This isn't anything special, but it's what I do and perhaps someone else can get some ideas from it.

You go before I know
That you've even gone to win my war
You come back with the head of my enemy
You come back and you call it my victory

— Defender, Francesca Battistelli

Why do I pray?

Sometimes, when I don't feel a desire to pray, it's because I want my life to be focused on, centered around, and pervaded by the metaphysical, and prayer is the only way I know how to do that. But the crazy thing is that the more I am with God, the more I want to be with God. The more I find God, the more I find fulfillment and meaning in seeking him. If I let it, this becomes an amazing, self-sustaining cycle.

Each day I pray in 3 20-minute parts:

1. Praise
2. Selfless intercession
3. Listening

Praise

The Lord's prayer starts with praise. Why? Praise has an effect on (1) God, and (2) us.

On God: Praise is the reason we were created. End of story. Job recognizes this in one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible in Job 1, after God releases Satan upon him and he loses everything:

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

To Job, at the beginning and at the end, with everything or with nothing, God was the same. Worthy of praise.

On us: Praise builds our faith. Romans 4:

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.

Praise prepares our hearts for intercession. It draws God near and wraps us in his presence.

Selfless intercession

One of the beautiful things about selfless intercession is your heart grows. It is impossible to speak to your coworkers the same when you pray for them 20 minutes every day. It's impossible to just go to church and leave when you pray for revival 2+ hours a week. It's impossible to have that awkward conversation about the weather when there's not really much to talk about, when you've been talking to God about their soul for the last month. This is what sets you on fire. You want purpose? Pray.

Intercession releases God's power on the earth. Contrary to popular belief, God has severely restricted what he can do without prayer. He wants us to be a part of his plan, and it's an amazing privilege that in the same way God's words created the universe, our words can join into the heavenly kingdom God is creating.

Listening

Silence. God speaks in many different ways, but for me often it's a feeling. It's compassion for who he has compassion for. It's sitting in the silence where faith grows and blossoms. It's love; heartbreak; yearning; joy. As much as my logical brain doesn't like it, God moves me most effectively via emotions, not words. I don't always have the plan in writing, but I feel it. I feel what's meaningful; what's important. What I should focus on.

Listening is practice. God's voice; his presence; his heart becomes easier to identify over time. It's rarely 100% certainty, and usually closer to 70%-90% for me. But it's the 70% that makes us yearn for more of God; to press into him more deeply; it requires more faith. Robert Harris in Conclave puts it beautifully:

Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty, and if there was no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.

Many days I don't hear anything specific. But I always know he's there; I feel his breath in the air and his peace. I feel his silence, strangely it's one of the most common ways I hear God. I ask him something, and instead of options, swirling, confusion, uncertainty, I feel silence from God. Simple expectation and anticipation of what I'm going to choose.

Bonus: Petition (for selfish prayers)

I try to do these rarely. God knows what I want better than I do, and I find that too much petition makes me worry and overthink; I end up focusing too much on myself and my life instead of God.

But I know God wants to know my heart, and he wants me to have dreams. So I send my big dreams wrapped in small prayers.

I also try to see petitions from God's point of view, not my own.

I choose an evening to ask a day or two in the future. I anticipate. The day of, at work, I'm thinking about the evening. Getting ready; getting close to God. Knowing his heart; hearing what he wants me to ask. Sometimes he conveys something, but most of the time he doesn't.

After work I head home, cook some food, just the normal things. I spend my usual time praising and selflessly interceding. Then, I spend a few minutes laying out my case to God. I tell him about the person I want to become, and how my petition fits in with that. I tell him my life; my friend's lives; my city's life; how I see it and how I'd like to see it. I tell him how my petition would bring his kingdom to earth; how it would be beautiful, lovely, and result in souls being saved or love being sown. And I say "God, I am a sinner and you know far better than me. I want your will, not my own. Nevertheless, you command me to bring my petition before you, and here it is. God, I would like you to accomplish X."

And then it's done. I tell God I won't ask him again, but will remember the day I did ask him, and know that he remembers it too. I don't need to remind him. I spend the last 20 minutes listening; for anything that God says, but usually he will say something about my petition and let me know how he feels about it. His voice inspires so much faith!

I know there's biblical verses for presenting requests again and again to God, but I value my relationship with God over getting things from God. And I find it's difficult to have an intimate, peaceful, contented relationship when I keep bringing up the same thing every time we talk.