When I was in Bible college, my pastor hired me to clean the church. He paid me $50 a week to vacuum the entire building, which felt like a lot of money at the time. I remember those afternoons fondly because when I reached the fellowship hall, I could almost always hear Pastor Beasley praying as he sat on the floor beside the piano in the children’s worship room. Sometimes, I would finish vacuuming the church, put everything away, and still hear him praying.
As a young Bible college student, I couldn’t understand how someone could pray for that long. What could you possibly have to talk about for six hours? But now I know that prayer is not just about talking; it’s about being together, and that room was somewhere Pastor Beasley went to meet with God.
Over the last 10 days, we’ve walked through the Lord’s Prayer one phrase at a time. We’ve learned to approach God as our Father. We’ve praised His name. We’ve prayed for His kingdom and surrendered to His will. We’ve prayed for other people. We’ve asked Him to keep us present today, provide our daily bread, lead us away from temptation, protect us from evil, and help us live for His kingdom, power, and glory. My hope is that I’ve given you some words to pray, but before you close this book, I want to encourage you to do one more thing: Have a place. Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
Jesus wasn’t saying that God only hears prayers prayed behind closed doors—you can pray anywhere, anytime, about anything—but there is something powerful about having a place. Jesus had places He regularly went to pray. Luke tells us, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives.” I love those two words: “as usual.” Apparently, Jesus had been there enough that the disciples knew it was His place. Daniel had a place, too. Three times a day, he went upstairs, opened the windows toward Jerusalem, got on his knees, and prayed. Moses would go to the tent of meeting, where “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Susanna Wesley had her apron, Pastor Beasley had the children’s worship room, and you need a place, too. Maybe it’s a chair beside a window, or your kitchen table before anyone else wakes up. Maybe it’s a porch swing or your car before you walk into work. It doesn’t need to be impressive—it just needs to be yours.
Some mornings prayer will feel easy, and other mornings it won’t. Some mornings you’ll feel close to God, and some mornings you’ll feel nothing. Show up to your place anyway. That’s one of the most important things I’ve learned about building a prayer life: You build one by continuing to show up. There is something about returning to the same place day after day that creates a rhythm in your soul. Of course, God is everywhere, but there’s something special about that place, because it will collect memories over time. It’s where you cried when your heart was broken. It’s where you begged God for something you desperately needed. It’s where you prayed for your children, wrestled with big decisions, confessed sin, and sat in silence when you didn’t know what to say.
At the beginning of this book, I told you about being a young student pastor assigned to a prayer meeting. If I could go back 30 years and talk to those teenagers, I would tell them that prayer is not a punishment. Your Father wants to spend time with you. You don’t have to impress Him, or use the right words. You just have to show up.
Maybe you started this book because prayer has always been difficult for you. But look at what you’ve done—you’ve prayed for 10 days. Don’t stop now. Tomorrow morning, go back to your place, and then do it the next day and the next day. God will meet you there.
