30-minute Heart Centered Prayer Practices
1-2 minutes: Breath Prayer
Relax and take a deep breath. Take several minutes to quiet your mind with a breath prayer like, “I am here, You are with me.” Or “I am a human being, not a human doing.” Or “Be still, and know I am God.” Or create your own. Whisper or think the first half of the phrase on your inhale, the second half on the exhale.
2-3 minutes: Thankfulness Practice
Allow 4 or 5 things you are most thankful for to come to mind.
Spend several moments allowing yourself to think about them and sit in your gratitude with God.
10-12 minutes: Lectio Divina
Online Lectio Apps: Pray as You Go, Hallo, Sacred Space, 3-minute Retreat.
10 minutes: Imaginative Prayer or Marinating (choose one); to keep yourself from being distracted by time, consider setting a timer.
Engage in Imaginative Prayer as a way of connecting more tangibly with the presence of God. Two good ways of doing this are The Practice of Being Known or The Long and Loving Gaze of God.
Marinating in the Presence: Take a deep breath and imagine yourself in the ocean or a lake, surrounded by warm, soothing water. Feel the water surrounding, upholding and gently cradling you. As you visualize the water, let your mind accept that the water represents the reality of God’s love, surrounding you, upholding, and gently cradling you, as it has since the day you were born and will continue to do for all eternity. Continue to imagine yourself floating in this love, letting your mind return to this image whenever your thoughts stray.
2-3 minutes: Notes/Journal
As you leave your time with God, write a few sentences about the experience. Describe what you felt, sensed, tasted, smelled, saw or words or verses that God has communicated to you. If you sensed a shift inside you, record that. It’s always nice to have a record of what God is doing, but even more so, the practice of writing your experience cements it in your consciousness.