Encouragement for a Consistent Prayer Life

Inside: Is your prayer life feeling dry or stuck? This gentle reminder from John Piper encouraged my heart—and I hope it does the same for yours.

Woman sitting on a gray couch holding a cup of coffee and an open Bible, ready for quiet time with the Lord.

We’ve spent a lot of time walking through the Sermon on the Mount on the podcast, and though we wrapped up the series about a year ago, I often find myself returning to its truths again and again. One of the episodes that lingered with me the most was Episode 141: Ask, and It Will Be Given. It brought my attention back to my prayer life and how easily it can become neglected—not for lack of desire, but for lack of intentionality.

As I prepared for that episode, I remembered a quote I had jotted down years ago from Desiring God by John Piper. I first read the book as a young believer, and this section has stuck with me ever since. I didn’t share it on the podcast, but I wanted to take a moment to share it with you here because it still challenges and encourages me today.

Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.

But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV!

The natural unplanned flow of spiritual life
sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality.

There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.

Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need mid-course corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer — for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy.
John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of A Christian Hedonist

Isn’t that such a good reminder?

We often think of prayer as something we’ll do when we have a quiet moment—but those moments rarely appear on their own. What has helped me is choosing a set time and place to meet with the Lord. Keeping my Bible and journal nearby makes it easier to step into that time without overthinking it.

If your prayer life feels stuck or dry, maybe today is your invitation to pause, make a plan, and come back to the One who invites us to ask, seek, and knock.

You don’t have to have the perfect words—just a heart that turns toward Him.

He delights to hear from His children. You don’t have to have the perfect words—just a heart that turns toward Him.