"Pray without ceasing."

*1 Thessalonians 5:17

As a Christian, one of my biggest struggles is daily prayer.
I try my hardest to take time every single night and spend some time with God to study His word and to pray.
However, it doesn't always happen.

Thus came the....
...drumroll please...

Prayer Journal.

I came across this idea in a recent Bible study. And let me just say, this is in no way required. The Bible does not say you need to have a prayer journal, it just says to pray.

"Pray without ceasing." -1 Thessalonians 5:17

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” -Matthew 21:22

I personally, however, am a total "Type A" person. My mind operates best when things are organized with a certain agenda for each thing and each day. So, I've found that keeping a prayer journal is a great tool to keep track of certain things that I want/need to pray for.

Let me specify that it doesn't matter what kind of journal you use for this! It could be any kind you would like! This one is from Mardel's. I chose one that had a scripture on the front and a scripture on every page. The last couple pages are also reserved for personal memory verses that I may want to write down or continually keep tabs on.

I plan on using each page for a new week and conveniently there were 21 lines on each page to split up into 3's for each day.
It's the little things that make my heart happy :)


***Ps. I don't have the best handwriting so bear with me!!

I put a little key up at the top for you guys so that you could see more easily what the colors were for.

So obviously each day will have it's own little spot. And with each day comes different obstacles and different situations so I chose 2 different colors *ahem* my favorite colors to write down certain things that needed to be given thanks for or certain things that needed to be asked for. So since I'm going out of town this weekend and I'll be coming back on Sunday, I wrote down in orange to ask for safe travels on the way home. I also put a purple star beside it to remind myself (Lord willing that we make it home safely) to give thanks for those safe travels.

There are also many things in my life that I may not pray for every single day, but I need to make sure that I am taking the time to pray about. So, for example, every single Sunday I will be making sure that I'm praying for the Elders, Ministers and Teachers of the church. Every Monday I will be praying for the one God has set aside to be my husband in the future and so on so forth. I also left a little blank spot next to each of those in case something extra heavy is weighing on my heart that day about that subject, so that I can write it down to remember to pray about it later.

I'm thinking I should've flip flopped these last two in the reverse order but whatever. I'll do it on the ones to come :)
So up at the top I have a spot for answered prayers. No matter when they happen in the future, whether its later that week or later that year, I can remember that I prayed about that and then go write down how God answered me. After a lot of time I think it will be really eye opening and amazing to go back and see how God really is listening and really does care. I'm sure it will be one more factor that strengthens my faith later on.

Lastly, there's a spot for "Prayer Priorities." This spot can be filled with anything that you want to be sure to be praying about all week long. Personally, I will be adding the church's prayer list to mine with all the people who are sick, having surgery or having other problems. You could also add friends or family members who are having a hard time, or of course, prayers for yourself in areas that you need help in.

I really hope this inspires you to pray more, or to even make your own prayer journal! If you do make your own journal I would love to see it and if you have anything to add I would love to hear that as well!

Remember, if you have any prayer requests at all, no matter how big or small, please don't hesitate to ask! I would be more than willing to pray for you or someone you know!

I hope your week is going well so far!
Love y'all!



PS. I'll be going out of town tomorrow until Sunday, so this will be the last you see of me until then! :)