Everything in life has a danger. Too much, or too little can be a bad thing. Everything in moderation is usually best.
Regarding prayer, there is never enough prayer. After all, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray all the time and without stopping. However, the way we pray can use moderation, change, and practice.
Have you heard of the ‘Grocery List Style of Prayer’ and how we’re not supposed to do that? This isn’t entirely true. Now, let me explain.
I am busy, busy, busy. If I didn’t have my prayer journal with all of my prayer requests, I would forget 75% of them. So, having a list of prayers not to forget to pray is essential—especially since we are to ask, seek, knock, and keep praying these prayers until they are answered. Plus, how would we remember the answer, if we didn’t write those down as well? Therefore, when people refer to this as a ‘grocery list’ type of prayer, they are mistaken.
Keeping track of our prayers is NOT a bad, sinful, evil, inappropriate thing. In fact, to be the most effective prayer guard you can be (aka prayer warrior), you need to keep track of your prayers so you don’t forget them and can keep track of answered prayer.
The true definition of grocery list prayers are those we repeat, over and over, and do so without heart. We pray them just to pray them. That is when these prayers aren’t a good thing.
Whenever we pray, we need to make sure we are alert (awake) and that our hearts are in it. If we aren’t praying with passion, we aren’t giving it our all. That’s when prayer is dangerous. We need to be intentional with our prayer. Otherwise, we are shortchanging our prayers and are not giving God our all.
So, how can we be alive in our prayer, intentional, passionate, and give it our all? That’s what this blog book will discuss over the next several months.
~ Stacy Duplease
Remembering Your Present, LLC and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)
Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals
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