One of the ways we’ve found of providing guided payer experiences is through prayer chapel nights. We’ll set up 5-8 stations that invite people into different prayer moments in a space like our church’s sanctuary. Then we announce a time block when the space will be open, and invite people to come and go as they wish.

Our practice of prayer is an exercise in presence; being present ourselves, that we can become more aware of God’s abiding presence.

A life of prayer is rarely a straight line, a smooth upward progression. Our souls stretch out like our young bodies, in spurts and starts. There will be fruitful seasons of prayer, and times when we find it hard to pray at all.

Empathy makes a good companion to prayer, both helping us pray for others and deepening our sense of our own souls. Consider taking on an experiment of intentionally praying with empathy. Gather your attention and imagination and do your best to fully embody the perspective of another person.

While there is something within us that yearns for connection with God in prayer, there is another side that resists. While we develop the part of our heart that desires God, it may be worth naming the resistance.

Being able to sit still, in silence is a capacity that grows with practice. Like a muscle that must be trained with use, we become better able at quieting our hearts and minds as we do it over and over again.

Gratitude is at the heart of healthy spirituality.

Gratitude is a sense that we have received good gifts. That sense—or its absence—drives our lives, deeply shaping how our hearts and wills respond to whatever we meet in life.

Here are eight exercises for group prayer experiences using Prayer Sparks.

I want to share with you a glimpse into what's next for Prayer Sparks. After the kickstarter stage, our plan has always been to try and make the move to a diversified lineup of tools. The most obvious direction is decks with various themes, and focusing on particular paths of spiritual formation. (Virtues and the Fruits of the Spirit, Tools for Discernment, A companion for reading scripture, Family conversation tools, etc.)