Pray continually. I Thessalonians 5:15I have always wanted to be a prayer warrior. Oh, how I have dreamed about praying in such a way that I could move mountains (Matthew 17:20)!
I have always admired Angie Whitaker, a true woman of faith in my home church of North Hills Church of God in Springfield, Ohio, who would meet weekly at the church building to pray for needs. She believed in the power of prayer. And I have always wanted to believe in prayer, but I rarely prayed enough to be able to see the results of being a prayer warrior.
Have you ever felt this way? Every time I would pray, I would get distracted. Something else would catch my attention. (Maybe it was the enemy trying to hinder my prayers...?) Even if I was in a dark room alone, my thoughts would wander. I felt like my poor students at the elementary school where I worked who wanted to learn, but their bodies and brains just couldn't focus. That was my conundrum with prayer.
I've tried so many things throughout the years. Prayer journals worked for awhile, but then I got sick of writing out every word. Sometimes I would sit next to an empty chair and pray as if Jesus were right there beside me, but that didn't last long and my mind would still wander. I had a prayer app on my iPod touch, but I didn't always have the internet access it required. I wrote prayer requests in a notebook, but then I'd lose the notebook. I set up a "prayer and exercise" room in my basement, but when the weather was nice, I much preferred to ride a real bike than a stationary one! I found myself so very frustrated and not even desiring to pray. Prayer should be the foundation of every believer's life - and I, a long-time Christ-follower and pastor's wife, could not seem to master this basic part of the Christian walk.
Shortly after my daughter was born, I began reading an excellent book called "Taking Care of the c Me in Mommy" by Lisa Whelchel. This book is packed with excellent information for moms! However, I think the best part of the book for me was the section about prayer. I found out I wasn't alone - Lisa also wrestled greatly with this issue, and she gave me pointers for how to help my focus with a Prayer Journal. Though I did not make mine as intricate as hers, I have found great value in my prayer journal.
I used to get so overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to pray for, and it seemed I always forgot to praise and thank God and ask forgiveness for my sins. So I created a notebook with a simple folder with tabs for inserting pages. On the front, I used a decorative paper and wrote four parts of prayer:
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication
I also made other notes to myself on the front about remembering to listen to God, and reminders to pray BIG prayers because I serve an even BIGGER God!
Then I created a chart in Pages (you could use Microsoft Word) with 7 columns and 5 rows. At the top of each column I wrote the days of the week, respectively. Then I printed out the sheets and wrote different topics for which I want to pray, one on each sheet:
* My husband
* My children
* Family
* Friends
* Church
* World
* Myself
* Timely (things that are "temporary prayers", like selling a house, a brief illness, etc)
I wrote one request in each box on the appropriate paper, as many as I could think of for each category (and as I think of more I continue to fill them in). Then I put them in sheet protectors and inserted them into my prayer folder. This is my new guideline for prayer. Every day I have a maximum of 5 items to pray for in each category, and all the people and issues that I want to bring to the Lord in prayer are written down. I am no longer overwhelmed trying to remember them all; I pray for a few each day. (You can find a copy of my prayer journal page here!)
If you have been looking for something to help you grow closer to the Lord through prayer, I hope that this is an encouragement and inspiration to you, and maybe a starting point to find something similar that works for you!
I look forward to my prayer time now, and I am excited to see what God will do inside me and through my prayers on my new journey as a prayer warrior!
