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Dr. Boteler has a private dental practice in Jackson, Mississippi. He serves as prayer committee chairman in his church and also volunteers his services at Mission First, a facility that offers free dental care. Some years ago, Dr. Boteler faced a crisis in his profession. He explains, “When I was in dental school, the professors kept telling us that dentists have the highest suicide rate of all occupations. I thought, As a Christian, I don’t have to worry about that. But after eight years of private practice, I was seriously looking for another way of making a living. I sought counsel from my pastor and another Christian. They helped me find God’s answer to my dissatisfaction–viewing my practice as a ministry. Then I could hardly wait to get to the clinic most mornings. I almost ran away from what God was preparing me for–a fruitful, exciting opportunity to influence others for His kingdom.” This began Dr. Boteler’s prayer journey. He felt convicted because prayer was the weakest area in his spiritual life. “I used to beat myself up over my lack of praying. Then one day it occurred to me that if I got up one morning and decided that I wanted to be a better Christian, that motivation would only last about two days. I realized that I should start asking God to give me the desire to pray. Not to ask just one time, but to keep on asking Him to give me that desire to pray.” God soon gave him a deep desire to pray–and a strategy to fulfill that desire. Soon after, his church asked him to serve as chair-man of the deacon prayer committee. One of his responsibilities was to organize a prayer retreat. As he prepared, he discovered that most Christians don’t pray as they should because they don’t really believe that prayer makes much difference in God’s kingdom. However, when we realize that Jesus has given us authority and His Holy Spirit has given us power, our prayers do make a tremendous difference and we are motivated to pray without ceasing. The truths he was learning about prayer helped him begin developing a four-point prayer strategy: •
Use a model prayer. Dr. Boteler puts his prayer into action. He explains, “If we pray, ‘Forgive us our debts as we for-give our debtors,’ we must live by this model. God has blessed me with a busy practice, but part of my spiritu-al maturing is learning how God wants me to handle my business finances. This means I occasionally write a letter of forgiveness to a patient who owes the clinic and doesn’t have the means to pay. In the letter, I explain that since God teaches forgiving others of debts, I am forgiving the debt owed.” •
Pray at a time convenient to you. After that hard day at the office, he got into his car to drive home. As usual, he reached over to crank the radio on. The Holy Spirit impressed on him once again, “Why don’t you pray like you did this morning?” So he said, “Okay, I’ll do that.” After several days, his habit of turning on the radio became a habit of prayer. God had shown him how to carve out fifty minutes a day to pray. This habit opened up more opportunities for praying. Dr. Boteler explains, “God uses locations to jog my memory. If I pass by a Christian friend’s office, I am reminded to pray for him. When I pass the office of a dentist who is a Hindu, I pray for his soul. You could call these ‘drive-by prayings.’ “My computer will print tomorrow’s schedule, so sometimes I look over that schedule and pray for those patients on the way to the office. On the way home, I pray for a hedge of protection around my family.” As he continued to pray, he developed a list of things to bring before God. He asks God to keep him from temptation. He also asks the Lord to fill him with the Holy Spirit and to increase his faith and give him wisdom and humility. He asks God to build a hedge of protection around his practice. And that God will help him and his staff make good decisions for the patients’ teeth so that the work will hold up a long time as a testimony for God. Dr. Boteler reserves Saturday morning as a per-sonal prayer time. He writes out his expanded model prayer and remembers the requests he cannot cover during his drive to and from work. He also prays as he exercises. When he walks around his neighborhood, he prays for each neighbor as he passes that house. •
Unleash great power by praying for others. He began praying for people he knows. Part of his strategy is telling these people that he’s praying for them. He explains, “I’ve found power in telling people the specific time I pray for them. I say, ‘I pray for you every Saturday morning.’ That’s more powerful than just saying, ‘I’m praying for you.’ Telling them a time seems to register more and helps keep me accountable in my praying.” •
Use prayer to further your witness at work. He believes that a desire to share the gospel with patients involves more than a verbal witness. A professional with a private practice can arrange the atmos-phere in the office. Dr. Boteler has Scripture written in beautiful calligraphy hung at appropriate places, including on the wall near the dental chair so patients can read them while they wait. He also has some gorgeous finches in the waiting room. The calligraphy next to them says, “God cares about the birds, but you’re far more important to Him than they are.” Although Dr. Boteler admits he still has a long way to go on his prayer journey, he has seen mighty things happen in his practice and at his church.
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For
health professionals, finding time for a vibrant prayer life is often
difficult. William L. Boteler, D.D.S., P.A., faced that challenge
and developed a prayer strategy to focus on God rather than the busyness
of life. 
Dr.
William L.Boteler, D.D.S., P.A.