Vulture Prayers: 10 Questions To Improve Your Prayer Life

I have a dear friend who, like me, loves to run, although she is a much faster runner than I am. One of our favorite things to do is to run together and pray while we are running. Praising God just comes naturally when we are enjoying the beauty of His creation. 

One particular day on our prayer run, we spotted several huge vultures up in the trees above us. We began thanking God for his incredible forethought to create vultures to clean up the gross mess of decaying animals! I had definitely never thanked God for vultures before, but isn’t God amazing?

At that very moment, we were unaware that one of our running friends was on the same trail running behind us. She spotted us but didn’t know we were praying. She started yelling a greeting to us and excitedly pointing to the vultures. When she caught up to us (because she is a faster runner than BOTH of us…lol), she realized we were praying. She immediately started apologizing and telling us how bad she felt that she had interrupted our prayers.

I was bewildered for a moment when I realized how different my perspective was about that. You see, I expect my prayers to be interrupted. I want to have such frequent conversations with my Father that life just interrupts that communion sometimes. And that’s ok! Don’t our conversations with friends often get interrupted by other things? Why wouldn’t that happen with our conversations with God, too? 

I can’t imagine going through even one day without prayer. Sometimes I have times of more intense, focused, private prayer. But many times I am praying in the middle of my day, while others around me are totally unaware of the conversation in my heart. 

I have silently prayed for wisdom in finding the right words to say to a discouraged friend. I have been busy at work taking care of patients who had no idea I was praying for my daughter who was miles away, suffering her second miscarriage. Romans 6:26 was happening that day, “The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”

When my children were little, I tried to teach them this same idea of praying throughout the day. One day they were in the car with their aunt, and an ambulance passed them with lights and sirens blaring. My daughter, who was about five years old at the time, said, “We need to pray for that sick person,” and began praying. I smiled when my sister told me about it. That is what the Bible tells us to do. 

The Bible encourages this lifestyle of praying frequently: “Pray continually,” (I Thessalonians 5:17). “Seek His face always,” (I Chronicles 16:11). “Pray at all times in the Spirit,” (Ephesians 6:18). 

But the Bible also talks about praying in a more focused way, praying fervently. “I have cried out by day and in the night before you,” (Psalm 88:1). 

Scripture also reminds us that the conversation isn’t one-sided. When we are praying, we should be listening as much as we are talking. Psalm 119:145 says, “I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord.” Are we waiting for God to answer, or are we spouting off a grocery list of requests? Here are just a few of the many verses that talk about waiting for the Lord—Micah 7:7; Psalm 27:14; 33:20; 37:7; 40:1.

The Bible has so much to say about prayer, that I need to divide this into 2 separate posts! I will post part 2 in a few days.

In my next post, I will talk about 10 reasons we should pray, but today I would like to encourage you to think about these 10 questions to see how you might deepen your prayer life: 

1. Are you waiting for God to answer when you pray? Are you listening for His guidance and direction through time spent in His Word?
2. Are you praying in all kinds of circumstances? Are you making prayer part of your daily conversation with God? Can you say that you are abiding in Him by weaving prayer throughout your day?
3. Are you taking time for more focused, fervent, persistent prayer? Could you say that you are crying out to God about something the way the Psalmist did?
4. Are you prioritizing prayer? Do you put it off to the end of your day, or do you wake up anxious to talk to God? I love this quote by Anne Graham Lotz: “Why tune the violin when the symphony is over?” Making prayer a priority as we begin our day helps us to respond Biblically to the challenges we will face throughout our day.
5. Are you using prayer as a weapon for spiritual warfare?  
6. Are you persistent in prayer? Do you keep praying even when you don’t see the answer?
7. Are you obedient to pray? Do you tell someone you are praying for them but then forget to pray? (I usually try to pray right away when others ask me to because I have been guilty of forgetting!)
8. Do you see prayer as something you are “supposed to do” or something you “are privileged to do?”
9. When God answers your prayers, do you thank Him for His answers?
10. Have you ever tried keeping a prayer journal? Writing prayers has helped me to focus, and it is such a blessing to read those prayers years later!

In the next post, we will talk about 10 reasons we should pray. So in the meantime… keep praying! But I bet you’re not praying about vultures!