pray without ceasing

I have been having trouble with prayer. Not that I don't pray, but I feel like I don't pray enough, and that I don't pray in an appropriate manner. Does anyone else have this issue? This past Sunday, the pastor at my church was giving a sermon on discipleship. He said the most important thing about prayer is to remember to actually do it. It really hit me, convicted me to try and pray more and in a more Godly way.

I have always prayed before going to bed, rather, pray while in bed almost half asleep. So I tend to fall asleep talking to God. That is a wonderful thing, yes, but at the same time, I never have complete thoughts. I tend to ramble instead of praising God like I should. I forget about confessing my sins from the day, and end up just going off on tangents and not really having a focus. Not that that type of prayer is bad, I just believe I could do so much better.

I am doing really good with getting up super early and reading my Bible, but then I have to go to work. Instead of praying on my way to work my mind wanders to what I need to do for the day. I feel like there isn't enough time in the day almost. But there is. Yes, I am working for the majority of my waking hours, but when I come home at night there is definitely time to pray.

I think the reason I have such ease getting up and reading the Bible is because it is routine now. Yes, getting up early kind of sucks, and the past couple weeks since I have been back from vacation...well definitely more difficult to get up so early since I was able to sleep in until 7 or 8 (yes, that is sleeping in for me :-P). But it is structure, and anyone who knows me knows that I love structure and schedules.

So, I figure that if I can set aside one hour in the evening to pray. Not just sit on the couch with Matt and trying to pray, but being interrupted or wandering off to take care of the dishes or something, just actual meditation. To facilitate myself, I am going to keep a journal. I already have a journal, in fact I have many. It seems like I categorize my journals and each one holds a specific purpose...odd yes I know. But, I think that if I actually write down my prayers, this will actually help me to pray in a better way. Covering all my bases, and not having my mind wander aimlessly.

Am I being too hard on myself? Maybe, but I kind of think that God has convicted me recently about the way I study His word and pray. I am just longing for more information, for a better understanding. And prayer is going to help me with that.