Find (or write) a prayer to memorize
It's surprising how nice and convenient they are...
I don’t think I had ever read/prayed a pre-written prayer (except for The Lord’s Prayer) in my entire life until my junior year of college.
Maybe I had, but I don’t recall any.
And then, in college, I picked up Common Prayer (an Americanized, modernized take on the Book of Common Prayer).
It’s a shortened version of the Book of Common Prayer and has plenty of pre-written prayers that you can, with some effort and repetition, memorize for your own prayer times.
And, while Common Prayer didn’t really “do it” for me (I eventually stopped utilizing it at all), it did introduce me to “rote prayers” that I could lean on with those times when I didn’t really know what to pray, how to pray, or just feel like praying.
So, if you want to start making prayer a daily habit as you focus on your spiritual prayer renewal, then I recommend finding some of these rote prayers to pull from as you start your journey.
And, not to hijack your spiritual journey, but I want to give you a few quick ones to start using as you get started.
Each of these can be general prayers or can be meditative prayers for you to think and reflect on as you pray them (which means they may not feel “prayer-y” but will lead you into prayer as you reflect and think and talk with God some more).
“Be still and know that I am God.”
“Spirit, may my words be your words, may my actions be your actions.”
“Our Father, bless me, keep me, and give me grace when I can’t give myself grace.”
“Jesus, help me be your hands, your feet, your heart, your mission.”
“Give me eyes to see and ears to hear.”
Feel free to go and write down some of your own! I’ve written on that topic before here, too, so feel free to dig into how to write your own prayers out for the point of memorization.
Having some of these prayers in your back pocket that you have memorized can help you engage in prayer far more intentionally and simply.
My prayer for today
Our Father, help remind me to pray often but without adding extra pressure and stress on myself. Jesus, help me recall prayers when my heart isn’t feeling it. Spirit, give me words to speak when none are coming on their own. Amen.
Spiritual practice
The easiest option, of course, is to memorize The Lord’s Prayer! So, I highly recommend taking a crack at memorizing it…but also, feel free to memorize and use some of the ones here in this post.