How do I prayer journal effectively?
I am sure like me you struggle with prayer. I always start with good intentions and then I fall away very quickly. I have heard all the wonderful methods but my practice leaves a lot to be desired!
I came across this wonderful posting today on Instagram so copied it down. Now I know I shouldn't start with praying for myself but this list includes biblical prompts and that is really the point I want to make. When you read God's word you should be promoted to pray in response. So prayer and bible reading go together.
The second thing I have learnt today about prayer is start where you are. Today was Sunday and I thought of all the things I do on Sunday and started to build a list from those activities.
My husband and I love to listen to Premier Christian Radio on Sunday mornings as Pam Rhodes presents 2 hours of gospel music first thing in the morning. So this is a good first point on my list for Sunday.
We also like to listen to Radio Ulster and the Sunday Morning Service so there is another aspect for prayer.
For both we could pray for the presenters and directors putting together the programmes each week. For the listeners and those who maybe tune in for a first time - that God's Holy Spirit will use something like the radio broadcast to speak and challenge them. We should praise God that we can listen to such material and how it reaches so many people - many countries in the world do not have such a witness so it is good to thank God for such a service. Also we can ask God to keep us listening in - sometimes it would be easy and lazy not to put this habit in place each week so praying that God will give us the desire and commitment is equally important.
Next the local church. Again thank God for the desire and commitment to attend. Pray for God to protect us from feelings of not wanting to go into his house each week - our example here is David in the Psalms who so often longed to be able to join with God's people in God's house and yet he couldn't. How much we take the habit of attending church for granted. Thank God also for the speaker each week - we don't have a Pastor at present so having a different speaker weekly brings its own challenges. I thank God for the Board in my church who plan and prepare for our weekly meetings. It is not a task I envy so am very grateful that there are people who take time each week to plan ahead. We have a small group of prayer warriors who gather before our meetings to commit the meeting into God's hands and ask for his blessing - so taking time to pray for each of them individually is important and blesses my heart too! Then there are the various people who make the service possible - the person who greets people as they come in, the organist, the sound recordist and those who teach children in our Sunday School. Even though Sunday School is not on during the summer, it is important to remember the children and pray for God's hand to be upon them keeping them safe to come back in September. Using the weekly announcements I can pray for the various activities and meetings of the church too - that each will glorify Christ and be a witness to all who attend. My church is small in number and therefore easier for me to pray for everyone who attends each week as well as for those who unfortunately because of age or illness cannot be out at church. An important aspect to remember in prayer is the recording of the service onto You Tube. This is a neglected part of our prayers I feel at times. There are many who will tune in purposely and some accidentally - am I praying that even through those recordings God will speak?
As you can see I have started my prayer journal with where I am at today. Tomorrow I am going to tackle the many missionary prayer bulletins and newsletters I receive and try to work out an effective way of lifting them to God in prayer.
