Journaling Your Prayers

 

“…in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4: 6b NIV84).

            There is one more step in our preparation for this journey.  Now, we need to determine what the focus of our prayers will be.  To aid you in this endeavor, you might want to begin a prayer journal.  There are a wide variety of prayer journals available and there are also apps for your phone or tablet. 

Some may include dated pages that allow you to focus your prayers on whatever is on your heart on a particular day.  Others may break it out into sections that allow you to list individual needs that are similar under one topic heading, such as family and personal life, friends, career or job, your church family, and world evangelism or the lost.   Others take the topic idea one step further and help you to focus on specific topics on particular days of the week.  For example, you might pray for your family on Monday, your job on Tuesday, your friends on Wednesday, etc.

Only you can determine what format or method works best for you, but as we said before, always be as specific as you can.  Don’t rely on generalities.  God wants to hear the details of your life.  Finally, don’t forget to record the answers to your prayers.  They can be a great source of remembrance of God’s goodness.

As you seek to determine your focus, awareness is crucial.  Who around you is struggling?  Who has expressed a need?  Who has seen God working in their life?  What are the issues that you, your friends, or your church family may be facing?  What are the passions that God has laid on your heart?  The answers to these questions are the beginning of your prayer focus, and they will most likely form the beginning of your prayer journal.  However, when someone brings a prayer need to you, don’t just hold it for your prayer journal.  Pray for them right then, and then add them to your prayer journal.

As you begin this journey, you may wish to start small, focusing on a few specific needs.  As you grow more comfortable in your prayer life, you can begin to build on that list and determine the best tool for praying for the specifics of your life.

Next time, we’ll review the need for commitment and provide some suggestions that might help to keep you on track.  We’re almost ready for the journey, so don’t turn back now.

I Timothy 2: 1

James 5: 16

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