Let's be honest, life as a college student isn't easy. I had my first exam this week, and I have never studied so hard in my entire life. As a freshman with my first month of college under my belt, I see that my biggest struggle has been having an effective prayer life. Back home, I prayed out loud with my bedroom door shut every day, but as all of us know, you cannot really do that in college or at least often as you would like.
With my prayer life being my biggest struggle as a Christian in college, I also believe it is an issue that is too often overlooked. I do not see many articles or sermons regarding the topic, and I feel it is time someone addresses the problem and looks for a simple solution. College, itself, is hard enough without adding in other factors, and when you do add in those other factors, you will drown in stress. I found myself in that position this first month of college.
The enemy does not want us to pray: it's that simple. He will plant ideas in your head that you are too busy to pray, and he will even give ideas of other tasks you could instead of praying. He is tricky, and he knows when we are not in constant communication with God, we will definitely not be in the mindset to speak the Gospel. That is what Satan ultimately doesn't want: the Gospel to be shared. He will attack your prayer life because none of us can effectively share Jesus without the Holy Spirit's guidance, and we cannot have His guidance without that strong prayer life.
Personally, I love talking to God. I'll talk to Him about anything even the most little things in life that seem insignificant. I go to Him like a best friend because well, He is my best friend. As you can imagine, the decline in my prayer life over the past month has been overwhelmingly hard on me. No doubt, when you go from talking to God all of the time to about two to three times a day, you will not feel as close with the Lord as you should. I will be the first to say it is not a great position to be in.
If you are in a bit of a prayer rut or are wondering how to strengthen your prayer life, there are a few methods that have helped me. Maybe it is cheesy to say, but just simply making prayer a priority helps. Do not let the enemy talk you out of it, just pray. If you are an "out loud" prayer type of person like me, try to find times that you know no one will be in your dorm then pray during those times. Pray on the way to class, and this can be about anything. Just tell God how you're feeling or how beautiful the day is or how frustrated you are because I promise He cares what you have to say.
Prayer is one of the main components in a strong walk with Christ, and especially with everything college students have to deal with, we have to ensure our prayer lives are alive and well.
