I am so excited to share this with you! It has been life changing as far as my prayer life goes. Have you ever told someone that you would pray for them (concerning a long term prayer request) only to get too busy and simply forget? I have and I just hate it when that happens. Oh, I prayed for them, right after they asked me to pray, but then I have trouble following through sometimes and hanging in there for the duration. There are so many promises that I want to pray over my children, our country, our church, our friends...but life gets in the way and it seems like I fall into my prayer rut of just praying for the same things over and over. Can you relate?
Four years ago, I followed Lisa Welchel's advice and made my own Prayer Binder following her specific instructions. (You can find the instructions for the Prayer Journal by clicking on this address and scrolling down until you find June 21, 2004.) She also sells them.
They are very good instructions. The prayer binder was easy to create. I just used a 3 ring binder, 2 packages of Avery business card, and 15 clear business card pages. I made ten categories that I want to be sure to pray for every day. They are: Rachel & Hannah (my daughters), R (my husband), myself, Family, Thanksgiving, Praise, Ministry, Personal Influences, America, and Friends.
I made a different card for each category for 30 days of the month. If a month has 31 days, I just repeat one of my days. This way, I will have prayed 30 different promises over my girls and my husband, remembered to pray for everyone in our family at least once during the month (of course I pray for several every day :-) ) etc. By the end of the month I will have prayed for 300 of the most important people and issues that are on my heart!
For the girls, my husband, and myself I listed specific verses for each day. An example would be: Excellence: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." Ecclesiastes 9:10.
I have enjoyed using this prayer binder for the last 4 years. After 4 years, you can imagine that I would need to update it a bit. We have added family members, some have gone on to glory, ministries have changed, and even changes in friendships and personal influences.
This was my tackle today. I'm so thankful that it is up to date now and I am ready to put it into use. I was showing the finished product to Rachel, my oldest daughter, when God prompted me to ask her if she would like to have one too.
She was excited about praying in a new way, so we spent the afternoon making a prayer binder just for her. This was so much fun.
She chose 6 categories to pray for each day. They include: She and her sister, Family, Thanksgiving, Praise, Personal Influence, and Friends. She designed her cover and I had fun adding specific scriptures for Rachel to pray for herself and for her sister. Here is a picture of her Prayer Journal.
I can hardly wait to see how God uses this! James 5:16 says, "The effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much." Oh, its not our power that changes things, but God's power. My heart wants to make so many petitions for my family, myself, and our corner of the world and this binder helps me stay on track and lose the whole guilt thing! This Busy Mom's Prayer Binder has been a great blessing to me and I hope it will bless your life too! To God be the glory!
Joyfully,
Kristi
That is pretty cool my friend. What a wonderful idea. I'll have to check out that website. Am I in there lol?
ReplyDeleteBlessings my friend.
Kim
Great idea. I always try to at least pray a short prayer as soon as I tell someone I will pray for them - that way I don't break my word on it. If I remember later, I will try to pray more for them ; but at least I know I have done what I said (I have a *very* bad memory).
ReplyDeleteThe Broken Man
http://theblogofabrokenman.blogspot.com/
that is beautiful! i love it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea especially for us visual learners. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteLove the journal! Just printed out the instructions to make one for this fall!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I think I'd like to make a family prayer binder. Hubby and I have been talking a lot about family unity and encouraging the boys to pray for each other. I think I could come up with a few other categories too. Thanks for posting this! I'm excited to get started (but it will have to wait till I finish those announcements!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I keep prayer journals for each of my children and one for my husband, extended family, friends and myself (all in one journal). Once my kids are older, I will hand down their prayer journals to them so that they can see a testimony of thier lives and what God has done. Happy TT!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing idea. I love it and it looks like a great project for me to make on Brea's first day of school. The supplies to make it should all be on sale as well with it being "back to school" season!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great idea!
wow, that is a great tackle and a great idea.
ReplyDeleteOh I so need one of these!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have one but for my home things...like a wish list of sorts, with receipts in it and pictures of what we would like to do when we remodel...but I hadn't thought of a prayer book!
Found your blog on the blog with the lady who made cards and bread today. Your profile description is so honest and beautiful! As are your girls. They do grow up fast, I have 3 boys, 15,12 and 9. Thanks for the post about the prayer binder, instructions like that make things so easy to do!
ReplyDeleteWow! Wow! Being an organizing junkie...I'm in LOVE with this idea! Thank you so much for sharing (particularly the photo of the inside...I was having a hard time picturing it!) I'm thinking these would make awesome gifts for some special Bible study friends! I'll be checking out that site...ASAP!
ReplyDeleteThanks & blessings,
Tracy
What a great idea, Kristi! I struggle with this same problem and a prayer journal like this would be great for me. I just may have to make one of my own.
ReplyDeleteI also love that your daughter wanted to make one and wanted to do something to improve her prayer life. Very, very special!
That is an awesome idea!! I need to get one started!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing that...it's given me some ideas!
What a great idea! I really like it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so true... we sin when we promise someone that we will pray for him/her only to forget. This is a good idea. I will pray for time to do something like this. You are amazing. I pray my kids will have an organized prayer life too. I think it has to start from me. LOL! Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! Hubs and I were just talking about that last night...we pray for someone that we know needs prayer and then forget about it after a week! What a great way to have a daily reminder!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip...I will get working on mine ASAP!
Blessings...
Wow! What a wonderful idea! I am going to try something like this! I love your faith in The Lord. What blessings you will receive!
ReplyDeleteKristi,
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE LOVE this idea - I might be back asking some questions. I think the children and I would have such a good time creating these, not to mention going back to see how faithful God has been to answer our prayers!
Big hugs for sharing this and for God bringing us together so I could find you and it!
Jill
This is a great idea. And look how it's already producing fruit in your own family. It's great that your daughter asked you about it. I may have to impliment this in my own life.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea and will be checking out the website. I like most things Lisa Welchel writes about, and I can tell this will be one of them. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for passing this on!
Kari
What a neat idea! I have just recently discovered Lisa Welchel's website but had not seen that yet. I am going there today to check it out and can't wait to get the stuff to make my own prayer journal.
ReplyDeleteI just love your blog! I love the colors, the pictures, the posts. Your daughters are beautiful. You seem like a really neat lady. Thank you for the very sweet comment you left on my blog this morning.
God bless,
Kellie
Hi there! I found your blog from the comment you left on mine (thanks for visiting!)
ReplyDeleteI just love this idea...I'd really like to copy this!
Oh that is very nice. I think I will borrow the idea. I love the verses that you have on your cover.
ReplyDeleteThanks for inspiring me today to be closer to Him. It's been a long road for me.
This is a great post! I've been making my own prayer journal w/the prayers I've gotten from Stormie Omartian's bible studies.
ReplyDelete