Ideas for Your Prayer Journal: Part 1

Purpose:

Use these to help guide entries for your own prayer journal. These can also be used as a guide for you to teach your child different things to pray about. Spend time together meditating on things in your own lives that apply to each idea category.

Theme:

“Pray without ceasing.” 
1 Thessalonians 5:17

Also, 

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”
Luke 18:1

1. Things you are thankful for:

Many of us know the song Count Your Many Blessings and that title really embodies this first category. Try to make it a priority to spend time in your daily prayers for the things you are thankful for.

We tend to go to God a lot in search of something, but we should also take time to thank Him for what we do have. As humans we often tend to dwell on the negatives in life, so even on a bad day or during a difficult time in your life, especially during these times, try to determine at least a few things you are thankful for.

Ephesians 5:20

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Philippians 4:6 

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Colossians 4:2 

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

2. Salvation:

Salvation could easily be grouped under “things we are thankful for,” but because of the prominence of this blessing, I have formed a separate category for it.

We should give great devotion and praise to God for his plan of salvation for us, His creation. First of all, He gave us life. He is our Creator. We would be nothing without Him. And God, in his infinite knowledge and wisdom, knew that man would become corrupted by sin, so he had a plan from the beginning of how he would provide salvation for His creation. That plan involved the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for our sins.

1 Peter 1:19-21

“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

1 Peter 2:24

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Isaiah 53:5-6

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Be mindful this is our greatest blessing. Thank and praise God for it always.

3. Previous prayers that were answered:

Again we often go to God in prayer seeking for things, so taking time to think on prior prayers He has answered for us tends to fall by the wayside. Spend time thanking God for prayers He has answered for you. Now, understand that sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we perhaps do not desire or expect, so maybe you need to take time to talk to Him about your recognition of His answer and how you are handling it. You may have to ask for help understanding or accepting His answer, and that’s okay. God is omniscient and omnipotent and His decisions are always just.

We cannot fully understand what it would be like to be in God’s position to know all things, be able to control things through providence, and be consistent always in justice, so instead we must have faith and try our best to understand and accept what comes our way.

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Examples of answered prayers:

Hezekiah – 

At the beginning of 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah received news from the Lord by Isaiah the prophet, that Hezekiah would soon die. Hezekiah prayed to God that this might not happen to him, and in verse 5 the answer the Lord sends by Isaiah is this,

“Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee…”

Hannah – 

Hannah wanted to bear a child and she passionately sought this of the Lord. We read about her prayer in 1 Samuel 1. In verse 11 is her petition to the Lord:

“if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life…”

And in verses 19 and 20 we see the answer to Hannah’s prayer:

“and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah and conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.”

The Church – 

In Acts 12:5 we read of the church praying for Peter’s release from prison:

“Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”

The answer to the church’s prayers came to fruition starting in verse 7 and by verse 11 Peter recognizes the Lord’s hand in his release from prison:

“And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

And Peter recounts to the other believers in verse 17 how he was released:

“But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.”

4. The sick or for families of those that have passed away:

We know that as Christians we should be seeking to help bear our brethren’s burdens, and during times of sickness or grief from lost loved ones we may try to help in what ways we can, but we can also go to God in prayer for them for the things out of our control. Now, it is important to note, as was already mentioned previously, that God’s answers to our prayers are not always in the ways we expect. We may pray to God for others to recover from ailments and unfortunately they may not. This life is only meant to be temporary and we do not know how much time each of us has, so let us be mindful of how precious time is.

Because the Bible was written by inspired men during a time when miraculous intervention occurred, many examples of seeking help for the sick involved healing as the answer in a miraculous manner, and even raising of the dead in some cases.

For example, 10 lepers sought for Jesus’ help in Luke 17 and in verse 14 we read,

“And when he saw them, he said unto the, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”

Another example in Acts 28:8 reads,

“And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.”

And of course, two well known passages of people risen from the dead include Lazarus and Tabitha (Dorcas).

Refer to the discussion previously about Hezekiah for an Old Testament example of healing by God.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF “IDEAS FOR YOUR PRAYER JOURNAL”