REMINDED TO PRAY

If your “New Year Resolutions” include something about your prayer life, you might resonate with this idea: a home-made personalized prayer notebook. I wrote about this simple tool in my blog a dozen years ago. When I shared about it at subsequent women’s retreats, the half-dozen or so “prayer notebooks” I’d assembled (from thrift store finds) quickly disappeared from my speaker’s “book table.”

That experience suggested that this very simple, homemade plan for “remembering to pray” seemed to hit a felt need. Nothing fancy, truly homemade, my “prayer notebook” consists of a small six-ring planner (4 1/2x7”) with homemade dividers for each day of the week. It’s small enough to fit in the pocket of my Bible cover. 

Thanks to an era when purse-size planners (or more) were trendy for the organized woman, these little "planners" are now often found in thrift stores. My “version” had tabs for each day of the week, with pages (and photos) for folks I pray for, and a sticky note to update their prayer needs. On the tabbed divider facing the first page on that section I wrote down other reminders, like character qualities to pray to grow in my children and grandchildren. In the back are two more tabs. One, to help with private worship, is a growing alphabetical list of the praise-worthy names and character of God. The other is a list I call my “Jordan stones,” to remember times of extraordinary help and comfort from God.

My blog columns about the “prayer notebook” are all back there in the online “blog history”—accessible via the list at the right of this.  Go to the 2010 tab and find Sept. 27, 2010 (here’s the link: Jeanne Zornes: September 2010 ), then scroll up (that’s how they place the subsequent blogs). The blogs suggest things that may or may not work for you. But if something does help you in your prayer life, I will be grateful.

These days, when I sit down for my “quiet time,” I often find the lyrics or tunes to hymns running through my heart. One that frequently comes to me is “My Jesus, I love thee, I know Thou art mine.” If you have hymns in your spiritual heritage, the rest of this hymn’s words may come to you. You may not realize that the words—which include “for Thee all the follies of sin I resign”-- came from the heart of a teenager. Oh, that more of us, whatever our age, would be challenged by his example of expressing love to Jesus!  I wrote about  the young poet and the hymn here: Jeanne Zornes: JUST PTL (Psalm 146). His attitude of humility and expectation is what I desire, too, in seeking to love and trust Jesus.

Anything here helpful to you? I’d love feedback in the comments section below. Scripture tells us to “encourage one another” and this is one way that can happen.

PRAYING BY THE BOOK—Setting up a prayer notebook, continued

In my Oct. 3 blog post about setting up a prayer notebook, I summarized the nuts-and-bolts of dividing prayer requests among days of the week, including missionaries or Christian workers you know. I promised to detail later more about praying for your children and for adult family members.

I forgot something! As you spread out your heart concerns among days of the week, consider adding some other prayer areas. Mark them on the back of each day's divider tab. Here are ones in my notebook:

Sunday: specific needs of my church. For example, mine had two extended pastor searches. Now, our church is being challenged to participate more in serving the local and global poor.
Monday: my own work and ministry. Even though praying happens in front of my computer when I really struggle with a piece, I also pray about the big picture of my writing/speaking ministry.
Tuesday: the 10/40 window (the greatest concentration of Islam between these latitudes on the globe) and a child in Haiti we sponsor in a compassion ministry.
Wednesday: government. This includes local and national leaders. How much we need to do this! Check this web site, sponsored by a non-profit group, for some specifics: www.presidentialprayerteam.com
Thursday: neighbors. While praying, I imagine walking around my block and stopping to pray for each household. Addictions, broken marriages, spiritual apathy—there’s lots to pray about.
Friday: the spiritually troubled, including specific prisoners I know of, others with addictions, and those family members and friends who don’t see their need of Christ.
Saturday: long-term special needs. My list includes friends and relatives with rebellious children and others struggling to “do life” in their Christian journey. Most are not aware that I am praying for them.

Next post: praying for your children. Is this helping you? Please forward the blog link to others: http://jeannezornes.blogspot.com

Praying by the book, Part 2: Setting up a Prayer Notebook

Ready to be more proactive in your prayer life? In this blog I’ll explain, as promised in last week’s blog, how to set up a personal prayer notebook.
You’ll need:
*A small ringed notebook and at least about 30 sheets of filler paper. I prefer a six-ring notebook that measures about 4 ½ by 7 inches, small enough to fit in the pocket of my Bible cover. Mine was second-hand; my local drug-etc. store sells them for $5 in the stationery aisle. For some reason, I haven’t found them in office supply stores in my town.
*Small photos of people you pray for regularly, such as missionaries
*Heavier paper, like card stock, to make dividers
*A paper punch
*Stick-on colored tab dividers. I cut them in half, which means several people could share one package for the 10 sections I suggest. Instead of the heavier plastic dividers, you could use self-adhesive blank address labels (the 1x3” size), folded over to make a tap on the outside of the paper.
*Sticky notes (like Post-it ®)
*Paste
*Scissors
To assemble the notebook:
1. Using the heavier paper, cut ten dividers the size of your filler paper.
2. With your filler paper as a guide, punch ring holes.
3. Prepare divider tabs: one for each day of the week plus one labeled “A-Z” and another “Jordan Stones.”
4. Attach tabs to divider pages. Your first divider will have no tab (it’s for daily prayer reminders). The second one will start with “Sunday.” Your last two dividers will be “A-Z” and “Jordan Stones.” [These last two involve praise reminders.]
5. Add filler paper behind each tabbed section.
6. Consider putting an address label on the front inside cover of the notebook, just in case if gets lost.
7. Place a sticky note on the front blank tab and write on it the names of those in difficult situations that you decide you will pray for daily. This may be people with serious or terminal diseases, the grieving, and those in troubled marriages. When someone I know loses a spouse or loved one, I tell them that I will commit to praying for them daily in the first year of being alone. I mark after their name the date of their loved one’s death, so I know when the year is up. At that time I write them a note of care.
8. Behind each divider for a day of the week, use separate pages for people you will focus prayers on. For example, on Sunday, I pray for my church and for a pastor. I divide missionaries and Christian workers among other days of the week. Each person or family has its own “page” with a photo, contact information, birthdays, and a sticky note for current prayer needs. (The sticky note enables me to make changes without re-doing the whole page.)

NEXT BLOG: Praying for children