A Prayer Life
If you are looking for a way to increase your prayer life, as well as have a physical reminder of how effective prayer truly is, I have a suggestion for you. This isn’t a new suggestion by any means, however, it is one that only recently have I truly seen the impact in. I am talking about a prayer journal. Perhaps you are already writing down your prayers, and if so that’s great! However, if you are like me, you may have not seen how this can have an impact on your walk with Jesus Christ.
To be honest, I have tried for years to write out my prayers, sometime it would go well and I would keep track of what I was praying to God for. But it never failed that I would either forget to write my prayers out or I would ultimately feel as if I was just asking God for things without getting an answer. I began to feel as if I was only asking God to supply what I wanted, and this showed in my prayer life. I felt like a child writing out a list of birthday presents. I would ask for what I wanted, but I did not feel as if I was getting what I was asking for, so I would stop writing out my prayers. This does not mean that I stopped praying, I did continue to do that, but it felt as if I was going through the motions and that was because I could not see how God was answering my prayers.
Recently, however, I have decided to actively write out my prayers again but I decided to try something different with it. Instead of more or less writing out a list of things, I wrote how I was praying. This meant that I would begin with an introduction to God, I would state that I know God hears my prayers and that I want to see the power behind prayer. Then I would write out the main things that I am praying for that day, followed by a conclusion that is pretty similar to my introduction. Even though I am writing my prayers in a bullet point list, I do not feel like that child writing out a list of presents. The reason for the change is that by having a physical copy of what I am praying for, I can later go back and see when I began to pray for something and what God’s answer is. This allowed me to build a deeper connection because I would go back and write out the date God answered and what it was. I began to see the power of prayer by having something tangible to look at! I was reminded that God wants us to ask Him for things and that He wants to give us good things! “9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 11 Now which one of you fathers will his son ask for a fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? 12 Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion? 13 So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:9-13
This does not mean that I always got things exactly as I would pray for the; after all, sometimes God will answer with a “Yes,” “No,” or “Not no.”. The yes’s are always easy to accept and praise God, it’s harder with the not now’s, and even more so with the no’s. But with this process, I was truly able to see how God was working in my life! So if you find yourself struggling with prayer and seeing its effectiveness, I would recommend taking time and writing out your prayers; not a wish list, but a full-out prayer to our Lord and Savior!
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex