This is yet one more idea from A Woman After God’s Own Heart, by Elizabeth George. I had actually been doing something similar before I read the book, but I took her ideas and made my prayer notebook even more efficient.
I use a spiral bound notebook that I purchased for ten cents at a back to school sale.
I think it is important to mention that I only pray for all these requests after I have praised God, spent a time of worship, thanked Him for blessings, and confessed my sins. Only then do I open my little book and start asking. Then, after I am done with requests, I find it a blessing to sit and just meditate on God for a while.
Inside Cover: Answered Prayers!
Anytime I feel discouraged, tired, or useless, I open my book and the first thing I see is the many answered prayers. I will soon have to add pages for this section!
Page One: Special requests
Here, I list special requests that I am praying daily for. Friends and family members with problems or issues are here, upcoming events, tests, etc. When someone calls and asks me to pray, it goes on this page.
Page Two: Daily
On this page are the people I pray for daily. My immediate family, parents, brothers and sisters, nephews, our country, myself, and a couple people I find hard to love are on this page. For these people, I have a few key words to help me remember all the areas I want to cover in prayer. Other family and girls from my Bible study group are also here and I pray generally for them all each day. I pray more specifically for them later, as you will see.
I also have a reminder at the bottom of the page that says:
What else does God put on my heart today?
This reminds me to be quiet and wait for prayer requests from the Holy Spirit.
Pages Three-Eight: Days of the Week
Each day of the week has its own page divided into four sections. These requests are prayed for once a week.
Family and friends: Here I list families in my extended family and churches in our area.
Girls from my group: Each day, I pray extensively for one or two girls in my Bible study group.
Ministry: Here, I list a character trait I’d like to develop that can improve my ministry for God. Some things include: a servant’s heart, mercy, encouragement, etc.
World: Each day of the week I pray for a country God has put on my heart.
Pages Nine and beyond: Verses and more
Sometimes I will record a verse or a Word from the Lord here. I don’t do it daily, since I write more in my Bible study books. However, sometimes something is so encouraging or applicable that I include it in my prayer book.
A disclaimer
This is a guideline, something to help me in my prayer life, not a rule book. Keeping track helps me to remember to focus on others and needs outside my own family, but I never rely solely on my book. I rely on the Holy Spirit, but I also believe God makes tools like this available to us for a reason. It has increased my prayer ministry and helps me to pray more intentionally for loved ones.
That’s a good enough reason for me!
This is too easy not to do it. Of course you just make it look easy . . . and if you have a tendency towards the lazy . . . like me–it is actually hard. BUT it is oh-so-worth-it, I do know, cause I used to do something like this on a much smaller scale and I loved loved loved seeing God’s hand at work.
I can’t tell you how many prayer notebooks I’ve had over the years. I’ve purchased expensive ones with pre-printed tabs and templates. I’ve made my own from large and small binders, or used a spiral bound notebook. One prayer journal, ordered from the website of a Christian author I admire greatly, was so complicated that I never had time to go through all 8 sections before leaving for work. (All right, I could have gotten up earlier, but surely God wanted me to get more sleep so I won’t be grouchy at the office!)
The main problem with my notebooks and journals was that I lacked the commitment to use them every day, to dig deeper into Bible study and prayer. It was rather like a New Year’s resolution. I’d start off religiously, no pun intended, but after a while I’d get lazy. I’d go back to my ten-minute devotional time, which was skimming the daily passage in “Upper Room” and muttering a quick prayer to “bless everyone.”
Then I was downsized from my job of 17 years. I felt so angry and betrayed that for a while I couldn’t read the Bible or pray much. When I did pray, I’d end up sobbing and asking God why He had allowed my job to be taken away. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, so I ignored concerned phone calls and emails.
One day it occurred to me that NOW I had the time to study the Bible and pray uninterrupted every morning, for as long as I wanted. I began writing letters to God and putting them in a notebook. Nothing fancy, just an old 3-ring binder I found in a box. The letters were a mix of praise, confession of sin, and prayer requests. I also analyzed situations and relationships from the past, often realizing that there was unconfessed sin in my life. My notebook was becoming full, so I bought some dividers and organized it this way. Prayer list, ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication), letters to God, Bible study, and sermon notes. This might not work for everyone, but it works for me.
God has been so faithful to me. I look back over my prayer list and see so many answers. Some are not what I expected, others are still works-in-progress, but I know God will answer in His time and His way. I’m still looking for a job, but I’m also volunteering in the church office two days a week.
Please pray for a job for my husband. He lost his job 2 mohtns ago and has not been able to find anything. We have put in hundreds of applications. Our little family is coming very close to being destitute. Last year we lost our home due to this economic crisis and have been forced to live in a very small apartment. We are just thankful for a room over our heads, but the immediate need is gas for MY car so that I can continue to go to work and also for $$ for cell phones(only way anyone can reach us for emergencies, for job interviews) they are being cut off on Friday. We have trusted our lives to God and he has blessed us with a wonderful little boy we adopted from Guatemala 5 years ago. We believe that God is still in control and where there are 2 or more gathered Please pray!!
You can find a beautiful prayer notebook ready to use at Sacred Intercession. If you do not have time to make your own. This is beautifuly created and self published by a woman who just lauched a website and journal for 2013. Go to http://www.sacredintercession.com