Take time to vote and pray!

 

Lovely image from Abby at Little Birdie Blessings

Today, if you have not yet voted, I  encourage you to get out and do so!  (Here in our state, we do not have early voting except for absentee, so Mr. T and I will be going to the polls at our local elementary school today.)   I hope that we've all been praying about this important civic responsibility for awhile now, since the primary, at the very least.  If you haven't already made up your mind, do a little research (and a lot of praying) before marking those ballots.  

Beyond that, though, we all ought to be praying intelligently and specifically for our country every day.  I'm sharing an older post to encourage my readers (and myself!) in this, so if it seems you have read some of this information before, you probably have.   Feel free to skip the read, and just go vote.

Consider these words from the meaningful song "America the Beautiful":

"America! America!  God shed His grace on thee!" 

If our country ever needed God's grace, it is now.  I have come to believe that we are engaged in a struggle between good and evil -- a battle for the hearts and minds of our people.  Our liberty is truly at stake, friends.  This is not a battle between political candidates or between two political parties.  It is a battle between liberty and socialism and quite likely communism.  When one realizes that the leaders of one party are literally trained Marxists, it helps quite a bit in narrowing down our choices.

Mr. T and I are praying that evil will be exposed (and that it will be honestly and justly dealt with), that Americans will see the seriousness of our situation and that believers will pray faithfully for our beloved country.

For many years, I've prayed for our country every Thursday.  (I've shared about this before, but for those who may have missed it I will share the basics again.)  I begin by thanking God for the blessing of living in a free country.  I thank Him for the freedom to worship, the freedom to share my faith with others, the privilege of voting, and the privilege of living in a country with so many natural resources, such natural beauty, and a high standard of living.    I then pray for our president and other leaders, our men and women in the military, our judges and courts, my state and governor, and my town.

I still use the page below to pray for America every Thursday, but I have gone beyond that to pray for our country each and every day.

The printed page you see across the bottom of my prayer journal is from a pdf titled How to Pray for America.  It's a free download at Revive Our Hearts, and I have found it very helpful in praying for our country as a whole.   In 2016, these requests were printed in our church bulletin, and I clipped them out to use in praying for our country on a regular basis.  Below is a scan:

 

I have actually adapted this page and the one pictured from my prayer journal, to create a 31-day schedule of praying one request for each day of the month.  My hubby and I use this schedule to pray one request each evening for our country.  Thus, we are praying for American at least twice a day.

You will notice that one of the requests is for truth in the media.  Thankfully, there are a few independent news outlets where one can hear the truth.  We are not hearing it from the mainstream networks.  The Epoch Times is one that we have found trustworthy. We have also found many fascinating interviews and good news shows on Epoch TV.   If you subscribe to the newspaper, access to the interviews, etc. is free.  Check it out!

Another important request on this list is that people will be able to see truth, that error would be exposed, and that people with wicked agendas will be made weak.  I am actually praying that those who have wicked agendas will be caught in their own nets, thinking of some of the imprecatory requests that David prayed for the wicked.  Another great request is for God to overcome the enemies of truth and righteousness.  The Scripture verses for this request are pertinent:

"Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.  

"Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies."
(Psalm 60:11-12)

 If you are not in the habit of praying for America, may I encourage you to do so?

  "America the Beautiful" also includes these powerful words:

"America! America!
God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!"

I've often been reminded that truly, God is the only One who can mend our flaws -- but we have to want that to happen and we need to beseech God that it will happen. Our flaws have never been more obvious, it seems, yet never have I been more aware of how fragile our liberties are and how easily they can be snatched away.

  As we exercise our right to vote, let's take time today to beseech God to help us "mend our flaws" as a nation, and to thank Him for the privilege of living in this land. Pray for His hand to be evident in the outcome of this election.  I'm so thankful today for God's sovereignty!

Variety -- the spice of my devotional life

 

 I've alluded to this a bit before, but haven't gone into detail.  I seem to need creativity in my life on a daily basis, and even though I don't always get to work on a craft as I'd like to,  I do find joy in realizing a creative solution to an everyday dilemma or need.  Such has been the case with my quiet time.  

I love Bible study and journaling and there are just more studies that I want to do than I ever seem to find time for.   In 2024, things have been ever so slightly better in that regard and my devotional life has been spiced up with a little creativity.  I thought I'd share in case others might be interested in taking a similar approach.

This year, I determined that I wanted to journal through Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, by Charles Swindoll.  It's one of his older books and I acquired a hardcover copy of it last summer.  Each reading includes a devotional lesson, a "Deepening Your Roots" section with Scripture to look up, and a "Branching Out" section with ideas for applying the lesson to real life.  This book, though, has devotional lessons only for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a "Growing Strong" section on Saturday where one journals about how applying the lessons for the week has worked out.

 So, that leaves Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday to do something else for Bible study and quiet time.  In fact, it leaves Saturday too, because the "Growing Strong" wrap-up doesn't involve much, if any Scripture.  So this is how I'm using those four days each week:

 Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on SOAPing the Scripture from the Everything Beautiful Bible reading plan that I'm using for my Sunday Scripture blog posts.  You can read about the SOAP method of Bible study here if it is new to you.  

On Saturdays I'm working my way through a Bible study on Habakkuk.  You can find it here: Even If.

Prior to beginning this study, I completed another on the armor of God.  Although it may seem slow to work through a Bible study like this only one day a week, I find it is far, far better to do this than just to lament the fact that I don't have time to do all the studies I want to.  Far better to work on it once a week than not at all, and I do eventually complete them.

On Sundays, I usually work on making a new page for my prayer journal or a page in the prayer journal I'm making for my husband.  This involves either searching out and/or copying Scripture relating to a particular attribute of God or a relating to an issue in my life that I want to keep before the Lord in prayer on a regular basis.   For the longest time, I felt so frustrated that I wanted and needed to make new pages for these prayer journals, but it would never get done.  It finally occurred to me that this would be a good devotional exercise for Sundays.

(And by the way, if you don't have a prayer journal or the one you have isn't working for you, check out this post:  How to Make a Prayer Journal (which, interestingly, is the second most popular post of all time on my blog!).  You will probably also want to read this one: Using a Prayer Journal.  I find that there's pretty much an endless list of things I want to pray about regularly, like specific character flaws in my life, for example, so I am frequently adding to my prayer journal.  The posts I've linked to will show you how to do that.)
 

   This varied approach to my quiet time surely has been a blessing to me, and I hope others may be encouraged to try something different as well.

Don't forget to vote today ... but more importantly, don't forget to pray!

 

From Abby at Little Birdie Blessings.  Isn't it interesting that today's Election Day is the same?

I've been pondering what thoughts I might share for Election Day.  I encourage you to get out and vote, for sure!  But more importantly, pray about how you will vote.  I hope that we've all been praying about this important civic responsibility for awhile now, since the primary, at the very least.  If you haven't already made up your mind, do a little research (and a lot of praying) before marking those ballots.  

But we all ought to be praying intelligently and specifically for our country every day.  I ended up adapting an older post to encourage my readers (and myself!) in this, so if it seems you have read some of this information before, you probably have.   Feel free to skip the read, and just go vote.

Consider these words from the meaningful song "America the Beautiful":

"America! America!  God shed His grace on thee!" 

If our country ever needed God's grace, it is now.  I have come to believe that we are engaged in a struggle between good and evil -- a battle for the hearts and minds of our people.  Our liberty is truly at stake, friends.  This is not a battle between political candidates or between two political parties.  It is a battle between liberty and socialism and quite likely communism.

Mr. T and I are praying that evil will be exposed (and that it will be honestly and justly dealt with), that Americans will see the seriousness of our situation and that believers will pray faithfully for our beloved country.

For many years, I've prayed for our country every Thursday.  (I've shared about this before, but for those who may have missed it I will share the basics again.)  I begin by thanking God for the blessing of living in a free country.  I thank Him for the freedom to worship, the freedom to share my faith with others, the privilege of voting, and the privilege of living in a country with so many natural resources, such natural beauty, and a high standard of living.    I then pray for our president and other leaders, our men and women in the military, our judges and courts, my state and governor, and my town.

The printed page you see across the bottom of my prayer journal is from a pdf titled How to Pray for America.  It's a free download at Revive Our Hearts, and I have found it very helpful in praying for our country as a whole.   In 2016, these requests were printed in our church bulletin, and I clipped them out to use in praying for our country on a regular basis.  Below is a scan:

 

You will notice that one of these requests is for truth in the media.  Thankfully, there are a few independent news outlets where one can hear the truth.  We are not hearing it from the mainstream networks.  The Epoch Times is one that we have found trustworthy. We have also found many fascinating interviews and good news shows on Epoch TV.   If you subscribe to the newspaper, access to the interviews, etc. is free.  Check it out!

Another important request on this list is that people will be able to see truth, that error would be exposed, and that people with wicked agendas will be made weak.  I am actually praying that those who have wicked agendas will be caught in their own nets, thinking of some of the imprecatory requests that David prayed for the wicked.  Another great request is for God to overcome the enemies of truth and righteousness.  The Scripture verses for this request are pertinent:

"Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.  

"Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies."
(Psalm 60:11-12)

 If you are not in the habit of praying for America, may I encourage you to do so?

  "America the Beautiful" also includes these powerful words:

"America! America!
God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!"

I've often been reminded that truly, God is the only One who can mend our flaws -- but we have to want that to happen and we need to beseech God that it will happen. Our flaws have never been more obvious, it seems, and never have I been more aware of how fragile our liberties are and how easily they can be snatched away.

  As we exercise our right to vote, let's take time today to beseech God to help us "mend our flaws" as a nation, and to thank Him for the privilege of living in this land. Pray for His hand to be evident in the outcome of this election.  I'm so thankful today for God's sovereignty!

Using a prayer journal

[I'm updating this post from 2009 by adding photos and a little more information.  The posts about my prayer journal are the most read ever on this blog.  Some readers have asked for photos, so I'm adding them in.  As I noted in my other updated post, these are not artfully staged photos.  I simply opened up my shabby, well-used journal and snapped some pictures I thought might be helpful.  My prayer journal is an everyday workhorse and is not fancy.  The most important thing is that it maximizes my prayer life and increases its effectiveness.  A prayer journal can do the same for you, so read on.]

As promised, here is a repeat of the information of actually using one's prayer journal. Putting a prayer journal together is fun and inspiring, but using it in one's prayer time is such a blessing!

Before I begin, I'd like to say a word about prayer requests. A number of people have asked me how I deal with the short-term, more urgent prayer requests which we get at church, from friends, or via our church’s prayer chain (email or phone). They felt these requests would be hard to keep track of on an ongoing basis in a prayer journal. And they’re right. I don’t put these sorts of requests in my prayer journal.

If I get a request for someone at church, I usually write it down in the notebook I keep with me for sermon notes. That’s usually enough to keep that request in my memory for when I pray for that person during the week. When it’s answered, I can cross it out. If I get a request via phone or email, I’ll jot it on a post-it note. When the prayer is answered, I toss the paper.*

The prayer requests I keep in my prayer journal are long-term ones. For example, for my grown children I pray for things like this:
• Closeness to God
• Spiritual growth
• Wisdom for parenting
• Wisdom for marriage
• Wise use of finances
• Wise use of time
• Use of spiritual gifts and talents... etc.

Now, as to actually using my prayer journal on a daily basis. The first section I come to is Adoration -- where I have a number of pages concerning the attributes of God.

 So I turn to the attribute for the day -- I keep a marker in this section so I praise God for a different attribute each day. As I praise Him for, say, His omniscience, I can also thank Him for the fact that He knows all about me and every circumstance of my life. I find that praising God for His attributes first sets the tone for my prayer time.

This page praises God that He hears our prayers

This section also includes pages to thank God for various spiritual blessings -- first, for Himself, then for Jesus, for the Holy Spirit, for the Bible. Then there are so many other spiritual blessings, like salvation, redemption, sanctification, and so on.  These pages follow right after the attributes of God pages, so each time I get to the end of those pages, I move into thanking God for His many spiritual blessings, continuing to move my marker along each day. 

This page thanks God for the spiritual blessing of His Word

Next, I come to Agreeing -- that is, agreeing with God about my sin. In this section I have a number of pages concerning character flaws and sin issues in my life. Again, I keep a marker in this section so I pray concerning a different problem each day. This makes a huge difference in my life, because these issues don’t slip off my radar screen. I am praying about them on a regular basis.

These reminders are on the divider for my Agreeing section.  At the right you can glimpse the first page in that section, dealing with procrastination.

Also in this section, I have a section called Health and Energy -- detailing the daily need for eating healthfully, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, etc. Again, since these are areas where I am prone to get lazy, it makes sense to have them here where I can pray about them every day. Again, I just pray about one of these areas each day. It would be easy to get carried away and pray for every area every day, but that would be overwhelming and much less meaningful.

Next, I come to Asking. Within this section, I start by praying through the requests for Every Day. These would be ongoing, long-term requests for my husband, children/spouses, grandchildren,  and close friends.

 I have recently (in the past five years or so) added a page called Decisions to Make which I look over every day.  It's filled by now and covered with "PTL" notations as I praise God for how He has given wisdom for each decision, so it's time to add a second page.

Next, I pray through the requests I have allotted to different days of the week. On Monday, for example, I pray for missionaries. Again, the requests I pray for missionaries are not short-term urgent requests (although I do pray for those needs at other times) but are ongoing, long-term things like protection, boldness, opportunities to witness, fluency in language, times of refreshment, etc.

You can refer to my post on How to Make a Prayer Journal to see what I pray for on other days of the week.  Topics include friends, church, extended family, our country, personal petitions, and so on.

*  Each day I also pray for a portion of our church family. And this is where those prayer requests I get at church or via the prayer chain come into play. As I pray for, say, Sue Jones (made-up name) I remember that Sue is having a biopsy next week, and pray about that.

So that is pretty much my prayer time in a nutshell. I have found that my prayer time is so much more effective and so much more of a blessing to me as I use my prayer journal. I hope that those who are making their own journals or those who receive them as gifts will find them as helpful as I have found mine to be.

Enriching one's prayer life by use of a prayer journal

[This post is the most read post ever on my blog, with over 8500 page views.  I've been wanting for awhile to update this post and to add some pictures, as one commenter had asked me to do.  Now I'm finally finding a few minutes to do so!

Let me say, too, that these pictures are not fancy.  I didn't stage them in any way, just opened up my journal and snapped some photos.  That's appropriate, because my prayer journal is not fancy either.  It's just an everyday workhorse.  That said, feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them if you want to read something.]

One of my ongoing goals is to deepen my prayer life. To that end, I'm going to be adding some pages to my prayer journal in the "Adoration" section -- pages dealing with spiritual blessings God gives us as His children. As I thought about this, and as I had my prayer time this morning, I was struck by the thought of what a blessing my prayer journal is to me, and how it has revitalized my prayer life over the years I've been using it and adding to it. I am quite sure that if our house caught fire, I would run for my prayer journal before grabbing anything else!

So, although I've shared about my prayer journal here at my kitchen table before, I thought that today the Lord would have me share again how to make one. Maybe some of you have a goal to deepen and enrich your own prayer lives. If so, a prayer journal can be a wonderful help in doing so. Here are the basic guidelines. Next, I will post about actually using the prayer journal on a daily basis. Hope this is a help to someone today!

My Prayer Journal

For years I jotted down prayer requests on scraps of paper stuck in my Bible, or wrote them in the notebooks I used for taking notes in church. Many of them I kept in my head. One of my unspoken prayer requests for a long time was just to be able to organize things so I could pray more effectively. So one day I bought a little spiral-bound notebook and began to try and organize my prayer requests in sections so I could pray for different things and people on different days. That worked for quite awhile, but not quite as well as I had hoped. Then my daughter went off to college and took a class called Study of Prayer. They made prayer journals as a class project. I was so impressed when I saw what a prayer journal could look like -- and with its potential as a helpful tool for one’s prayer life. I studied the journal my daughter had made and gathered my own ideas from here and there. Then I began to put together my own prayer journal. It has become every bit as helpful as I envisioned it would be.



I suggest getting one of the smaller binders -- mine is approximately 7 inches by 9 inches. Larger ones would be fine, but the smaller one is easy to keep with your Bible. I prefer the kind with a clear pocket on the front and back covers, to slip your own “cover art” into. Mine has a colorful picture on the front cover, along with the words “Prayer Journal” and a favorite quotation on prayer. On the back cover there’s another colorful picture (I cut these from Gooseberry Patch catalogs, as these picture many of my favorite things) , part of a poem about prayer, and a verse (James 5:16).  [Sadly, Gooseberry Patch no longer sends out a catalog, but sells online.  I have saved many, many of their old catalogs, though, and use them not only for my prayer journal but for the personalized cookbooks I like to make for wedding gifts.]

 I cut card stock sheets in half to fit my binder and -- after punching holes in them -- used them as dividers for the different sections. I used index tabs to label the different sections. I cut white paper in half, punched holes on one side, and used these to write my actual requests on. For the special people in my life, I have their photos (stuck to card stock with clear photo corners) right across from the page with my prayer requests for them.

Back when I started my prayer journal, these smaller binders were not easy to find, and supplies to fit them were even harder to locate.  Now,  my local Wal*Mart carries them, along with colorful plastic dividers and filler paper of the right size.

Whenever I come across something that will help me in my prayer life, I incorporate it into my prayer journal. For example, one mission board made available a bookmark listing basic, biblical ways to pray for missionaries. I cut this up and scattered the different requests on the card stock divider for my “Missionaries” page.

Every time I pray for missionaries, I have before me some concrete ways to pray for them.

Below are my basic guidelines for putting together a prayer journal. Feel free to adapt them for yourselves.

PRAYER JOURNAL GUIDELINES

Of course there are a multitude of ways you can organize your prayer journal. This is a combination of what my daughters learned in a college class and what I came up with myself. My prayer journal is still a work in progress!

My prayer journal consists of 3 basic sections -- Adoration, Agreement, and Asking. Each section has categories within it.

Section I -- ADORATION

A. Praise.
1. Attributes of God. Choose 10 (or more) attributes of God that you want to praise Him for. Make a page for each one. For each attribute, write out at least 3 Scripture verses which mention or describe that attribute. Some examples of attributes would be holiness, righteousness, sovereignty, omniscience, etc. At the bottom of each page, write a brief statement or prayer describing why you praise God for that particular attribute.  If you need help finding relevant verses, try looking up the attributes of God in a Bible dictionary.

Praising God that He hears our prayers

B. Thanksgiving.

1. Spiritual blessings.
a. God
b. Jesus Christ
c. The Holy Spirit
d. The Word of God
(For each of these spiritual blessings -- and you could certainly add more, like salvation, sanctification, etc. -- write out at least 3 verses that describe that particular blessing. Then write a brief statement or prayer describing why you thank and praise God for that blessing.)

Praising God for the spiritual blessing of His Word

2. Material blessings.
(List as many material blessings as you like -- food, home, etc. Write out a relevant verse for each and a brief statement or prayer thanking God for them.)

3. National blessings.
(List our blessings as a nation -- a free country, privilege of voting, etc. Add a verse if you wish and write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these blessings.**)

4. Physical blessings.
(List physical blessings -- good health, the health of your family, etc. Write out a verse if you wish and then write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these blessings.)

5. Family blessings.
(List your immediate family and other relatives or friends you are specifically thankful for. Add verses if you like and write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these folks.)

Section II -- AGREEMENT.

A. Character flaws
(List several of your character flaws or areas where you are prone to sin. [I personally have listed 23 of these so far -- not that there aren’t much more than that!] Make a page for each one. For each flaw or sin, find and write out several helpful verses. [Proverbs is a great source for these verses.] At the bottom of each page, write a summary of why each flaw or sin is not pleasing to God, and what behavior He would have you to work at instead.)

These encouraging little reminders are pasted into the front of my section on character flaws and sin issues.

B. Health and energy needs

 (This is a category I've added in the past few years. It includes things like praying for a healthy body, praying to be more disciplined, praying about things like healthy eating, exercise, sleep, and more.  I include in this section a page reminding me of God's purposes for my life, information about planning and scheduling to help me achieve His purposes, and more.

Section III --ASKING.

A. Every Day -- Make a page for each person you plan to pray for every day. List the things you plan to pray for in their lives. I have a page for my husband, each of my children and their spouses, and one for some dear friends.

This great reminder is at the beginning of my "Asking" section.

And then, in addition to folks I pray for every day,  I pray for some specific categories on specific days.

B. Sunday --List the things you will pray for on Sundays. (I chose to pray for our church services, pastor, Sunday School teachers, visitors, music, nursery, etc.)

C. Monday -- List the things or people you will pray for on Mondays. (This is the day I chose to pray for missionaries. I also pray for a portion of the people in the church directory each day [about one-sixth of the names each day*, and at this point my prayer journal has also evolved so that I pray for a number of friends each day as well]).

D. Tuesday -- List those you will pray for on Tuesdays. (I pray for special friends, near and far away, on this day.)

This is a prayer I wrote to pray for my Christian friends.  Most of the time, of course, I pray for them specifically by name.

E. Wednesday -- List those you will pray for on Wednesdays. (I pray for our church leadership on Wednesdays.)

F. Thursday -- List those you will pray for on Thursdays. (This is my day to pray for our country and for our extended families.**)

G. Friday -- List those you will pray for on Fridays. (On Friday, I have several individuals or couples I am praying specific verses for. I have a page for each person/couple. I have listed the specific things from each verse that I’m praying for them.)

H. Saturday -- List the requests you’ll pray for on Saturdays. (This is my day to pray for myself. I list concerns that I have for my own personal spiritual growth, the use of my spiritual gifts, faithfulness in ministry, etc. )

I. In the past few years, I've added a page  for "Decisions to Make".  I need to add another, for this one is filled up on both sides, with many "PTL" notations as I've seen God give wisdom for decision-making.

And this is the only downside of those plastic divider pages ... you can see through them.

* To pray for the folks in the church, this is what I do. Make one page for each day of the week, except Sunday. On each page, list about one-sixth of the names of the people in the church. Put that page in the section for the particular day of the week.

**  Since I spend an extended time in prayer for our country on Thursdays, I have chosen to place my page for "national blessings" behind my Thursday divider.

Of course you can adapt these guidelines to work better for you. I think that the more personalized you can make your prayer journal, the more of a tool it will be for you. I definitely recommend adding stickers, photos, etc. to add color and interest, and to jog your memory as you pray for special people in your life. Card stock dividers are colorful and very helpful, and index tabs for the different days are also helpful. You may also enjoy finding challenging, encouraging quotes on prayer to add to the journal. Have fun!

Prayer Journal Revisited: Ongoing Answers to Ongoing Prayers

As I've been thinking about my prayer journal lately, I was reminded of this post I did some time ago. I thought it might be an encouragement to others to see how it works in our prayers for ourselves.

Ongoing answers to ongoing prayers...

I’ve been so encouraged lately to see how God has been answering my ongoing prayers for my own growth in several areas. It’s happened without my even being totally aware of it. These are things I usually pray for only once a week, on Saturday, my day to pray for myself.


(I don’t recall if I have shared much in the past about my prayer journal. So I’ll briefly do so here. Basically, I have three sections -- Adoration, Agreeing, and Asking. In Adoration, I have a number of pages dealing with individual attributes of God. In Agreeing, I have a number of pages dealing with sin issues/character flaws in my life. Asking is the largest section and contains a divider for each day of the week, as well as one for every day. I pray for my husband, kids/grandkids, my parents, and a few special friends everyday. I have our church directory divided up pretty much evenly and pray for a certain portion of our church family each day. Beyond that, on Monday I pray for missionaries; Tuesday, for special friends; Wednesday, for church leadership; Thursday, for our country and our extended family; Friday, for several special families I am praying specific verses for; Saturday, for my personal requests, and Sunday, for each aspect of our church services, any visitors, etc. So that’s my prayer journal in a nutshell.)


Back to my personal prayer requests. I have a number of them. But sometime back, when I completed a Bible study on Proverbs 31 (“Beautiful in God’s Eyes” by Elizabeth George), I was challenged to list down prayer requests for areas where I needed to grow and change to become a woman like the Proverbs 31 woman. Here’s my list:
********************

* MYSELF: work on kindness, careful speech, health and energy.

* MY HUSBAND: work on taking better care of him, helping him, benefiting him.

* MY HOUSEHOLD: work more diligently at watching over it.

* MY ENTERPRISES: work harder at discovering how God might have me to use my skills and interests to benefit the family.

**********************

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t seen huge progress or answers in all of these areas. But in a couple of areas the answers have been amazing.


For the health and energy request, I am continually learning to eat more healthfully and exercise more regularly. A free download from FlyLady.net called the “body clutter investigator” has recently helped me keep much better track of things like water, exercise, sleep, and fiber intake on a daily basis. Each of those things really makes a difference! I’ve lost a lot of weight over the past year and gotten a lot more fit as I’ve exercised more regularly.


For the household request, I’ve shared before how the FlyLady system has helped me get a handle on my homemaking. Even though I haven’t done the best at this through my recent big writing project, yet I’ve been amazed at how having the basic routines in place has helped me stay right on top of meals, laundry, dishes, etc. In the past, all of those things would suffer when I had a deadline. I’ve also been helped by Elizabeth George’s books “Life Management for Busy Women” and “God’s Wisdom for a Woman’s Life” and also by Organized Home.com. (Today I have zeroed in on my kitchen, as that’s the FlyZone for the week, and am seeing some progress even though it’s late in the week. As FlyLady says, I am not behind!) In recent weeks, I’ve been blessed to visit the blogs of Mrs. B and Mrs. Wilt and find these ladies to be incredibly inspiring in the household department!


Another ongoing prayer request of mine has been to nurture my creativity. I find that I am happiest if I can do one creative thing, however small, each day. I’ve gotten much inspiration from the crafts message board at Organized Christmas.com. The ladies there put up a challenge each week for spending a certain amount of time crafting. Although I seldom accomplish everything on my list, yet I find it very encouraging to have goals and just pick away at them bit by bit. It has kept crafting on my “radar screen” even on the most stressful days. Again, I find my creativity nurtured by visiting blogs -- I’ve been especially blessed by Mrs. Wilt’s thrifting finds and by the vintage embroidery pattern site she shared. I’ve also been blessed -- just today -- as I looked over an essay from Kelly at FlyLady.net concerning a “kitchen remodel” that costs almost nothing but time and a creative way of looking at things.


What an amazing God we have! I am humbled and so very encouraged as I see how He works and the different vessels He uses to answer our very personal, heartfelt prayer requests.

Prayer Journal Revisited: Persevering in prayer

Here's another of my older posts concerning prayer. Perhaps this might be an encouragement to someone else today!

Persevering in prayer

Recently I’ve been working on preparing a “make-your-own-prayer-journal kit” for a going-away gift for a dear friend. She’s a relatively new believer and has peeked into my prayer journal a few times. She would love to have her own journal, so I thought such a kit might be a good idea as a gift. I’m including a decorated binder, card stock and paper cut to size, stickers, a hole punch, index tabs, a marker, a glue stick, etc., plus detailed instructions. I added a few of the verses and quotes I have on the covers of my own prayer journal to the cover of hers.

One of these is a verse of a poem... the last verse, as it turns out. The other day in preparing for my Sunday School lesson, I came across the entire poem (I think, anyway). I had jotted it down on a blank page in BECOMING A WOMAN OF PRAYER, by Cynthia Heald, when I did that study. The poem was such a good reminder to me of the importance of persevering in prayer. Here it is:


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For years I’ve prayed, and yet I see no change.
The mountain stands exactly where it stood;
The shadows that it casts are just as deep;
The pathway to the summit e’en more steep.
Shall I pray on?

Shall I pray on with ne’er a hopeful sign?
Not only does the mountain still remain,
But, while I watch to see it disappear,
Becomes the more appalling year by year.
Shall I pray on?

I shall pray on. Though distant as it seems,
The answer may be almost at my door,
Or just around the corner on its way,
But whether near or far, yes, I shall pray --
I shall pray on.

-- Edith Mapes
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Perhaps this poem and these few thoughts will be a blessing to someone else today!

Prayer Journal Revisited: Favorite Quotes on Prayer

I decided to re-post these favorite quotes on prayer, too. Some may want to include one or more of these quotes in their prayer journals. The very first quote on the list is on the front cover of mine.

Favorite Quotes on Prayer

Patty asked if I would share some of my favorite quotes on prayer. I’m just going to share all the ones I can think of. I apologize in advance if any of them are repeats from other posts. Hope these encourage others as much as they have me.


“Saints have never yet reached the limit to the possibilities of prayer. Whatever has been attained or achieved has touched but the fringe of the garment of a prayer-hearing God.” -- Dr. A.T. Pierson


“Because you prayed --
God touched our weary bodies with His power
And gave us strength for many a trying hour
In which we might have faltered, had not you
Our intercessors faithful been, and true.

“Because you prayed --
God touched our lips with coals from altar fire,
Gave Spirit-fulness, and did so inspire
That, when we spoke, sin-blinded souls did see;
Sins’ chains were broken;
Captives were made free.

“Because you prayed --
The dwellers in the dark have found the Light;
The glad good-news has banished heathen night;
The message of the Cross, so long delayed,
Has brought them life at last --
Because you prayed.” -- Charles B. Bowser


“THANKSGIVING must be personally applied! A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue; it is the fountain of every other virtue.” -- Author Unknown


“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us -- and He has given us everything.” -- Thomas Merton


“Someday we shall understand that God has a reason for every NO which He speaks... How often when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way! Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full revelation of it remains for the future.” -- STREAMS IN THE DESERT


“Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only be unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ABOVE ALL that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ, and expect great things.” -- Andrew Murray

“[Prayer] is the bridge that spans every gulf and bears us over every abyss of danger or of need.” A.B. Simpson


“Are you in sorrow? Prayer can make your affliction sweet and strengthening. Are you in gladness? Prayer can add to your joy a celestial perfume. Are you in extreme danger from outward or inward enemies? Prayer can set at your right hand an angel whose touch could shatter a millstone into smaller dust than the flour it grinds, and whose glance could lay an army low. What will prayer do for you? I answer: All that God can do for you. ‘Ask what I shall give thee.’ (1 Kings 3:5).” -- Farrar


“The best prayer comes from a strong inward necessity. By human security systems, we often protect ourselves from a dynamic prayer life. Why do we do ourselves this wrong?” -- William MacDonald


“It is a throne set up on purpose for the dispensation of grace and from which every utterance is an utterance of grace. The scepter that is stretched out from it is the silver scepter of grace. The decrees proclaimed from it are purposes of grace. The gifts that are scattered down its golden steps are gifts of grace, and He who sits upon the throne is grace Himself. That it is the throne of grace that we approach when we pray is a mighty source of encouragement to all of us who are praying men and women.” -- Charles Spurgeon


“When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible’s idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.” -- Oswald Chambers


“So we are permitted to apply to God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, because God in Him is well pleased, and because we are the friends of His Son He answers our requests.” -- Albert Barnes


“The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, gives wisdom to our ignorance, turns ignorance into wisdom, and changes our weakness into strength. The Spirit Himself does this. He helps and takes hold with us as we tug and toil... He pleads for us and in us. He quickens, illumines, and inspires our prayers. He proclaims and elevates the matter of our prayers, and inspires the words and feelings of our prayers He works mightily in us so that we can pray mightily. He enables us to pray always and ever according to the will of God.” -- E.M. Bounds


“To sum it all up, if you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ... So be filled with God’s Word. Study what Jesus has said, what the Holy Ghost has left on record in this divinely inspired book, and in proportion as you feed on, retain, and obey the Word in your life, you will be a master in the art of prayer.” -- Charles Spurgeon


“I do not believe that there is such a thing in the history of God’s kingdom as a right prayer offered in a right spirit that is forever left unanswered.”
-- Theodore L. Cuyler

“In every circumstance of life, we should go to the Lord in prayer. When in trouble, we should approach Him with earnest entreaties. In times of rejoicing, we should lift our hearts to Him in praise. He wants to be brought into all the changing moods of our lives.” -- William MacDonald


“Lord, if what I ask for does not please You, neither would it please me. My desires are put into Your hands to be corrected. Strike the pen through every petition that I offer that is not right. And put in whatever I have omitted, even though I might not have desired it had I considered it... ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’”
-- Charles Spurgeon


“Anyone who finds his prayers ineffective should not conclude that the thing which he asks of God is not according to His will, but should go alone with God with the psalmist’s prayer, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me’ (Psalm 139:23-24) and wait before Him until He puts His finger upon the thing that is displeasing in His sight. Then the sin should be confessed and put away.” -- R.A. Torrey


“Prayer does not fit us for the greater works: prayer is the greater work.”
-- Oswald Chambers


“Study may make a biblical scholar; but prayer puts the heart under heavenly teaching and forms the wise and spiritual Christian.” -- Charles Bridges


“God will hear prayer, but He may not answer it at the time which we in our minds have appointed; He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, but not just when and where we have settled in our own expectations.” -- Charles Spurgeon


“Whether we praise Him for His unfathomable majesty or petition Him for daily needs, prayer is the expression of our dependence upon God, our whole-souled reliance upon His power to sustain us, His mercy to forgive us, His bounty to supply us, and His glory to overwhelm us as we reflect on who He is.” -- C. Samuel Storms


“Lord, make me sensitive to the promptings of your Holy Spirit’ is a constant prayer of mine. Whenever someone is laid on my heart or brought to my mind, I need to be an intercessor. Often I don’t know exactly what to pray and that is why it is good to study Paul’s prayers and the Lord’s prayer in John 17....
“How little we realize what impact our intercession has in the kingdom of God. God is gracious to give us the privilege of prayer that allows us to participate with Him in ministering to others.” -- Cynthia Heald, in BECOMING A WOMAN OF PRAYER


“The strong man of prayer when he starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and obtains what he seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and definite to us that it is not His will to give it.” -- R.A. Torrey


“Certainly, if we are to have a quiet hour set down in the midst of a hurry of duties, and to keep that time inviolate, we must exercise both planning and self-denial. We must be prepared to forego many things that are pleasant, and some things that are profitable. Let no one who can find time for vanities say that they do not have enough time for prayer. We have to reclaim our time. It may be from recreation, or from social events, or from study, or from works of benevolence. Wherever it comes from, we must find time every day to enter into our closet, and having shut the door, to pray to our Father who is in secret.” -- David M’Intryre


“And so we can just pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is imperfect, ignorant, and wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great High Priest, before the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted, and answered in His name.”
--- A.B. Simpson

“Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.” -- STREAMS IN THE DESERT

Prayer Journal Revisited: Sample pages from my prayer journal

Sample pages from my prayer journal

The first two are from my “Adoration” section on the attributes of God.
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God, You are FAITHFUL

“Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” (Psalm 36:5)

“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.”
(2 Thessalonians 3:3)

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: (for He is faithful that promised).” (Hebrews 10:23)

“And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.” (Isaiah 11:5)

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High:
“To shew forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.”
(Psalm 92:1-2)

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

* Father, how I praise You for Your faithfulness. I may fail you over and over, but You are abidingly faithful. Teach me to be faithful, and You would have me to be.
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God, You are SOVEREIGN

“He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou?”
(Daniel 4:35)

God does according to His will in the heavens and the earth, and no one can stop Him or question His motives.

“But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.”
(Psalm 115:3)

God is in control of all things and does what pleases Him.

“Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” (Psalm 135:6)

“I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
(Isaiah 46:9-10)

* God, I thank You for Your sovereignty! It is a comfort to me as Your child to know that You are in control of all things and that You make no mistakes.
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In my prayer journal I also have an “Agreement” section in which I agree with God about the sin issues in my life and ask for His help in growing in these areas. At the beginning of this section I have pasted in two quotes written on lovely little pieces of decorated note paper. These are good reminders to me as I consider the areas that need work in my life. They are:
1. “I’m not what I ought to be, but I’m not what I used to be. And, by God’s grace, I’m not what I’m going to be.”

2. “TRUTH: I am ABLE to accomplish God’s will for my life because of His gift: the Holy Spirit.”

Here are two pages from this section. Maybe they will be an encouragement to someone else dealing with these same issues.
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Character Flaws
1. PROCRASTINATION

“He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” (Proverbs 10:5)

“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”
(Proverbs 14:23)

“She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” (Proverbs 31:27)

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard: consider her ways, and be wise:
“Which, having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
“Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
(Proverbs 6:6-8)

*Procrastination is not pleasing to God, because He wants us to do all things decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). I do tend to put things off, and I need to work on sticking to a schedule, especially for housework.
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Character flaws
6. EASILY IRRITATED

“[Charity] ... is not easily provoked.” (1 Corinthians 13:5)

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (James 1:19)

“He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly.” (Proverbs 14:17)

“He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” (Proverbs 14:29)

“Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.” (Proverbs 29:20)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is... longsuffering.” (Galatians 5:22)

* God is longsuffering, and He has given His children this quality as part of the fruit of the Spirit. He does not want me to have a “short fuse.” Instead, He wants me to grow in longsuffering.
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At the back of my “Asking” section, I have a list which I try to review every day. It represents my goals as a homemaker. Some days I fall far short in many areas, but I believe goals are so important. As we all know, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” So here’s my list:
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MY GOALS AS A HOMEMAKER

1. I will get up early, in order to prepare myself for the day physically and spiritually.

2. I will consult my husband every day to see if there is anything special he needs me to do for him.

3. I will keep a neat and orderly home.

4. I will make use of planning tools to make daily and weekly schedules for homemaking tasks.

5. I will stick with the homemaking routines that work for me.

6. I will keep a positive attitude.

7. I will be at home as much as possible.

8. I will prepare special, good food for my family.

9. I will do all that I can to make our home a peaceful, comfortable refuge from the world.

10. I will grow daily in the areas of: my walk with the Lord; marriage; family; and homemaking.
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And there you have a few pages from my prayer journal. Maybe these will be a help to you in putting together your own journal.

Actually using my prayer journal

It's time for another Building Our Homes Together Wednesday! This week I am going to share a previously published post (try saying that 3 times quickly) concerning actually using my prayer journal. If you would like to see what other ladies have shared for this feature, head on over to Prairie Flower Farm and check out the links for Building our Homes Together!

My prayer journal

I thought it would be helpful to share this info again, so here it is: 

 I’ve done a number of posts about my prayer journal -- guidelines for making one, how it’s put together, and how to make a prayer journal kit as a gift -- but I thought it was high time to actually write a post as to how the prayer journal works on a daily basis. 

 Before I begin, I'd like to say a word about prayer requests. A number of people have asked me how I deal with the short-term, more urgent prayer requests which we get at church, from friends, or via our church’s prayer chain (email or phone). They felt these requests would be hard to keep track of on an ongoing basis in a prayer journal. And they’re right. I don’t put these sorts of requests in my prayer journal. If I get a request for someone at church, I usually write it down in the notebook I keep with me for sermon notes. That’s usually enough to keep that request in my memory for when I pray for that person during the week. When it’s answered, I can cross it out. If I get a request via phone or email, I’ll jot it on a post-it note. When the prayer is answered, I toss the paper.  

The prayer requests I keep in my prayer journal are long-term ones. For example, for my grown children I pray for things like this: • Closeness to God • Spiritual growth • Wisdom for parenting • Wisdom for marriage • Wise use of finances • Wise use of time • Use of spiritual gifts and talents... etc.  

Now, as to actually using my prayer journal on a daily basis. The first section I come to is Adoration -- where I have a number of pages concerning the attributes of God. So I turn to the attribute for the day -- I keep a marker in this section so I praise God for a different attribute each day. As I praise Him for, say, His omniscience, I can also thank Him for the fact that He knows all about me and every circumstance of my life. I find that praising God for His attributes first sets the tone for my prayer time. 

 Next, I come to Agreeing -- that is, agreeing with God about my sin. In this section I have a number of pages concerning character flaws and sin issues in my life. Again, I keep a marker in this section so I pray concerning a different problem each day. This makes a huge difference in my life, because these issues don’t slip off my radar screen. I am praying about them on a regular basis. Also in this section, I have a section called Health and Energy -- detailing the daily need for eating healthfully, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, etc. Again, since these are areas where I am prone to get lazy, it makes sense to have them here where I can pray about them every day.  

Next, I come to Asking. Within this section, I start by praying through the requests for Every Day. These would be ongoing, long-term requests for my husband, children/spouses, grandchildren, parents and close friends.  

Next, I pray through the requests I have allotted to different days of the week. On Monday, for example, I pray for missionaries. Again, the requests I pray for missionaries are not short-term urgent requests (although I do pray for those needs at other times) but are ongoing, long-term things like protection, boldness, opportunities to witness, fluency in language, times of refreshment, etc. 

Each day I also pray for a portion of our church family. And this is where those prayer requests I get at church or via the prayer chain come into play. As I pray for, say, Sue Jones (made-up name) I remember that Sue is having a biopsy next week, and pray about that. So that is pretty much my prayer time in a nutshell. I have found that my prayer time is so much more effective and so much more of a blessing to me as I use my prayer journal. I hope that those who are making their own journals or those who receive them as gifts will find them as helpful as I have found mine to be. 

 I'd just like to add here that the time of praising God for His attributes is becoming ever more precious to me as I tend to consider my requests in the light of the particular attribute I am praising Him for that day. For example, as I pray for my children, and I am praising God that He is truth, I can thank Him that His promises are true, and that He will keep His promise to continue the good work He has begun in the lives of my children (Philippians 1:6).