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Prayer is a part of my daily routine. It’s like brushing my teeth, taking a shower, or putting on clothes - it’s something that’s just programmed into me and I wouldn’t feel right skipping it (just like I refuse to skip brushing my teeth, I also refuse to miss out on my prayer time).

I haven’t always been that way - I had to force myself to do it. My mind would be going crazy with all of the stuff I had to get done, so I’d put off prayer. But it was a goal of mine to have a set time of prayer during the day (not just before bedtime) that was worthwhile, not me saying a few words in my head and falling asleep. 😃 So those days (that are rare) in which I don’t “feel like it,” I push through and once I’ve started, I’m so glad I did! (I need to get this way with my exercise).

Now I make sure it’s something that happens when I first wake up and right before I go to bed. Those days in which I don’t follow the routine, well, they are often messed up. Now that I have a routine, I really look forward to my time with God.

Good luck! 🙂
 
I have two main motivations for prayer: 1) I never want to be blinded by sin again–I want to stay close to Jesus for the rest of my life. 2) Our Lady of Fatima said that many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray for them. I take that very seriously. I have lots of family I pray for, both on Earth and (likely) in Purgatory. I pray sometimes for people whom I don’t think anyone is praying for. I think about the Last Judgement when Jesus shows me how many souls were saved thanks in part to my prayers or how many souls were lost because I didn’t pray for others. I think it will either be an awesome day…or the worst day ever. At the very least I pray the 3 Hail Marys every morning and evening. I pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary everyday for myself and the two people I have bought green scapulars for. I pray the St. Michael prayer before bed, I pray to St. Monica everyday, and I ask to rest in the Heart of God every night as I sleep–that every heartbeat and breath of mine will be as acts of love that bring lost souls back to Him. If I have time I try to pray the Rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet. I try to talk to Jesus throughout the day–to thank Him or to ask Him to bless others or to ask Him for help.
 
crystal_waters said:
What are your tips and advice for motivating yourself to prayer when you dont want to

How do you make time for prayer?
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If you’re like most of us, you’re very busy! It’s hard to motivate ourselves to do any sort of discipline. Here’s a nice article on creating a weekly attack plan to for accomplishing your goals:

artofmanliness.com/2012/08/05/weekly-plan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheArtOfManliness+%28The+Art+of+Manliness%29/

I use my email program’s calendar to create my weekly attack plan. I block out commutes, sleep, work, gym, etc. And then throw in all the things I want to accomplish that week.You can assign yourself dedicated prayer time in the calendar and you will be sent reminder notices. Link it to your smart phone if you have one. At the beginning of the week, get out your list of priorities (Faith, Family, Occupation, Physical Health, Mental Health, Social Life, etc.). And build out your week in your electronic calendar with those in mind. What am I going to do for my Faith this week? Block out time for confession and adoration. Blam. It’s in the Calendar.

This system is nice, because it emotionally lets you off the hook when you aren’t doing something specifically designed to grow your faith. So when you are watching a movie with your pals, you don’t have to think, “I should be praying and reading about my faith,” because you know you have that calendared for a different time. Less anxiety, more energy, more motivation, more work toward your goals.

Other than that, I try to not waste my time in the car or during my morning and evening commutes. Great for prayer and reflection.
 
Jeremiah that is a brilliant idea. So many ways to make our technology helpful in our spiritual lives, I never thought of that one. I also recommend looking into PrayMoreNovenas.com. John-Paul sends an email to you each day of the novena, it has truly blessed my life to join in with this group.
 
crystal_waters said:
What are your tips and advice for motivating yourself to prayer when you dont want to

How do you make time for prayer?
Click to expand...
I always want to pray but sometimes I do not.

Just like during the week when I want to go to bed early but rarely do.

Best thing to do is to say a prayer when you get up and before you go to bed to get in a routine.

I also have my mobile phone alarm go off at 3pm for th hour of Mercy prayer.
 
Like any task one doesn’t want to do, the hardest part it taking the first step. Just take the first step. Rather than deciding whether or not to pray the Rosary, decide to pray a decade. Once that decade it completed, well, why not do another one? Oh heck, you’ve already completed three decades and are over halfway done, why not just finish it off with another two? Oh look, you’ve just prayed the entire Rosary. 👍
 
I sometimes go to bed a little early. I am reading the New Testament presently. When I start to doze off, I cut the light and settle down. This is when I talk to God mentally. I tell God what is on my mind and recall what happened during the day. I try to identify some way to improve. That is about it. I pray more when there is time - normally. This includes the rosary in the car. I listen to Catholic Answers Live MP3 audio files in the car too. Daily mass, adoration, morning prayer, the angelus at noon, and a priests chaplet. I will work in a divine mercy chaplet soon - one step at a time. Daily mass and confession on the 1st and 3rd Saturday are very important to me along with the rosary.
 
Saber_Mom said:
Prayer is a part of my daily routine. It’s like brushing my teeth, taking a shower, or putting on clothes - it’s something that’s just programmed into me and I wouldn’t feel right skipping it (just like I refuse to skip brushing my teeth, I also refuse to miss out on my prayer time).

I haven’t always been that way - I had to force myself to do it. My mind would be going crazy with all of the stuff I had to get done, so I’d put off prayer. But it was a goal of mine to have a set time of prayer during the day (not just before bedtime) that was worthwhile, not me saying a few words in my head and falling asleep. 😃 So those days (that are rare) in which I don’t “feel like it,” I push through and once I’ve started, I’m so glad I did! (I need to get this way with my exercise).

Now I make sure it’s something that happens when I first wake up and right before I go to bed. Those days in which I don’t follow the routine, well, they are often messed up. Now that I have a routine, I really look forward to my time with God.

Good luck! 🙂
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This. 👍

Prayer must become part of your life.

Jim
 
+JMJ+

Like Saber Mom said, prayer must become your habit, and in the beginning it IS hard. To get there, I had to use and develop one thing first: the Holy Spirit’s Gift of the Fear of the Lord.

This holy fear helped me to make my new habit of waking up one and a half hours before going to work so that I can prepare myself and pray the five decades of the Rosary everyday. And considering I have to be at work every-other-day by 3:45am on most days and 3am on some days, it IS hard, even until now…but I have been doing it for a week now, with no intentions whatsoever of quitting. I fear losing God too much to do that.
 
nuntym said:
+JMJ+

Like Saber Mom said, prayer must become your habit, and in the beginning it IS hard. To get there, I had to use and develop one thing first: the Holy Spirit’s Gift of the Fear of the Lord.

This holy fear helped me to make my new habit of waking up one and a half hours before going to work so that I can prepare myself and pray the five decades of the Rosary everyday. And considering I have to be at work every-other-day by 3:45am on most days and 3am on some days, it IS hard, even until now…but I have been doing it for a week now, with no intentions whatsoever of quitting. I fear losing God too much to do that.
Click to expand...
Thats great, do you pray it by yourself or do you pray along with a rosary cd?
 
+JMJ+
crystal_waters said:
Thats great, do you pray it by yourself or do you pray along with a rosary cd?
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Just by myself. I have already memorized the Rosary’s mysteries since I was a kid (the Family Rosary Crusade Virgin Pilgrim Statue going to our house and going to a Catholic school where all students prayed the Rosary at the front field of the school during October drilled that into me :)).

This might help you: Little Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary Throughout the Day .

👍
 
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