Helps in Prayer for 2013

 “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”  
                                                                        -Charles Spurgeon

I don't know about you, but I am not the best pray-er. I am often reminded of people and situations that need prayer, make a mental note to pray for them more, but often just forget to actually follow through. Even worse is the fact that I know I have done this far too often when I have told someone, "I'll pray about that." I'm not meaning to be dishonest or insincere when I say this; it's just so easy to forget. My prayer life needs some help.

With the start of a new year, I feel that there's no better time to try to start some better, new prayer habits! So I am very thankful for a friend who told me about a system for prayer that she learned about over the summer while at her missions training. This is day two for me of using this little system and I can already say it has been a blessing!

The idea is to "cover your bases," so to speak, so that the people in your life, as well different important situations/ issues are being regularly lifted up.

Here's how it works:

1. Get a journal or notebook

2. On the first page, write down people you will pray for every day. I put down my husband, my parents, and my siblings and their spouses and children.

3. Next, on the next seven pages write each day of the week--one day per page--and write the names of two or three people that you want to pray for on that day.

4. Finally, number the following pages 1-30 or 1-31 (for the days of the month) and write the names of two or three people you want to pray for. If you number 1-30, you just won't have a monthly prayer list on the last day of the months with 31 days. If you number 1-31, you can just add the people on the 31st to your prayer list on the 30th (or 28th) for the shorter months.

5. Work through the people assigned to the appropriate day/ page, and PRAY!!

Confused yet?? If you didn't catch it at first, you will be praying for certain people every day, others once a week, and others once a month, but some from each category every day. I don't own a camera, otherwise I would have lovely pictures to illustrate this process.

 If you aren't sure who to include on your prayer list, maybe start with your immediate family, urgent needs you know of, and people you have told, "I'll pray for you." You can make a list of people and then assign them to each day, or do what I did and just write people down as they come to mind. I think I have almost all the people in my church included in my list, as well as days that I will pray more generally for national leaders or certain ministries. This is an evolving list; people can be added or removed (if for instance, an urgent prayer need is answered) as time goes on. This is your list, so feel free to cater it to your life and what is going on around you.

I really hope that this helps you! Already, I have found it to be a big help in giving me a focus in my prayer time (or just giving me a prayer time to begin with), and also helping me to know that I'm covering a wide spectrum of people with prayer, rather than simply praying for those closest to me or just the first things that pop into my mind. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

One of the greatest ways we can show love to others is by lifting them up in prayer. I don't fully understand it, but somehow the Lord has chosen to allow our prayers to actually affect the outcome of events in our world. May we take hold of this powerful opportunity before us in 2013!

 "Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer."  E. M. Bounds