Six Ways to Pray That Break the Monotony

11 min read

Six Ways to Pray That Break the Monotony

When you were a student, or when you first got saved, you probably had two or three prayer topics. Your scholarship. Exams. A little strength to get through the week. And you repeated that, morning after morning, like a broken record. Pastor René OUANDJI admits he's been there too: "God must have been bored with me."

Prayer isn't a religious activity like tithing or worship. It's a command from Jesus. It's a necessity. And if your prayer life is limited to survival requests, you'll never grow in the things of God. The Lord wants to break the monotony.

Ephesians 6:18 says: "With all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints." All kinds. Not just one. That's what this message is going to unpack with you: six ways to pray that you can put into practice this week so your communion with God comes back to life.

1. Humbling yourself: coming back before God with a broken heart

Humbling yourself before God isn't just the repentance of the day you got saved. It's coming back to it every time the Holy Spirit puts his finger on something. You can puff out your chest in front of people and say "it's not my fault", but before God, you can't hide anything.

David did this in Psalm 51. After his sin, he doesn't make excuses: "Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions" (Psalm 51:1-4 WEB). And God lifted him back up.

Psalm 51:17 says it: "A broken and contrite heart, God, you will not despise." When you humble yourself, you lower yourself before God, but you lift him up. It's your repentant heart that opens the door to his presence. Take time this week to bow down and tell him: "Lord, forgive me, even for the sins I don't remember."

You can carry this prayer of humbling for your country too. Esther did it for her people, threatened with extermination, and the extermination was averted. 2 Chronicles 7:14 WEB still holds true: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

2. Intercession: stepping in on behalf of others

Interceding means standing before God on someone else's behalf. Your brother sitting next to you in church needs you. Your sister you barely know needs you. Step outside your survival prayers, step outside your own kids' needs, and intercede for the people around you.

Jesus Christ is our model. Romans 8:34 WEB says he is "at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." And James calls us to the same work: "Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another" (James 5:16 WEB).

Why intercede? Because the devil is "the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night" (Revelation 12:10 WEB). When you pray for a persecuted brother or sister, you spiritually tear down the devil's accusations. That's not nothing. It's a real battle being fought in your prayer closet.

3. Listening and silence: letting God have the final word

Silence is a form of prayer. It may be the hardest one, because we always want to fill the gap and keep talking. But prayer isn't one-way. God wants to speak to you too. And for him to speak, you have to be quiet.

David put it this way: "Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him" (Psalm 37:7 WEB). Pastor René OUANDJI shares his own experience: sometimes he stands before God with his mind blank, not knowing where to start. He goes silent. And God comes and fills that silence, giving him prayer topics he hadn't planned on.

God can speak to you at three moments:

  • At the start of your prayer, when you don't know what to say, by showing you the needs of a brother looking for work, or a sister fighting for her child's life.
  • During your prayer, through revelation or prophecy, because "the secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us."
  • At the end of your prayer: never close with a rushed "in Jesus' name, amen" before jumping up and leaving. Let God have the final word. "Father, what are you telling me? What are you showing me?"

4. Spiritual warfare: submitting to someone stronger than you

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us of a reality: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 WEB).

Facing this battle, there are three kinds of Christians:

  1. Those who don't fight at all. The naive ones, who think the devil doesn't exist, who form toxic relationships without discernment.
  2. Those who fight all the time. Those who see the devil everywhere: in the guitar, in the chairs, in the subway driver. That's not the posture to take. The Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit; he can't be inhabited by an evil spirit.
  3. Those who fight the real battle. Those who have the discernment of spirits (1 Corinthians 12 WEB) and know when a situation comes from the flesh or from a spiritual influence.

If you've decided to live 100% for God, get ready: you'll be attacked. That's actually proof that your life matters to God. Don't be afraid. Don't stay alone. Come to the church, to the pastors: we'll pray together, we'll agree together to break those influences.

But remember this weapon, the most powerful one God gives you. It's not your voice rising, it's not your hardest fast: it's your submission to God. James writes it: "Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 WEB). When the devil passes by a house where sanctification, humility, and obedience shine: he breaks. He flees.

5. Praying in tongues: building yourself up and praising God

Jesus had promised it: "those who believe... will speak with new languages" (Mark 16:17 WEB). There are two kinds of tongues: known languages, like at Pentecost, when the apostles were understood by Greeks and other nations; and unknown languages, of which Paul says: "he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands; but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries" (1 Corinthians 14:2 WEB). He even speaks of the tongues of angels (1 Corinthians 13:1 WEB).

Praying in tongues builds you up. It restores your strength when you're weak from work, from attacks, from exhaustion. You don't even have the words left in English? Pray in tongues. You'll come out stronger. And you can also praise God in tongues: "you truly give thanks well" (1 Corinthians 14:17 WEB). The Lord can create a new, unknown praise in you, in his honor.

If you've never been baptized in the Holy Spirit, it's never too late. Go get your share. Don't stay shy at the back of the room when an altar call is given. This isn't religion: it's a promise from God.

6. Praying together: agreeing as a community

"Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:19 WEB).

Don't stay alone in your prayer. As much as you can, be present at your church's collective prayer times: Tuesdays, Sundays, prayer and fasting gatherings. It's when the church agrees together that the Lord opens doors. Don't treat corporate prayer as a boring religious activity. Love those times, and you'll see how you grow.

Key Takeaways

  • Prayer isn't a religious activity: it's a command from Jesus and a necessity for staying connected to the vine (John 15:5).
  • Monotony kills your prayer life. Step outside survival requests and experience the other ways the Holy Spirit wants to teach you.
  • The six ways to practice: humbling yourself, intercession, silent listening, spiritual warfare, praying in tongues, praying together.
  • The most powerful weapon against the devil isn't your voice rising: it's your submission to God (James 4:7).
  • God wants to speak to you as much as you want to speak to him. Go silent, let him have the final word.

Personal Application

  1. How much time have you spent before God this week in prayer, outside of Sunday?
  2. Of the six ways to pray covered here (humbling yourself, intercession, silence, spiritual warfare, tongues, community), which ones have you never really practiced?
  3. Is there a sin or a situation you're carrying alone, when God is waiting for a broken and contrite heart from you?
  4. Which brother or sister around you have you recently carried before God in intercession?
  5. Are you ready to block out a fixed time this week (day, hour, place), phone off, door closed, for your appointment with God?

Verses Cited

Further reading

FAQ

Is prayer just another religious activity?

No. Pastor René OUANDJI insists: if you file it away next to tithing or a time of worship, you're missing the point. Prayer is a command from Jesus ("Watch and pray") and a vital necessity, like branches that must stay connected to the vine so they don't wither (John 15:5).

Why is my prayer life monotonous even though I pray every day?

Because you're probably limiting yourself to requests and asks. That's "survival prayer." Ephesians 6:18 calls us to "all prayer and requests": humbling yourself, intercession, silence, spiritual warfare, praying in tongues, praying together. Practicing these ways, one after another, with the Holy Spirit's help, breaks the routine and grows your communion with God.

How should I respond to spiritual attacks once I've decided to live for God?

Don't panic, and don't stay alone. According to James 4:7, the greatest weapon isn't a frontal fight but submission to God: "Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Cultivate a life of sanctification, obedience, and humility. And come pray with mature brothers and sisters from your church, agreeing together (Matthew 18:19).

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