Many believers want to begin the day in prayer and find that weeks pass without it happening. If that describes you, nothing is wrong with your faith. Habits form slowly in the spiritual life, just as they do everywhere else, and they form best with a plan.
Jesus prayed in the morning. Mark records that he rose before daylight and walked out to a quiet place to be with his Father. The Gospels do not present this as a burden he carried. It was how he lived, and the morning was when he made room for it.
What follows is the plain advice we would give anyone starting out. None of it requires special training or unusual discipline. It requires five minutes and a decision about when those minutes will happen.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Mark 1:35Start with five minutes
The most common mistake is beginning too big. A person resolves to pray for half an hour at dawn, manages it twice, and gives up by the end of the week feeling defeated. Five minutes is a better foundation. It is long enough for honest prayer, and it is short enough that you can keep the commitment on your most tired morning.
Set a timer if that helps you settle in. When the five minutes end, you are free to stop. Many people discover that once they have started they want to continue, and that is a gift when it comes. The habit itself rests on the five minutes, though, so keep the commitment small until it is steady. You can lengthen it in a month or two, and by then you will probably want to. If your house is full of noise at that hour, pray in the parked car before you pull out of the driveway. The location does not matter to God.
Follow a simple order
A blank five minutes is harder than it sounds. Most of us kneel down without a plan and spend the time wondering what to say. A simple order removes that obstacle. We suggest four movements in this sequence. Give thanks, read scripture, pray for others, then pray for yourself.
Begin with thanks. Name two or three specific things God has given you, including ordinary ones like sleep and food. Then read a short passage of scripture, even a single verse, and let it point your praying in a direction. Then pray for others. Bring the people God has placed around you to him by name and ask him to meet them where they are. Finish with yourself, telling God plainly what you need for the day ahead.
Paul taught the church at Philippi to bring their requests to God with thanksgiving, and the sequence matters. Gratitude steadies the heart before the asking begins.
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
Philippians 4:6Here is what those four movements can sound like on an ordinary morning.
Father, thank you for this new day and for the rest of the night behind me. Thank you for the people under this roof and for the food in this kitchen. Your word says that your compassions fail not, and I take you at your word this morning. I bring you the people you have given me. Watch over my family, strengthen the ones I know who are struggling, and draw near to anyone waking up afraid today. And I bring you myself. You know what this day holds and I do not. Give me the patience, the honesty, and the courage it will ask of me, and keep me mindful of you in the middle of it.
Tie it to something you already do
New habits survive when they are attached to established ones. Do not try to invent a new opening in your morning from nothing. Find something you already do without fail and pray immediately after it. For many people that fixed point is the first cup of coffee. For others it is sitting down after the alarm goes off, or the quiet in the house once the children have left for school.
The pairing does the remembering for you. After a few weeks the routine itself will prompt you, and you will find yourself turning toward prayer before you have consciously decided to. Keep your Bible where the habit happens, on the counter or beside the chair, so nothing has to be fetched first.
Say it out loud or write it down
If your attention drifts, pray out loud in a low voice. Spoken words hold the mind in place far better than silent ones, and God does not require eloquence. A whispered prayer over the kitchen sink is heard as fully as anything said in a sanctuary.
Writing works too. Keep a small notebook with the names of the people you are praying for, and add to it as requests reach you. A written list keeps you praying for people by name instead of in general, and over time it becomes a record of answered prayer you would otherwise forget.
Expect ordinary mornings
Some mornings the five minutes will feel rich and near. Many mornings they will feel dry, and your mind will wander to the day’s errands before you finish giving thanks. This is normal. It is not a measure of whether God heard you.
God receives flat prayers as fully as fervent ones. Scripture asks us to come to him, not to feel a certain way first. Lamentations was written in the middle of great grief, and even there the writer found God’s mercies waiting again at daybreak.
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23When you miss days
You will miss days. Illness, travel, a wakeful baby, or plain forgetfulness will interrupt the routine, and what you do next determines whether the habit survives. Do not try to make up the lost time with one long session of catching up. Do not spend the next morning rehearsing your failure to God, who has already forgiven it. Simply pray today.
The habit survives when you learn to return quietly after a gap. A missed week is only that. It is not a verdict on you, and it is not the end of the habit. God’s compassions are new at daybreak, including the daybreak after you fell away for a while.
Lord, it has been some days since I sat down with you, and I am tempted to stay away out of embarrassment. You are not surprised by my inconsistency, and your compassion toward me did not lapse while I was gone. Thank you for receiving me today as gladly as you ever have. Forgive me for the mornings I let slip past, and free me from the guilt that would keep me away tomorrow. Rebuild this habit in me. Wake me with a desire for your presence, teach me to come to you before I reach for anything else, and let a few faithful minutes with you shape the whole of my day.
If you are trying to build this habit and want others standing with you, send us a prayer request. Requests come through the form on this site into a private inbox, a real person reads each one, and our fellowship prays over them by name. There is no date on the calendar when we stop. We would be glad to pray for you as you begin.