What is Prayer Journaling?
The simplest answer is: It is journaling, when you put your life on the page, spending time with God, remembering what God has done, and counting your blessings in a prayer letter to God.
The more complicated and more complete answer is this... Prayer journaling is all of the above + (plus):
Where you Pray the Word and study the Word
What you do to help you work through a problem
How to cope with a life challenge
Help with problem solving
How you learn life lessons
How you see patterns in your life
How you leave a legacy
Where you go when you need a safe place
A way to worship God
How you pray 24/7/365
Solitude
Silence
Draw close to God
Remember what has happened and your memories
Where and how you grow deeper in your faith
How to deal with the attacks of the enemy
Where you go to express your creativity
A sacred place
When you remember the cross
Where you ponder his grace
Etc.
Prayer journaling is writing out your 24/7/365 prayers to God and Pray the Word as you talk to God about life and spend time with the Lord.
Why Prayer Journaling?
Why should you read a blog or a book on prayer journaling?
Why should you prayer journal?
The answer to both questions stem to these reasons:
1 You want to get to know God.
2 You want to spend time with God. (This is done through prayer.)
3 You want to count your blessings.
4 You want to remember what God has done in your life.
5 You want to work through a problem or a challenge.
6 You want and need to heal.
7 You want to deepen your relationship with the Lord.
8 You need answers.
9 You want to get to know, study, and remember the Word of God.
10 Any other reason you can think of and more.
MY ASSUMPTION: YOU ALREADY HAVE A JOURNAL
My assumption is that you already have a journal and you already have done some journaling.
If this is not the case, you might want to check out these blog posts and then you’ll be ready to read the rest of this blog post and book:
1
http://thejournalingpath.blogspot.com/2013/01/journaling-101-introduction.html
2
http://thejournalingpath.blogspot.com/2013/01/journaling-101-reasons-to-journal.html
3
http://thejournalingpath.blogspot.com/2013/01/journaling-101-i-now-have-journal-now.html
4
http://thejournalingpath.blogspot.com/2013/01/journaling-101-who-am-i.html
If you have never journaled before, read those four links and get your journal. Buy it or prepare it on your computer. If you have journaled before, please continue.
PREPARATION OF YOUR PRAYER JOURNAL
So, why don’t you get your journal? Now, let’s prepare it for prayer journaling at this time.
My first suggestion is to start with a brand new journal to do personal journaling and prayer journaling. This marks a new segment in your Christian walk and in your journaling journey. Therefore, start fresh with a new journal.
What do we do to prepare our journals to also act as a prayer journal?
Turn to the first page of your journal and at the top of the page write, for example:
^ THE PRAYER JOURNAL OF STACY DUPLEASE (Put your name there instead.)
Then, put today’s date on the next line. For example,
^ START DATE: 01 FEBRUARY 2013, FRIDAY
Now, pick a verse from the Bible you would like to focus on for this journal. IT will be the verse you pray at the start of each day. So, write this in your prayer journal:
^ JOURNAL’S FOCUS VERSE IS...
PAGE 2 OF YOUR PRAYER JOURNAL
1 Write for a minimum of 10 minutes. Set a timer. Write out your hopes and expectations of your prayer journaling on the second page of your prayer journal. Share them with God. Write it as a prayer. Also, tell him your fears, frustrations, concerns, stressors, and anything else that comes to mind. Pour it all out to God.
If you run out of something to prayer journal about, worship him and praise him. Talk about what is going on in your life. Tell him about your day, week, month, and year. Tell him anything that you want.
If you want to keep going, turn off the timer and by all means, keep prayer journaling.
2 Now, set your timer for 10 minutes and so something that you will find very difficult at first.
Are you ready to hear the next step of this prayer journaling exercise or prompt?
Listen to what God has to say to you for ten minutes. Write it down. write it all down.
If your mind wanders, write it down. After all, you might not be able to sit in silence before the Lord unless you get it down on the page--so you can let it go. Then, write, I AM LISTENING TO YOU, FATHER. This will often times get you to refocus.
The listening segment of your prayer journaling is far more important than anything you could ever day. But, God wants to hear from you as well. He cares about what you care about. He wants you to share all of your life with him--no matter how small and silly you might think something is, it’s huge to him. He wants to be with you and show you his love for you. So, that’s why the first part of this exercise is important. But, the listening part is where he can actually get through the noise of your life and you are receptive to him in a way you normally are not.
This listening part is tough, I must warn you. You might find the first time out that you can only do this for 30 seconds--before your mind starts to wander.
If the I AM LISTENING exercise does not work, prayer journal a verse. That will also help you focus--and will give him the opportunity to speak to you. Sit in silence for a little bit. Then, repeat the verse if your mind starts to wander. But, don’t forget to write down what you thought when your mind wandered.
Try to sit in silence for as long as you can and just listen. Be open to him. Remain open to him and whatever he has to say to you.
There are times he might be silent. Do not fret. That doesn’t mean you aren’t hearing him. While that might be true, trust me. I know one thing for sure. When he has something to say to you, he will say it--and will say it multiple times and in multiple ways. He isn’t a God who speaks once and then stops. While he might grow quiet with you for a bit, it doesn’t mean he is punishing you. It means he is growing you and helping you attune your spiritual ears--your heart and mind--to him. Be patient. You will hear him when you are supposed to. Just keep listening. Don’t stop listening just because you might not hear from him today, for a week, a month, a year, or a decade. Keep listening. Remain open. He will speak.
In my experience, the only time he’s been silent with me for more than a week, it’s been because of me. I didn’t listen. I didn’t give him the opportunity to speak--because I wasn’t listening. Nonetheless, if I prayer journal, he usually speaks. I would say 95% of the time. He knows I am giving him that time. He will meet me there--since I am intentionally giving him the time that day.
Also, the more I listen, the more attune I get with him because I am in the word more.
EVERY time I open the Bible, the Word of God, he has spoken. Every word in the Bible is a word from him. So, that’s why I say write out a verse if your mind wanders and if you don’t hear from him. Write out the verse and you did. It might not feel like it. But, that’s okay. you don’t need to feel a thing. It doesn't diminish how he has spoken to you.
I hope that helps.
STEAL TIME TO PRAYER JOURNAL
Prayer journal all day long and all night long--here and there. Even if it’s a sentence here and a paragraph there. Carry your prayer journal everywhere you go. Remain open for prayer requests. you’ll hear someone say they aren’t feeling well, they are upset, their child has been in trouble at school, etc. Jot those down. Add them to your longer prayer journaling time each day.
Steal time to prayer journal. We have between one and two hours each day of down time we usually cannot get back. We wait in a line, we wait on hold, we wait for an appointment, we go on break, we eat, we go to the restroom, we drive, etc. When driving, use the audio recorder on your cell and speak out your prayers. Then, write it down when you get home.
Steal time to prayer journal each and every day.
END OF DAY
Now, take some time to prayer journal anything you want.
LET’S BEGIN: MONTHLY, WEEKLY, AND DAILY PRAYER JOURNALING VERSES
Note: Everything I share from this point on in this INTRODUCTION is just a suggestion. It’s what you can do when you aren’t reading and doing this book.
Now, that your prayer journal’s first page is ready, we are ready to start to do some weekly and daily prayer journaling. As you might have guessed from the section of this section, you will need to pick out a verse to focus on for the month, the week, and for each day. That way, each day, you will have at least four verses to focus on throughout your day: your daily, weekly, monthly, and prayer journal’s verses--along with any others that God reveals to you. You also might have a yearly verse and verses to help you with a present situation. There might be verses you want to memorize and other verses God has put on your heart for whatever reason. You might have a family member or a friend struggling with something and you might have verses you are praying for them. But, either way, you will have at least four verses to pray each and every day.
FOUR VERSES MINIMUM EACH DAY FOR DAILY PRAYER JOURNALING
Let me put this in list form to help you picture this better. What verses will you pray each day?
^ Your prayer journal’s verse
^ Your monthly verse
^ Your weekly verse
^ Your daily verse
^ Any other verses God has put in your mind and heart.
Is this meant to act as a legalistic mechanism to force you to pray? No. Not at all. Rather, there are four verses to give you the words to pray whenever you are blank. Moreover, you will find these four verses a comfort, once you get into the rhythm of prayer journaling. They will give you something to focus on each day and will help you get through your day better because of it. Therefore, I recommend that you bring your prayer journal with you everywhere you go.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR DAILY VERSE?
There are many ways to find a daily verse. I will list several suggestions here in this section. However, let me state that if you are memorizing a verse, do not use that as your daily verse, except for the first day you decide to start memorizing it.
Pick a new verse each day. This is the hard, fast rule to never break.
You can find a daily verse in these ways:
^ www.biblegateway.com has a daily verse on their home page each day.
^ Pick your own verse at random.
^ Look at a chapter of the Bible and look at each verse one day at a time.
^ I recommend the Psalms and Proverbs when you are stuck and are not sure what you want to pray.
^ The New Testament is also jammed pack with wonderful verses. Start with Matthew 1:1 and go to the last verse in Revelation. Or, pick one in random.
^ You’ll read it somewhere--like in a daily devotional, walking through a store, in your Bible study, etc.
^ You’ll hear someone say it--on the radio, in a sermon, in passing, talking with someone else, in your Bible study, etc.
^ God will put it on your heart.
ONE SENTENCE A DAY TO PAGES UPON PAGES A DAY
In the next section, I will give you the general guideline for your main prayer journaling time each day. I recommend this at the start of your day each day. Ideally, you would also do it at lunch, when you get home from work (or when your spouse gets home from work), and before bed. At first, you might not be able to do all of that. More to the point, you may not want to do all of that or may not have the time to do so.
Therefore, start with prayer journaling one sentence each day. The one sentence to write: Your daily prayer verse. Do this for one week. Then, add a sentence and do 2 sentences every day for a week. Then, add another sentence every day for a week. Do this until you prayer journal pages each day and in the morning, noon, evening, and before bed at least.
Of course, if you want, you can start with more than one sentence--and that would be ideal. I would say to start off with a page per day personally and build from there. But, do what you can, as you can.
If you have no idea how many sentences to start off with, and build from there, I recommend this: Prayer journal every day for a week--whatever you can. Then, at the end of the week, add up how many sentences you wrote each day. Then, add them together and divide by seven. This will be your starting average. Start with that next week. Then, add another sentence the following week, then add another sentence the week after that, and so on--until you are up to multiple sentences per day, multiple times per day.
All of that being said, you might do really good adding a sentence per week, then something might happen and you’ll get thrown off course for a day or two to a month or two. If this happens, remember this rule of thumb: Prayer journal a minimum of one sentence per day: your daily prayer verse. Period. And do what you can, when you can from there.
ADD THIS TO YOUR PLANNER (CALENDAR)
Add prayer journaling to your planner. Start with ten minutes per day for a week. Anyone can steal 10 minutes each day for prayer journaling--starting today. If not, check your priorities. You will do what's important in your life.
Then, next week, add 5 minutes. Do this every week until you are to at least two hours a day. that would be 40 minutes in the morning, 20 at lunch, 30 when you get home from work (or when your spouse gets home), and 30 (or 40) before bed.
Take your planner or calendar out at least five years--adding this time in each day. And, once a month, add another two months to your planner.
THE STEPS OF PRAYER JOURNALING
1 Pray your prayer journal's verse, along with anything else that comes to mind. Then listen.
2 Pray your monthly verse, along with anything else that comes to mind. Then listen.
3 Pray your weekly verse, along with anything else that comes to mind. Then listen.
4 Pray your daily verse, along with anything else that comes to mind. Then listen.
5 Praise God. Worship him for who he is. Adore him. Then listen.
6 Thank God for what he has done. This includes all of your life's memories. Then listen.
7 Share your day and life with him. Then listen.
8 Pray your check list. Then listen.
9 Pray whatever else comes to mind. Then listen.
10 Listen.
11 Listen.
12 Listen.
Okay, so there are really 10 steps. Steps 11 and 12 were added to make a point. You really do not have to go in this order. Nor do you have to pray all 10 I recommend it as often as you can. But, there are times you will feel compelled to pray one of the 10 specifically. Then, do it. There is a reason why God placed it on your heart.
There are times I will pray number 1, for example, for days on end and nothing more. This typically happens when God speaks to me through his Word. If God is speaking, that is far more important than anything I ever could. Therefore, I will pray that same verse over and over until he tells me to move along or he grows quiet.
The steps I just provided you are what you can do in addition to the material I give you in this book, if you so desire. Otherwise, feel free to just do what is in this book. This book will give you assistance in your daily prayer journaling time. I will provide you with material to use as you desire. I recommend you do each day and all of the steps. But again, if God starts speaking, stop and listen.
Prayer journal what he says, along with your response.
Shall we begin?
Just so that you know, I will not write out any verse in this blog post, book, or series. After all, it is far more important for you to look them up for yourself. God will speak to you through each verse.
Often times, it will be a word at a time. Really take in each word.
Pause. Chew on the Word, word by word. Ponder each.
Then, contemplate the entire verse. Take your time. Listen far more to God than you speak.
Even if you know the verse by heart, please look it up in the Bible for yourself. Maybe use a different version. This will guarantee you get the most out of each verse.
Also, if you are tempted to read the verse and think, "It doesn't speak to me," then ignore that reaction. It will go against your fleshy ways, but remember this is God we are talking about and he can use any verse to speak to you. So, remain open and listen. Usually, when it is a verse I do not want to read for whatever reason, God uses it more than any other verse. I think sometimes, he tests us and teaches us at these times.
Now, let us begin.
(Image Credit: Stacy Duplease 2009-2014.)
