This week, the blog is sponsored by the PrayMore app. Learn how PrayMore can revive prayer in your church or ministry.
In his devotional, Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught, Oswald Chambers tells us “to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts.” But if prayer is like breathing, why are we holding our breath and only occasionally gasping out to the Lord who loves us?
As my team and I designed the PrayMore app, we pondered the reasons we fail to pray, and carefully crafted features that would get Christians “breathing normally” again.
Prayer Journal: For most of us, our prayer life includes a dedicated time in the day to be alone with the Lord and pray. But it’s hard to keep your prayer list in one place that is easy to update and organize. The PrayMore app lets you group your requests in sections, update entries easily, and use the Immersive mode to see one request at a time with a peaceful background you choose. It can also remind you to come back and pray throughout the day.
Interrupt Your Day to Pray: Unlike breathing, we simply forget to pray. As demands flood into our lives, our best intentions to pray go out the back door. One busy day, over nine years ago, I thought about how powerful a prayer app with customizable reminders would be. I wrote, “Interrupt your day to pray,” on my whiteboard, and we made it a core feature in the PrayMore app.
Pray as a Community: It often feels too hard to pray–more like exercise than just breathing. As a “control enthusiast,” I carry burdens that are too heavy for me. The healthy, humble choice is to reach out to your church, your small group, or your leaders, and ask them to take your unsolved needs to God in prayer. So, our team put the sharing of prayer requests at the very heart of PrayMore. It’s easy to pick a private group you belong to and share your burdens with those you trust.
Unlike breathing, we simply forget to pray. As demands flood into our lives, our best intentions to pray go out the back door.
Personal Connections: Social media apps try to connect people, but we hear all the time that people feel lonelier than ever. So, PrayMore takes a different approach. When you share a prayer, choose to let people text, call, or email you about it. That way, you won’t focus on how many likes or comments you get compared to someone else. Instead, you’ll get personal encouragement and connection from the people who really care and are praying for you.
Pray More Biblically: Even Christians who love the Bible often pray based on the examples they’ve heard, or the natural desire of their hearts. So, we provide free Learning to Pray lists in PrayMore that teach us how to pray using scriptures. These vary from 15-day gospel-focused lists for those new to prayer and faith, to biblical prayers by topic, and how to pray using the ACTS acrostic (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). PrayMore also gives people the opportunity to include a verse with every request or praise they share.
As a volunteer pastor-elder and business owner, I have transitioned my full-time work, and six people on my team, to building and promoting the PrayMore app, to help people live into their calling as Christians. I know that, as John Onwuchekwa wrote, “the difficulty isn’t in starting to pray more. The difficulty is in sustaining this attitude.”
To experience PrayMore with a free 30-day trial, connect with us here. God is listening and ready, so let’s pray more!
