In April our church held a women's event where we were treated to a wonderful morning of testimony and practicality of prayer by a godly Titus 2 woman. She shared a resource, a prayer binder, that she uses as a tool to organize her prayer time. It was such an encouraging morning to hear her share how she uses this binder and what a testimony to God's graciousness and goodness as she looks back over the years of answered prayer in that binder!!
After the sharing time, supplies were provided for each of us to begin working on assembling our own prayer binders and I have been using mine almost daily since then.
In the front of the binder, to the left I have a list of Scriptures that was given to us that pertain to prayer and on the right I have about 6 or 7 different hymns printed off that I am memorizing. I usually begin my prayer time by singing two hymns and then follow that with a time of quiet reflection where I ask God to reveal anything in my life that I need to repent of.
My binder has 7 sections that are separated by tabbed dividers and labeled as follows:
Everyday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Thankfulness
Under the Everyday section I daily pray for my husband, children and other requests such as a friend who is battling cancer, some youth I know who are on a missions trip, friends who are praying for God's direction in their life, those looking for jobs etc.
My husband and each of my children have a page in this section where I can write down specific areas of prayer for them but I also use a 30 day resource when praying for my husband (more on that later). The rest of the requests are written on one page and I just pray down the page.
On Mondays I pray for the requests of those in our church who have asked for prayer. I also pray for expecting and new moms on this day and for the many orphaned children who are waiting for families to adopt them. We are especially praying for one little girl who captured our heart.
On Tuesdays I pray for our friends the Rolfzens who are missionaries in Peru. I also pray for the missionaries and ministries that our church supports.
On Wednesdays I pray for those who are in authority over us in our nation, state and region. I also pray for the peace of Israel and any other world current events. I will admit that this day is the hardest for me.
On Thursdays I pray for our extended families. I have a page for my parents and for Scotts parents and then a page for each of our siblings and their families. As requests are made known I write them on their page. First and foremost is for our families salvation but then for example, I was praying for my mom in her decision to cut back on her hours for work so that she could be home more. She was unsure how her boss would respond. My neice was dealing with some unexplained tummy troubles that they couldn't find a cause for and so I wrote this request down on my brothers family page.
Friday is kind of a miscellaneous day, for shorter requests or requests that don't fit under other categories. I use Fridays to also pray for online friends such as my Good Morning Girls group.
The last section is my Thankful section where each day I write down at least 1 thing that I am thankful for. It might be an answer to prayer, the wonder and excitement of Andrew finding caterpillars, a loving look from my husband or a surprise call from a friend. It is a place to cultivate a heart that is thankful for the many gifts and blessings the Lord gives.
The prayer binder has really been a wonderful tool to give direction to my prayer time, especially for my husband and I thought I would share with all of you my 30 days of prayer for my husband. It probably isn't anything new and I'm sure if you searched you could find similar resources on other blogs or from other ministries but I wanted to share here in my little space. :)
So, in the month of June and into July I plan to share the different areas of prayer that I cover for my husband along with some Scripture referrences for these areas and a short prayer. I wont be able to post everyday but the posts will be labled under day 1, day 2 etc. so that you will be able to find them easily and at the end of the 30 days I will post a link to a pdf for you to download them if you'd like.
If you have any question about the prayer binder, ask away. I had plenty of them for our lovely Titus 2 woman that day and in the days to follow.
Hi Theresa,
ReplyDeleteI love your prayer binder. Great ideas for what to pray for each day. I actually put one together a few months ago. But, I love your idea of the thankful page/section. I am going to include that because that's something I need to make an effort to do. When I realize things that I'm thankful for it changes my attitude and perspective...to a much better one :)
Also, thank you for leaving a comment on my blog about the book the Bait of Satan by John Bevere. I'm sorry to hear about the trial you went through at your church, but I appreciated your honesty and how the book helped you.
Have a blessed day! Kathy
Thank you, Kathy. Have you blogged about your prayer binder? I'd love to read about it.
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