I recently read the book A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller. Below are some thoughts I had related to prayer coming out of that book:

It doesn’t matter how messy my prayers are. The book of Psalms is full of prayers filled with doubt, anger, anxiety, fear and confusion. Keep bringing all of what you feel to God.
We need to ask God for things as a little child asks - with persistence, with faith and without cynicism.
Simply crying, “Papa, Papa, Papa!” or “Father, Father, Father!” or “Help Me!” is part of praying continuously.
Being in touch with our weakness is a good thing. Desperation is at the heart of the praying life.
When God doesn’t answer a prayer, sometimes it’s because He wants to expose something in me.
It’s OK (and actually really good!) to have meandering prayers that go from one thing to another, getting distracted and moving back and forth between things. It’s typically the way we talk to most people we know well.
Writing down prayers is helpful for remembering and also demonstrates importance (like the way we put items in our calendar because we don’t want to forget).
Journaling helps us in the journey and helps us reflect on what God is doing.
We need Jesus. We need time to reflect on our lives with the Father everyday.

Every other Wednesday night at Living Faith we have a chance to practice praying together! Join us from 6:30 - 8pm tonight!

—Charissa Ricketts