Dear Friends, 

The late September summer has now broken and autumn has now fallen. The air is crisp, the leaves are starting to fall, and most importantly, the Starbucks on the A1 up the road from our house is now doing Pumpkin Spiced Lattes! New seasons often invite us to stop and reflect on our lives. It’s an opportunity to take stock and consider if there are any ways in which you want to change or new things you want to try. The autumn also marks the start of the new academic year, so it can feel like a New Year’s Resolution come early (or late depending on how you look at it). 

When it comes to resolutions and new starts, I often start by thinking about how I want to grow and develop my prayer life. New seasons give me the chance to look back and think, what are the ways I was happy with how I was praying and spending time connecting with God, and in what ways did I feel unsatisfied with my prayer life? In our Langham Bible study group this term, we have been following the Prayer Course. The course has been inviting us to reimagine how we think about prayer, and in the process build a deep and broader prayer life to nourish and sustain us in our relationship with God. A simple piece of advice we looked at in session one greatly inspired many of us when thinking about prayer. It said the best thing to do with prayer is to ‘keep it simple, keep it real and keep it up.’ This was a really helpful piece of advice for me to hear. So often we can over-complicate prayer, but at the heart of prayer is about finding honest and regular ways of connecting with God. Think of how you speak regularly to a spouse or a friend in order to keep the relationship up. You don’t need to talk in some special or fancy way to benefit the relationship, you just need to do it regularly and speak truthfully from your heart. It doesn’t have to be about big stuff, but it has to be real. 

In this new season of autumn, if you are looking at growing your prayer life, then try following these steps. Keep it simple, keep it real and keep it up. Prayer doesn’t have to look like quiet kneeling in a church pew. Prayer can take so many different forms. What matters is that is something that is helping you to connect with God. Just keep it simple, keep it real and keep it up. 

Perhaps in this autumn season, you might like to try a few different ways of prayer. Here are 5 new ways you could try praying this autumn.

1. Prayer walking – Speak to God when you are outside like talking to a friend. Take in the beautiful creation he has made.

2. Journaling – The colder weather could be a time for snuggling in the warmth with your Pumpkin Spiced Latte. You could use journaling or writing as a way of getting down your thoughts, and questions about God. Maybe write a letter to God. God can see what you are writing, so it works just as well as talking.

3. Spiritual Reading – Use those cosy times to tuck in with your Bible or a spiritual classic alongside your Pumpkin spiced latte. You could read C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity or Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love. Let these words inspire and speak to you of God and the life of faith.

4. Silence and Solitude – In the rush of many new beginnings that come in September, you could take some time to sit and be still with God. You don’t need to say or do anything in this time; you need to simply sit and be with him.

5. Prayer Groups – New seasons and new challenges need not be done alone. I really benefit from having a weekly time of prayer with my prayer triplet as we talk about what is going on with each other and spending some time praying for one another. It is a really encouraging time in my prayer life, and I am glad to know that being a Christian isn’t something I do on my own. Maybe you could find a friend, or two or three and meet with them to talk about what God is doing in your life and spending sometime lifting up one another in prayer.

These are five ways you could try praying in a new way this Autumn. This list isn’t exhaustative but I hope that it sparks some ideas for how to grow your prayer life.

Be blessed this Autumn! 🍁

Shakeel