Prayer Stuff
Prayer is essential to the Christian walk. I struggled to maintain anything close to a healthy prayer life for a long time, but the last couple of years have been a stark contrast. There are a couple points here: use a prayer journal and be careful what you pray.
A prayer journal might be a weird place to start a discussion on prayer, but bear with me. That is one of mine with my favourite prayer pen (Spiderman rocks and anyone who disagrees can naff off – I will stand and die on that hill). How you use a prayer journal is a really personal thing, but it should fit into your prayer life naturally. That is, don't shoe-horn it into how you pray like squeezing your 150kg tummy into an extra-small t-shirt because it is a classic Cliff Richard concert T-shirt. I pray a lot with the rosary, as I wrote about a year ago. I pray pretty much daily, but do not use a prayer diary for all of that. I generally only use one when I sit down and have the Bible with me too. That can be weeks apart.
Why a prayer journal? It is a good to keep track of what God is doing in your life and why He might be doing it. I had this lesson rammed home just this week. It is hard to recall what God might have told you or you might have prayed months before when you are in the midst of a drought or just a tough time. This is where, I think, prayer journals are really useful.
I am, at the moment, really going through some tough times in terms of my work. The nature of it is unimportant, but recently, the Lord prompted me to look back to 2022 and a prayer that I had made late that year. It was a prayer of submission where I prayed to God to do what He needed to grow me as a Christian and follower of Jesus. I even included the words “tear me apart”. It was not until I read that entry that I realised the Lord has been answering that prayer. Immediately, the current trials have taken on a different aspect. James' injunction to consider all trials a joy does not seem quite as ludicrous as it did before.
And this brings me to my second point: the almost cliched axiom that one needs to be careful what one prays for, as one may just get it. Some prayers are just rattled off and barely get any thought after. Prayer should be intentional. Pretty obvious, really. I have learnt recently that care is needed in some cases, especially the dangerous prayers like submission.
I asked God if I could take it back. You can imagine how that went. The silence was deafening. In all seriousness, would I take it back if I could? Not a chance.
Pray hard, people, and pray deep. Blessings to you for reading this and I hope it helps!
As always, trusteth me not. Get into your Bible and check what I say measures up to it.