5) Mingle general prayers with specific prayers. A lot of people are skittish about general prayers. I love general prayers. Like: Hallowed be thy name all over the world. That is a big, general prayer. Specific prayers are also important. So a specific prayer might be: Grant that Bill would find a job this week. He has been out of work, Lord. Help him find a job. That is specific. You can just—bang—you can see the answer to that immediately. A general prayer would be: Lord, cause Bill to love you more and to treasure you above all. That is a lot harder to detect, right? But so crucial that you pray for.
6) Be quiet over the people and see if God brings things to mind that people might need today and then pray those things if God brings anything specific to mind.
7) And lastly, I would say: Look for answers. Take note of them. Keep some kind of record, maybe in your journal or in another folder: answers. And what keeps it all fresh and authentic is the way it all flows from the Word and goes back to the Word, the Scriptures. And I can’t stress enough that we don’t want to become rote, we don’t want to become mechanical and repetitive. And the best way to do that is to let the Word be fresh daily and let the Word make your prayers for people fresh daily.
