirit, the Holy Word of God. In my prayers, I often speak scriptures I’ve memorized that come against false narratives my mind has accepted to be true. I also love turning to certain Psalms and reading those aloud in the middle of my prayers. I speak scripture that talks about our identity in Christ, healing, having the mind of Christ, and the character of God. The scriptures give me hope because I know they are true. They are able to reveal and refute any lies I find myself believing. I am able to refocus my gaze on Jesus.
Praying during worship
Additionally, I pray while worshiping. I worship through song and speaking words of adoration to God. I use this sacred time in God’s presence to open my mouth and share my heart and the state of my mind with the Lord. It’s a conversation that is clear and transparent. It’s a time of surrender before the Father. When I rise from the floor, I feel lighter and more at peace mentally.
In today’s post, I thought that it would be fun to share my powerful, quiet time with God routine and my favorite books.
First, I must share why daily quiet time with God is so important. It’s a necessity to fuel ourselves spiritually because it helps us to maintain strong faith. I do my best to pray, worship, and study the Word of God every day. I have found that when I neglect my time with God, my faith wavers, and doubt begins to bombard my mind.
Daily quiet time with God can be in different ways. Let’s dive into my routine. I hope it will give you some inspiration.
Worship
The first part of my routine is worship.
I have a plethora of Christian music that I have collected on Spotify. I like to utilize my Daily Mixes on the platform. I push play, sing along, meditate on the words and open my mouth in adoration to God.
If you need some song recommendations, I’ve included some of my favorite songs on a “God’s Girl” playlist I created just for the Her Faith Walk community. Please feel free to add this playlist to your account.
Powerful Quiet Time Prayers
Once I’ve spent some time in worship, I begin to pray. The way I pray depends on how I feel that day.
I love to prayer journal. The best way I can describe this is by writing a letter to God. I generally journal my prayers when I have a lot on my heart that I feel needs to be poured out on paper. Praying in this way also allows me to review my prayers over time.
I also enjoy praying out loud as I worship. I most often pray out loud when I am deep in spiritual warfare. There’s just something powerful about speaking out loud when I use my spiritual weapons in prayer. Believe it or not, when I’m dealing with bad anxiety and depression, crying out loud to God and declaring my healing by faith strengthens me.
Now sometimes, I feel more comfortable praying silently. I generally do this when there is something on my heart that I strictly want to be for God’s ears only.
I felt that I should address prayer length. I pray for as long as the spirit leads me. I conclude what I have to say and, I often sit in silence. This is my way of quieting myself so that I can hear from God. I also continue to pray throughout the day and before bed. I encourage you to not focus on the length of your prayers but to focus on opening yourself up to God and having a conversation with Him.
Lastly, I have a special freebie for you if you could use some help organizing your prayer list and keeping it manageable. I’m sharing my personal prayer list template with you and, it’s customizable! Grab yours at the bottom of the homepage and enjoy!
Read & Study The Bible
I save my reading and study time for the end of my quiet time. I use different resources to assist me in my Bible study time. Afterward, I always sit quietly before God for a few minutes to hear from Him and reflect.
I have staples that I use daily such as, The Bible App/Bible.com, a paper Bible, a commentary, a notebook for note-taking, pens, highlighters, and occasionally I have my concordance on hand.
My heart is always sensitive to pay attention to what God may have for me to study each day. When I feel like I need some structure, I often utilize the plans on The Bible App/Bible.com. I enjoy the studies on this platform because they include a theme to study, one, a couple, or sometimes several scriptures and supplementary readings written by the author of the study.
Here is a list of a few studies I have completed that were very beneficial to my spiritual growth.
I also like to look up passages that speak to specific topics that are on my heart. For instance, one month, I wanted to focus on wisdom, so I dove into the book of Proverbs. It was amazing to read and study each day.
Lastly, sometimes I enjoy a devotional or Christian book with scripture infused into the text. I love using these tools when I may not have much energy to do an in-depth study. Other times if I do a morning study, I will use a devotional or book to close my night before bedtime.
Click here to visit my tools page, where I share my favorite Bibles, devotionals, and books.
In Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed this overview of my powerful, quiet time with God routine.
I want to encourage you to take these ideas and design your very own system. I’m praying that you find a routine that works for you and benefits your spiritual growth.
What are your thoughts? What may you include in your daily get together with God?
Let’s chat in the comments!
Continue to press on in building your relationship with God,
Before you go, do you need prayer? If you feel led to, submit your prayer request here.
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