My name is Mike Bickle from Kansas City, the International House of Prayer, here in Kansas City. I want to welcome you to the God Today Program. I want to appreciate the God TV leadership team, providing this to the Body Of Christ. Leaders from all around the world, 3 minute videos everyday. Thank you, God TV.
We lead 24/7 worship and prayer here in Kansas City. We have done it over 18, 19 years now. People ask me, “How do you keep your prayer life going? How does this work?” I think all of us, in our natural humanity, we don’t gravitate towards prayer. We love God in our heart, but stopping to pause to pray, sometimes we have to really be intentional about that.
Here is what I have found, a couple small, little things help. This will throw some of you off, but I have found it to really be helpful. If you will schedule a few times in the week, as your time with God. I don’t keep every time I make a schedule with God, but in the course of my week, I have times on my weekly schedule where I say, “This is my appointment with the Lord.” I have done this for 40 years, by the way. Somebody told me to when I was in the university. I was skeptical, but I did it. I am so glad. If I schedule time with God, I don’t always keep it. I keep it more than I would have if I didn’t schedule it. SImple as scheduling time. I urge you to do it.
If you wait until you have time to pray, or until you are in a crisis, you will never find time if you wait till it shows up. You don’t want to just wait until you are in a crisis. There is something beautiful about interacting with the Lord. Schedule a time. A couple times a week, whatever. Some of you more, some of you less. The second thing sounds almost as rigorous and formal. In 40 years, I know it to be true. I have developed prayer lists. What these prayer lists are, I have a number of them on our website, they’re all over the Body of Christ, you can get them. A prayer list is made up of things I really want to pray about. When I sit down to pray often, even though I have this ministry. I go, “My brain is tried. I don’t know what to pray.” I look at my prayer list and it jumpstarts that. I go, “Oh, yea! Of course!” And I go down my prayer list. I never stick to it 100%. I deviate from it any time I want. That prayer list jumpstarts me. It gets me going. Once i get in the flow, I go wherever I want to go.
The third thing I found very practical, is I cultivate a right view of God. A God who is not a mean coach, or a taskmaster, or an angry boss. But, a tender Father who loves me and delights in me. If I schedule time to pray, I don’t always keep it, but I pray a lot more. If i have a prayer list, I don’t always go through it, but it jumpstarts me. If I have an idea that God is kind to me, I find those three simple things as simple as they are, the last 40 years, they have helped me so much. I recommend them to you. Lord, I ask in the name of Jesus that you would help people cultivating, grow in their prayer life in these simple ways. Lord, by the Spirit of grace touch them, surprise them with your glory, the way that you touched their heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.