Do you want to incorporate more prayer into your life? Do you want to cover your loved ones or your workspace in prayer? If so, the practice of prayer walking may help.
Prayer is spending time with God. Randy Sprinkle writes in his book Follow Me, “Prayer, contrary to popular opinion, is not primarily asking God for things, but rather being with God….Prayer is not incessantly talking to God but unceasing walking with God.” Prayer walking is a tool to walk with God in prayer.
What is prayer walking?
Prayer walking is, simply, walking while praying. It is a practical way to pray and intercede for others. As we walk with our eyes open, the Holy Spirit may speak to our hearts through what we see with our physical eyes and give us a glimpse into His invisible, eternal world.
Do we see prayer walking in Scripture?
Although the Bible doesn’t use the specific term of prayer walking, we see examples of people praying while walking, including in the life of Jesus.
The primary mode of traveling in first-century Palestine was walking. During His ministry, Jesus planned to visit different towns and villages across Israel and share about God’s Kingdom. He sent out 72 of His disciples to go ahead of Him to all the towns and places He planned to visit to share God’s good news. While commissioning these disciples, Jesus instructed them to pray to the Lord in charge of the harvest to send more workers into the fields because the spiritual harvest was great. As they walked along, Jesus’ disciples would be praying for others to join their work. Jesus also instructed these disciples that after they arrived in a new town and someone offered them a place to stay, when the disciples entered the home, they were to speak God’s blessing of peace on the house. (See Luke 10:1-6)
How does prayer walking work?
Prayer walking doesn’t require any equipment and can often be blended into one’s existing routine.
- You can prayer walk by yourself or with a group.
- Choose an accessible and safe location. Examples include your home, your child’s school, your neighborhood, or your workplace.
- Simply pray silently while walking through your chosen area. If you are with a group, pray quietly and conversationally.
- Pray with your eyes open and observe. Ask God to see your surroundings through His eyes and to pray His heart for people and places.
- You can pray scriptures or use liturgical prayers from your faith tradition. Have a list of scriptures marked in your phone, or print out a group of prayers to take with you.
- As you walk, focus on God’s presence. If the Holy Spirit brings something to mind to pray for a person or a specific area, follow His leading.
Praying while walking may seem awkward at first, but as you continue to walk and commune with God, this form of prayer will become natural. This practice is easy to add into your schedule while cleaning your house, picking up your children from school, or walking from the parking lot to your office.
Prayer walking opens our spiritual eyes.
Prayer walking is an adventure with God. If we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, God opens our hearts to see through His eyes. With our spiritual eyes, we begin to see the potential of what could be or could happen in the lives of people, homes, workplaces, and communities. Prayer walking is one technique to incorporate more prayer into our personal lives. But it also is a way to begin to fill our homes, workplaces, and communities with God’s presence.
Come back to the Courage For Life blog next week as we discuss nine places where you can prayer walk and what you should pray.
