For example, decide right now whether you will pray 10-15 minutes a day this summer (a) upon rising or at breakfast, (b) time at your daily lunch break, (c) at dinner time, perhaps with your family, or (d) some other set time. Put the daily time reminder in your cell phone and on your calendar.

Prayer is the most natural thing for a Christian and, yet, the most difficult. It is natural because God is our Father and we are His children. It is the most difficult because we are so naturally and stubbornly self-sufficient. All Christians pray, but it is difficult to truly become a man or woman of prayer. Like the apostles at Gethsemane, it’s hard to stay awake in prayer, especially as a way of life! The reason for this is that prayer, as Paul Miller says, is “learned helplessness.” So pick a prayer partner (or perhaps two prayer partners) so you can encourage one another daily and begin this prayer journey by humbly and sincerely praying, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Let us learn anew our spiritual helplessness.

Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good. Our prayers are happily received by God, not due to anything in us per se, but because we are praying as God’s children to our Father, who loves us deeply. And our prayers are powerful because we are spiritually united to the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who sits in Heaven constantly interceding for us and who sends His Spirit to help us in our weakness, including our weakness in prayer. Never forget, dear Christian, that we pray in Jesus’ name, not in our own name, and that means our prayers, for all their imperfections are, like incense, a sweet aroma to our heavenly Father. Our weak prayers are perfected through Christ by the Spirit unto our Father. So don’t just pray, but remember the gospel as you pray: you are praying in Christ’s name, that righteous man who makes our prayers effectual. And remember, this prayer guide is to be a help, not a ball and chain.

Jesus said, not “if” but, “When you fast…” (Mt. 6:16). Remember, fasting is simply an aid to prayer, but an important and neglected aid in our modern Western world. If medically safe, you can fast one (or more) meal(s) per day and use it for a focused time of prayer. The early church fasted twice a week as a practice (Tuesdays and Fridays). If you can’t fast food, you can fast technology or, like Daniel, fast meats and wine (or certain drinks you typically like; e.g. sodas, coffee, etc.). Many fast by drinking only water, some drink only fruit juices, broths, or perhaps a simple protein drink instead of food. Fasting helps us feel our weakness and total dependency upon God. It frees that time up to spiritually feed on the presence of God through His Word and Spirit. It also provides an opportunity to use that money we otherwise would have used on food or drink to help feed the poor or increase one’s giving to their local church or kingdom cause in the community. It is an aid to dying to self and helps us learn to say “no” to our self-centered and unspiritual desires. The Christian life not only says “yes” to Jesus but “no” to worldliness—that is, worldly, sinful desires.

John Piper says, “The birthplace of Christian fasting is homesickness for God” and, “The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not [merely] the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not [simply] the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.” — John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer