Tweaks!

First of all, Thank you to everyone who responded. My goal isn’t for you to make a prayer journal like mine. My goal is for you to pray!! 

I did add a meditation page to my journal. I’m reading the book “The Hour That Changes the World” by Dick Eastman and I realized meditation isn’t intimidating, it isn’t complicated and it was easy for me to overlook. “I don’t have time right now – later.”

So I decided if I added a page dedicated to meditation – I wouldn’t forget it.

            

Same page, I added a tip-in.

Would love to hear about your prayer habits, your prayer notebooks, or just you! Comment below, on Facebook or twitter!

Part 2: Pray Every Day

I want to say that there is no right or wrong way to set up a prayer journal. Set your journal up with the areas that pertain to your life and meet your specific needs. I have been using this set-up for about a month now and there are a few things I am going to tweak to get it more usable for me. But I do want to say that I am more consistent in my prayer life using this journal. - it's not so hit or miss.  And, since I have taken the time to decorate it a bit – I’m always excited about opening it to pray. – because it is pleasing to my eye. 

So make a journal that is pleasant for you to open and enjoy your time with God.

The first half of my Prayer Journal is for daily prayers.

None of the pictures I’ve posted give any “personal” information!

1. I begin with worship.

          

    

I have Bible Verses, quotes, The Names of God, The Names of Jesus, Songs and I add anything that helps me with my worship time.

2. My next section is “Me.” The reason I have “me” here at the beginning is to confess – ask for forgiveness  before I get further into my prayer time.

      

I have quotes that remind me of what type of person I want to be, then I have a Gratitude page that reminds me of 4 areas I need for thankfulness.  I have several blank pages after gratitude so I can actually list what I am grateful for. Then I have several pages of verses for me to pray for myself – including verses on attitude, my tongue, my thoughts, etc. I have the song "Cleanse Me"  that I also use in my confession time.

 A few years ago Pastor Brad did a series on “Church Membership.” This series really made me realize and understand my responsibility to My Church. So I added some pages in my Prayer Journal listing my responsibilities. I take this very seriously and pray about my Church Attitude and Actions every day.

Many people use this 3rd section for husband or marriage. Since I’m a widow I jump right to family.

3. Family. I have each child and grandchild listed. I have one prayer I have written out that I pray for them collectively. And then I have pages for specific prayer requests for them.

Since I don’t have a husband or marriage for one of my sections I have -

4. My Thursday morning Bible Study Ladies -  My Covenant Sisters.

    

I have quotes about sisters and strong Christian Women. I have many verses in this section that I pray for these women. And I have some blank pages for specific requests for them.

5. My Life Group. This section is set up very similar to the Covenant Sister section. Bible verses and blank pages.

This is the end of the first half of my prayer journal.

Separating the front section and back section of my Journal is my WOW area.

     

This is where I list prayer requests. I do want to change this to all prayer requests and not just the prayer chain from my Church.

I also have a pocket page in this section to stick requests that others write out and hand me or I print off of an email.

I have areas by each request to write if/when an answer is reported to me.

This is the first half of my journal. It’s not as overwhelming as it may seem. Very easy. I took my time to set it up but it could be set up quickly.

1. Worship

2. Me

3. Family  (Marriage)

4. Covenant Sisters (Husband)

5. Life Group

WOW – Prayer requests and praises.

I would love to hear from you – do you have a better idea than I’ve presented?

Have you set up a prayer journal since reading this?

Do you have any questions?

Section 2 of my prayer journal will be in the next blog.

I Challenge You This Year

This may be one of the most important posts I have ever written.

“Prayer does not equip us for greater works,

Prayer is the greater work.”

Oswald Chambers 

My Utmost for His Highest

Every Saturday evening I try to post this on face book and twitter:

 From Precept Ministries

So many of my friends are in the ministry, married to a minister or at least attend a church. I ache for those in ministry as I often read about sin taking over their lives. I’ve been there. I’ve lived that. It’s devastating and in hindsight, I wish I would have asked more people to pray for me. For us.

So as we begin a new year, I challenge you, dear reader, to take time each week – I’m not even asking that you do this daily – but if you think of it - that would be good, too. But weekly - pray for your Pastor and his family. (I’m going old school with my grammar here and “his” is generic for his/her.) (Please, don’t criticize my use of “his.”)

Each time you think of someone in ministry just shoot up a special prayer.

These are the people we depend on for so much – then when they show us their human side – we turn on them so quickly.

I don’t now and never have believed we should put those in ministry on a pedestal. We should never judge them – but hold them accountable in love just as we would one another.

I don’t expect more from my Pastor’s than I do from myself in my Christian walk. Do you? Are you expecting this human with flesh and bones to be more than you are or are willing to become?  Give them more understanding. Give them more of your encouragement. And Prayer. Say more prayers for them. Because not everyone treats them as if they are human. Many expect them to be more.

More spiritual. More pure. More perfect.

They are men called by God. But still in their human bodies making human decisions with the help of God. Just like you and I.

We are a critical people. It’s so easy to pick on that person speaking from the pulpit. It’s so easy to be critical of the one leading our youth - Leading our children. 

So my challenge is for you to pray for our Ministers – our Pastors. Write it on your calendar if you have a hard time remembering them. Write them on your prayer request list if you have one

JUST REMEMBER

 pray for your pastor and family.

Your Super Power!

My Oklahoma friend Debra asked on her blog the other day “What is your super power – your passion?” You can read her blog post H.e.r.e.

She said her super power is reading and love.

What is my passion?

She caused me to take some time to think about this. Of course the first things that came to my mind are probably the parts of my life that I am most passionate about.

A few years ago, I probably would have said reading. But over the last few years mine has changed a bit.

Prayer is a super power that I love.

I mentioned to Debra that kindness was one of my super powers. But then I realized some people may question that!!

But my real passion? Teaching Bible Studies. Hosting Life Group. I gained my love for Life Group Ministry from my husband and it is still in my heart.

What are you passionate about?

Let me know! Tell me your super power!

The Piano Player - Or NOT!!

There is an expectation in most churches. An unrealistic expectation more often than not. It's of that woman sitting in the pew Sunday after Sunday. The woman who is listening intently - or at least seems to be. Usually the loneliest woman in your church. Or maybe in your church she's the busiest. At any rate, most church attenders have an expectation of this woman. But to her confusion, not all expectations are the same. There are as many expectations of this woman as there are attendees in your church. 

She's your pastor's wife. 

Here's my piano story: 

When I was a child I took piano lessons for several years. - For some reason 7 years sticks in my mind. Finally, Mrs. Johnson, the piano teacher told my mom that I was incapable of learning how to play the piano. I can play with my right hand - but can't look at the music and play with both left and right hands! (I have a hard time chewing gum and walking!)

So my life rocked along with no more piano. Then at age 26 I found myself living on a college campus with three children and a husband going into the ministry. 

The Music Professor asked me if I could play the piano. So I told Mrs. Murray my tale of the piano. She said to me, "You should take piano from me for one semester. I can have you playing out of the hymnbook in that amount of time. EVERY preacher's wife should be able to play the piano." Okay. Sounded good to me. Maybe Mrs. Murray knew something Mrs. Johnson didn't.

After a long semester of practicing every day in the practice rooms and learning my final piece, Mrs. Murray said, "Honey, I think your childhood piano teacher was right!"

So that was the end of this preacher's wife playing the piano!

But, if I could tell you how many times I was asked if I played the piano, if I could sing, if I could do anything musical - you would be shocked. 

Everyone expected something from me. 

When asked what could I offer the church - my answer became, "I will be a Christian." When asked, before moving my family to work at the church in Kingston, Jamaica - "What will you be doing as a missionary?" My answer was "I will be a Christian."

That was an easy way to say, I will be doing whatever God calls me to do, whatever He guides me to. And you know what? Often that was encouraging, standing beside and supporting the pastor. Sometimes God calls us to do the background work - not the stage work. As a church we should be asking God to give our pastor's wife the strength and courage just to do what HE wants her to do. To be who HE wants her to be. Not who we want her to be.

One of my pet peeves is to hear of a church board hiring  a new minister with a talented wife and saying "We are getting two for the price of one."  SHAME on YOU....

Our responsibility to our pastor's wife? 

 Love her.

Support her. 

Don't judge her. 

Don't gossip about her or her children. 

But the most important action we can do for our pastor's wife -

Pray for her.

What's Your Ministry Passion?

I have been challenged by Nehemiah before. The notes I took from a sermon on this Old Testament book Y.E.A.R.S  ago are some I still carry in my Bible cover. I look at them every once in a while to remind myself of his character qualities and that I would like those same qualities in my life.

Immediately when Nehemiah learned of the fate of Jerusalem and the Jews that lived there he wept, mourned, prayed and fasted. His heart was broken with compassion for his people.

Nehemiah 2:12:

I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. (emphasis mine) God put a "ministry passion" (my phrase) on Nehemiah's heart. God gave him a compassion for something/someone and guided him into acting on this passion. While in prayer, Nehemiah: Acknowledged and praised God   Asked God to hear his pleas and confessed his sins Prayed God's Word Acknowledged all God had done for him Petitioned God Praying in this way encouraged Nehemiah to act on his ministry passion. Oswald Chambers has been credited with saying, "Too often we treat prayer as the preparation for the work of the church. Do you not see? Prayer is the work of the church."   Prayer prepares me. Prayer prepares my church. "We will accomplish little of eternal significance apart from prayer." Kelly Minter Wow. Prayer is the key.  Prayer is the foundation to build our ministry. Prayer is the foundation to build our ministry passion. Also, Nehemiah prayed for several months before he acted. A great reminder to NOT get ahead of God. In Kings, God tells David, "It is well to have this in your heart." David's Ministry Passion was on his heart - just as Nehemiah's. What do you have in your heart? What is your ministry passion? Are you taking time to pray about it? It is well to have your ministry passion on your heart. Pray and listen, God will guide. Some of my thoughts and notes from Ladies Bible Study.  "The Living Room Series"  "Nehemiah A Heart That Can Break" by Kelly Minter My personal favorite devotional book "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers