Girl 1: “Hey girl, I’m going through a really hard time right now.”
Girl 2: “Oh, really? I’m so sorry. What’s going on?”
Girl 1: “Well…I’m just really struggling with some worry and fear in my life. I don’t know what to do.”
Girl 2: “Oh man…that sounds really hard. I’ll definitely be praying for you.
Girl 1: “Thank you so much. I need it.”
Several weeks go by and Girl 2 has never prayed for Girl 1 even a single time. She meant to. She wanted to. She intended to. But it just slipped her mind. She completely forgot about her promise.
Have you ever told someone you would pray for them, but then completely forgot to follow through?
I’ll be the first to say I’ve done this on more occasions than I’d like to admit. I wanted to. I intended to. But I just forgot. I never wrote it down, and I never remembered.
Up until a few years ago my prayer life was okay. It was there, but I wasn’t very good about praying for others consistently. I wasn’t very good about the follow through.
It wasn’t until I learned this one essential tip that my prayer life gained some major traction. In fact, my amazing husband, Zack, is the person who introduced me to this way of praying.
In the past, I would sit down to pray and try really hard to stay focused.
That was struggle number one. Focusing. Then, I would simply pray for whatever popped into my head. That was struggle number two. Lack of organization. I wasn’t organized, so my thoughts were totally scattered.
That style of praying didn’t work well for me. I needed structure.
That’s where my husband’s idea comes in. He taught me my all-time favorite tip on how to pray consistently.
Rather than praying for random things every day, I now use the calendar app on my phone to organize my prayers.
I actually schedule out my prayers! Genius. I type in the different names of family members, friends, and other topics for each day of the week, then set them to repeat.
For example, my calendar looks something like this…
Monday:
- Offer praises to God
- Confess my sins
- Pray for Zack
- Pray for Bethany
- Pray for Chelsea (friend)
- Pray for the Government
- Pray to end of abortion in our Nation
- Pray for the Girl Defined Ministry
- Pray for friend to heal from sickness
Tuesday:
- Praises to God
- Confess my sins
- Pray for Zack (I pray for him every day)
- Pray for Dad
- Pray for Mom
- Pray for my pastor
- Pray for church missionaries
- Pray for friend’s upcoming wedding
Do you get the idea? Instead of trying to pray for everyone and everything in one single day, I divide my prayers up to fill the entire week (with the exception of the things I pray about every day).
This tip has been SO helpful to me because I don’t miss anyone or forget to pray about something.
If I tell someone I’m going to pray for them, I immediately write it down on my calendar. Or, I’ll stop and pray for them right then.
Praying this way has helped my mind stay focused and my prayers more direct. I am the type of person who does so much better if my thoughts are organized and written down.
Due to praying this way, my prayer life has been much richer and more consistent than ever before. I also try to begin my prayer time each day by asking God to help me stay focused.
If you’re not sure what to pray for, simply begin by praising God for the blessings in your life.
Then move on to confessing any sins that come to your mind. It’s important that we confess our sins to God or our fellowship with Him will be hindered.
God says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Prayer is an amazing and powerful tool that God has given us to communicate directly with Himself. Isn’t that incredible? The God of the universe desires to hear our prayers and deepest thoughts.
If you don’t have a consistent prayer life, I challenge you to make this a huge priority.
Just like any other relationship, your relationship with God cannot grow any deeper if you don’t talk to Him on a regular basis.
If you’re struggling to stay focused, try getting organized like I did. Write your prayers down (on your phone calendar app or even on 3X5 cards), and rotate them each day. Organizing my prayer life has been extremely helpful for me and I’m sure it will be for you too.
Also, check out my recent post called 3 Quick Tips to Instantly Improve Your Personal Devotions for overall help on how to improve your quiet time.
How about you?
How would you describe your prayer life right now? What tips can you share that help you stay focused and organized? Share with me below!
Photo credit here.
