My Personal Struggle with Discipline in Prayer
As long as I can remember, I have struggled with prayer as a spiritual discipline. I can’t blame a lack of example. My mom is a prayer warrior. My father was a godly man who raised my sisters and me in the fear and admonition of the Lord, faithfully and sincerely, the best way he knew how. I have read multiple books on prayer written by great men of the faith. Still, the struggle remains. It boils down to a personal weakness and sin.
Bible study came easily to me. Theology has always held my interest. Reading Scripture has never felt like a chore. Prayer, however, has always been different. It has never come naturally. I have always had to work for it.
When Grief Strikes, The Soul Cries Out
Following our recent miscarriage, my spiritual life felt hollow, stripped of its usual fervor and clarity. There have been few times in my life when I prayed as intensely or intentionally as I did during those weeks of waiting to hear from doctors about the viability of our baby. I laid face down on my bedroom floor, weeping, crying out to the Lord to save our child. When, in His sovereign will, He chose not to, I was left confused, wrestling with feelings of abandonment while also knowing those feelings did not align with God’s promises to His people.
It was during this season of heartbreak and healing that I received a gift from my friend Danika Cooley: her book 60 Scriptures You Can Pray: Going to God’s Word for Guidance, Deliverance, Thanksgiving, and More. As I integrated it into my daily Bible routine, it became a balm to my soul in a way I did not expect.
Each day includes a short Scripture passage, a devotional reflection, and a corresponding prayer. The highlighted passages are prayers prayed by Jesus Himself and by God’s people throughout Scripture. The devotionals draw out the principles and promises embedded in each passage and offer practical guidance for applying those truths to everyday life. At the end of each chapter, Danika provides a written prayer you can pray along with, or use as a framework for praying in your own words. For those who struggle to find the words to pray or feel unsure how to pray, these prayers model structure, reverence, and Scripture-saturated language in a way that teaches as it guides.
Praying God’s Word Back To Him
Years ago, I read Donald S. Whitney’s short but powerful book Praying the Bible, which I still highly recommend. Danika’s book carries those same principles forward. Many Christians struggle with prayer not because they don’t love God, but because they are trying to generate words from within themselves. They fall short either in vocabulary, focus, or endurance. We often forget that God has already given us both the words and the structure for prayer in His Word. We can pray the Psalms back to Him, slipping in personal petitions as the Spirit brings them to mind. We have no trouble conversing with our closest friends, so why should it feel foreign with our Heavenly Father?
Prayer is a spiritual discipline. Like all disciplines, it must be developed and practiced, especially if it does not come naturally. We hear from God through His Word, and we speak to God and are shaped by His Spirit through prayer. One cannot exist faithfully without the other. If prayer has been difficult for you, begin with a realistic goal, usually a small one, and build from there.
What 60 Scriptures You Can Pray Teaches Us About Prayer
Danika’s 60 Scriptures You Can Pray offers a practical and accessible starting point for cultivating a daily habit of both Bible reading and prayer because it intentionally weds the two together. We often hear that it takes thirty days to form a habit, but habits rooted only in discipline rarely last. If we do not understand why we need God’s Word and prayer, consistency will eventually fall away. This book does more than help you start a habit. It teaches you why prayer matters and how Scripture anchors it.
60 Scriptures You Can Pray covers eight biblical categories of prayer, along with the expectations we should have when we pray and the heart posture with which we should approach God:
- Praise | We adore God for who he is.
- Thanksgiving | We thank God for all he has done.
- Confession | We admit our sin to the God who saves us.
- Supplication | We humbly ask God to provide for our needs.
- Intercession | We ask God to meet the needs of others.
- Deliverance | We cry out to God for help in times of trouble.
- Lament | We bring our sorrow to God, our comforter.
- Guidance | We ask for God’s help in determining his will for our lives.
Prayer: An Anchor For The Soul
For those who struggle to pray, whether from distraction, discouragement, grief, or simply not knowing where to begin, 60 Scriptures You Can Pray offers a faithful and gentle guide. It reminds us that prayer is not something we conjure from our own emotional reserves, but something God Himself invites and supplies through His Word. By rooting prayer firmly in Scripture, this devotional helps reorient both the mind and the heart toward truth, even when emotions lag behind.
Prayer did not suddenly become effortless for me, but it became anchored. And in seasons when the soul feels thin and raw, that anchoring makes all the difference. Having God’s Word open before me gave shape to my prayers when my own words failed and steadied my heart when grief threatened to overwhelm it. This book has been a means of grace, a reminder of God’s goodness, helping me return day after day to the God who hears, who remains faithful, and who invites His people to come boldly before Him, even when they come broken.
