Faith Journaling: 2011-04-17

The people you pray for: pj4life thought to ponder #15

15. Make a list of everyone you have in your life in your prayer journal. Start with the following list:

List of Family Members to Pray for:

~ Mom

~ Dad

~ Siblings

~ Grandparents

~ Great-Grandparents

~ Aunts

~ Uncles

~ Cousins

~ Nieces

~ Nephews

~ Grandchildren

~ Great-Grandchildren

~ Family/Friends (Those friends who are close(r) than family)

Other people in your life:

~ What friends do you have?

~ What acquaintances do you have in your life?

~ Co-workers

~ Online buddies

~ People you text

~ People you email

~ People from church

~ Government

~ People at the grocery store you see on a regular basis

~ People at a restaurant you frequent

~ Your hairstylist

~ People at your doctors’ offices and dentist offices

~ Lost/unbelievers in your life (list them here—even if they are listed previously)

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: pj4life1@gmail.com

Keep Laughing

It’s important to laugh as well as be serious. It’s okay to laugh with God from time to time.

But, it’s more important to be able to laugh at yourself. Cut yourself some grace. You won't become a perfect prayer guard (warrior) overnight. It takes a lifetime of practice.

How do I move from praying 5 minutes a day to praying without ceasing?

I have a few tips on how to do this.

~ 1. Have a Daily Quiet Time. (Start off with 5 minutes a day and increase by 10 minutes per week until you are having a Daily Quiet Time of 1 to 3 hours per day/7 days per week.)

~ 2. Develop cues to help you pray:

Pray every time you look at a clock.

Pray every time you take a sip of something to drink.

Pray at a red light.

Pray when driving.

Pray as you brush your teeth and take a shower.

When you do dishes or laundry, pray.

~ 3. Memorize verses of the Bible. Any time you do this, you’re praying. Also, recite old memory verses.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

How do you pray without ceasing and work (or do any activity)?

So, when I started the journey of learning how to pray without ceasing, not only did I wonder how you slept and did this, but how you did any activity, like work, and pray without stopping. So, here are a few things I’ve discovered along the way:

~ 1. Prayer is more than words. It’s a state of heart and mind—focused on God and His Word. It’s focusing your heart and mind on God and on His Word.

~ 2. It’s possible to pray and work or talk with people—at the same time. It takes some practice. But, I can actually work, talk with people, and pray at the same time. It’s multitasking.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

How do you pray without ceasing and sleep?

When I first decided to try to become a prayer guard (prayer warrior), I heard the phrase, ‘pray without ceasing.’ That sounded like a good idea to me. I made the decision to try to do so.

Then, it hit me… How do you pray without ceasing and sleep?

It took me a while to figure out what that means. I’ll share it with you now so you don’t have to lose sleep.

How do you pray and sleep?:

~ 1. Fall asleep praying. No. It’s not rude. Use it as the ‘drug’ to help you fall asleep.

~ 2. Whenever you roll over, or wake up, pray again until you fall asleep.

~ 3. When your alarm goes off in the morning, pray some more.

~ 4. If God wakes you and tells you to pray, do it.

~ 5. Repeat the next night.

How do you pray without ceasing and sleep?

When I first decided to try to become a prayer guard (prayer warrior), I heard the phrase, ‘pray without ceasing.’ That sounded like a good idea to me. I made the decision to try to do so.

Then, it hit me… How do you pray without ceasing and sleep?

It took me a while to figure out what that means. I’ll share it with you now so you don’t have to lose sleep.

How do you pray and sleep?:

~ 1. Fall asleep praying. No. It’s not rude. Use it as the ‘drug’ to help you fall asleep.

~ 2. Whenever you roll over, or wake up, pray again until you fall asleep.

~ 3. When your alarm goes off in the morning, pray some more.

~ 4. If God wakes you and tells you to pray, do it.

~ 5. Repeat the next night.

In the next blog post, I will talk about how you pray without ceasing and work (or do any activity).

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: pj4life1@gmail.com

Developing Your Prayer Muscles

So, how do you develop prayer muscles to move from praying a few minutes here and there to praying without ceasing? That’s what this blog post will discuss.

~ 1. First of all, write down to the side, and preferably in your prayer journal how long, in minutes, you think you prayed today.

~ 2. Do NOT beat yourself up for your answer from #1 or #3. We’re just getting a starting point.

~ 3. How many minutes did you pray yesterday?

~ 4. Make it your goal to increase by 5 minutes every day for 5 days. Write down at the end of each and every day how long you prayed that day. Keep the record. Put it in your prayer journal is the most ideal.

~ 5. Review and analyze. How did Days 1-5 go and were you able to increase every day by 5 minutes? If so, good for you! If not, you have every day for the rest of your life to try. So, keep the faith and persevere.

~ 6. Repeat steps 1-5 every 5 days for the rest of your life. In time, you will be praying without ceasing.

~ 7. Practice, practice, practice.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC

Developing Your Prayer Muscles

So, how do you develop prayer muscles to move from praying a few minutes here and there to praying without ceasing? That’s what this blog post will discuss.

~ 1. First of all, write down to the side, and preferably in your prayer journal how long, in minutes, you think you prayed today.

~ 2. Do NOT beat yourself up for your answer from #1 or #3. We’re just getting a starting point.

~ 3. How many minutes did you pray yesterday?

~ 6. Repeat steps 1-5 every 5 days for the rest of your life. In time, you will be praying without ceasing.

~ 7. Practice, practice, practice.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

Keep it simple and prayer: the #1 Rule of thumb

Whether we’re talking about prayer or prayer journaling, there is one rule to always, without fail, keep in mind.

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

If you haven’t been praying before for more than a minute here or there, you can’t start off and pray without ceasing. Start off in little chunks.

So, how do you develop prayer muscles to move from praying a few minutes here and there to praying without ceasing? Check out my next blog post.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC

Keep it simple and prayer: the #1 Rule of thumb

Whether we’re talking about prayer or prayer journaling, there is one rule to always, without fail, keep in mind.

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

If you haven’t been praying before for more than a minute here or there, you can’t start off and pray without ceasing. Start off in little chunks.

So, how do you develop prayer muscles to move from praying a few minutes here and there to praying without ceasing? Check out my next blog post.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

Prayer Journaling (Notebook) Ideas, Suggestions, and Inspirations (aka pj4life Thoughts to Ponder) #1-

I’ve mentioned in a few blog posts that it’s essential to prayer journal, keep a prayer notebook, keep a record, or whatever else you want to call it.

I’m going to start to give you a few pointers with prayer journaling—starting in this post.

THOUGHTS TO PONDER:

~ 1. Keep it simple.

~ 2. Journal every day—preferably at least morning and night.

~ 3. Journal ANYTHING God puts on your heart.

~ 4. There is no such thing as journaling too much.

~ 5. Tailor a system that works for you. Make it your own. I will give you tips in this blog, but they are just suggestions.

~ 6. Remember that your journal is where you write your prayers and answers to prayers. But, it’s also your record of your walk with God. Therefore, include your memories made through your day.

~ 7. Keep track of what you say to God and what He says to you.

~ 8. Keep sermon notes and Bible study notes here.

~ 9. Keep track of your prayer requests.

~ 10. Use it to WRITE. (See earlier blog posts today for this definition.)

~ 11. There are two types of journals: paper and digital (one you put on the computer).

~ 12. If you keep a paper journal, switch it over sometime to the digital kind. The digital kind lasts forever and never loses quality.

~ 13. If you do a paper journal, consider using mainly black ink. Blue fades faster over time.

~ 14. If you do a digital journal, save it in several different ways. Save one copy that you email to yourself, keep a memory stick (or 2 or 3 just to be safe) copy, keep a copy on your computer, keep a copy on an eternal hard drive. Then, it will last forever. You may even want to write an online journal or blog in which you are the only one who has access to it, or a select few—but not the public (unless you don’t write names and use numbers instead for confidentiality reasons and protect privacy).

I will add more thoughts to ponder every now and then and will continue with the numbering.

~ Stacy Duplease

Prayer Journaling (Notebook) Ideas, Suggestions, and Inspirations (aka pj4life Thoughts to Ponder) #1-

I’ve mentioned in a few blog posts that it’s essential to prayer journal, keep a prayer notebook, keep a record, or whatever else you want to call it. I call it pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life). But, I’ll keep is simple and call it either pj4life or prayer journaling. When I use these terms, I mean any way you write down your prayers for when you have your Daily Quiet Time.

I’m going to start to give you a few pointers with prayer journaling—starting in this post.

PJ4LIFE THOUGHTS TO PONDER:

~ 1. Keep it simple.

~ 2. Journal every day—preferably at least morning and night.

~ 3. Journal ANYTHING God puts on your heart.

~ 4. There is no such thing as journaling too much.

~ 5. Tailor a system that works for you. Make it your own. I will give you tips in this blog, but they are just suggestions.

~ 6. Remember that your journal is where you write your prayers and answers to prayers. But, it’s also your record of your walk with God. Therefore, include your memories made through your day.

~ 7. Keep track of what you say to God and what He says to you.

~ 8. Keep sermon notes and Bible study notes here.

~ 9. Keep track of your prayer requests.

~ 10. Use it to WRITE. (See earlier blog posts today for this definition.)

~ 11. There are two types of journals: paper and digital (one you put on the computer).

~ 12. If you keep a paper journal, switch it over sometime to the digital kind. The digital kind lasts forever and never loses quality.

~ 13. If you do a paper journal, consider using mainly black ink. Blue fades faster over time.

I will add more pj4life thoughts to ponder every now and then and will continue with the numbering.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: pj4life1@gmail.com

Thanks for the follow!

Alana, I just wanted to thank you for following and am quite glad that you might try prayer journaling!

Welcome.

Blessings,

~ Stacy Duplease

Daily Quiet Time Prayer: More Information

Our Daily Quiet Time Prayer consists of:

~ 1. WRITE and write (see other blog posts from today)

~ 2. Different types of prayer

~ 3. Bible reading

~ 4. Memory verses

~ 5. Bible study

~ 6. Devotional reading

Just a reminder about WRITE and write:

WRITE is:

Write (prayer journal and notebook) and:

Word-Based

Review

Ignite

Time

Examine

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC,

Daily Quiet Time Prayer: More Information

Our Daily Quiet Time Prayer consists of:

~ 1. WRITE and write (see other blog posts from today)

~ 2. Different types of prayer

~ 3. Bible reading

~ 4. Memory verses

~ 5. Bible study

~ 6. Devotional reading

Just a reminder about WRITE and write:

WRITE is:

Write (prayer journal and notebook) and:

Word-Based

Review

Ignite

Time

Examine

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

http://pj4life1.blogspot.com

Prayer Guard USA Order of Battle: Which Battle Fronts Should We Pray? (Version 1)

How should we pray and what should we pray for—every day, weekly, monthly, and so on—and do so effectively? The Order of Battle is the answer to that question.

First of all, there are areas or locations where we fight. Those are our areas or locations of our battle (operation). Take a look below in order to see what these are specifically.

Then, there are the Battle Fronts (or waves). What are these? Our prayer lives consist of people, circumstances, places, the church, and the unbelievers/lost. Take a look below in order to see what these are specifically.

There are units of prayer within each of the Battle Fronts. Take a look below in order to see what these are specifically.

Order of Battle: PRAYER AREAS OF OPERATION

~ Myself

~ Spouse

~ Children

~ Home

~ Spiritual Warfare Specifics

~ Prayer Requests

~ News (Latest News Events Reported)

~ A-S-K Prayers

~ My work and peers

~ My spouse’s work and peers

~ My children’s schools and peers

~ Family

~ Friends

~ The Block in which I live

~ My church

~ My city

~ My state

~ My nation

~ The Church (all the Christian churches in the world)

~ World

~ Unbelievers/Lost

~ Christian Radio and Ministries

Order of Battle: The PEOPLE Battle Front

~ 1. Prayer Request Specifics (if I know of any)

~ 2. Spiritual Health

~ 3. Circumstances

~ 4. Mental Health

~ 5. Emotional Health

~ 6. Family

~ 7. Work

~ 8. Finances

~ 9. Busyness

~ 10. Their dreams and goals

~ 11. Verses that come to mind for these people and their circumstances.

Order of Battle: The CIRCUMSTANCES Battle Front

~ 1. Identify the circumstance that needs prayer. Label it. Name it.

~ 2. Who does this impact directly?

~ 3. How does this impact you directly?

~ 4. How does this impact you indirectly?

~ 5. Why does it need prayer? What is the prayer?

~ 6. What do you HOPE happens? How do you hope to change regarding the circumstance?

~ 7. If it’s not God’s will to change it, then it’s also important to release the result of the prayer and circumstance to God. In other words, pray that His will be done.

~ 8. Verses that come to mind for these people and their circumstances.

Order of Battle: The PLACES Battle Front

These are buildings, organizations, states, cities, schools, nations, etc.

~ 1. Identify the place. Name it. Label it.

~ 2. What specific prayer requests do you have, or have you heard about the place that comes to mind?

With each prayer request, look at each of the following:

~ 3. Who is there?

~ 4. What is the importance of this place?

~ 5. How does this touch your life directly?

~ 6. How does this touch your life indirectly?

~ 7. How is God working in that place presently?

~ 8. How is the enemy at work in this place?

~ 9. How is this place glorifying to God? Pray for more of that.

~ 10. How does this place not glorify God? What change does it need in order to glorify God?

~ 11. What is the spiritual health of this place?

~ 12. How does this place build the people up within that place? Pray for more of that.

~ 13. How does this place tear down the people up within that place? Pray for less of that.

~ 14. Pray anything else that God puts on your mind.

~ 15. Verses that come to mind for these people and their circumstances.

Order of Battle: The CHURCH Battle Front

Pray this 1^st for your church. Then, once you do this, pray for your denomination. Then, pray these things for the Church as a whole.

~ 1. Prayer Request Specifics (if I know of any)

~ 2. Spiritual Health

~ 3. Circumstances

~ 4. Mental Health

~ 5. Emotional Health

~ 6. Family

~ 7. Work

~ 8. Finances

~ 9. Busyness

~ 10. Their dreams and goals

~ 11. Verses that come to mind for these people and their circumstances.

Order of Battle: The UNBELIEVERS/LOST Battle Front

List all of the people in your life that are close to you that are lost. Then, list people that you consider friends. Then, list the people you come to in your life and are acquaintances. Then, pray these things for the unbelievers of your block, city, church, state, nation, and world.

~ 1. Prayer Request Specifics (if I know of any)

~ 2. Spiritual Health

~ 3. Circumstances

~ 4. Mental Health

~ 5. Emotional Health

~ 6. Family

~ 7. Work

~ 8. Finances

~ 9. Busyness

~ 10. Their dreams and goals

~ 11. Verses that come to mind for these people and their circumstances.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: pj4life1@gmail.com

Prayer Areas of Operation: Revised (Version 4)

PRAYER AREAS OF OPERATION

~ Myself

~ Spouse

~ Children

~ Home

~ Spiritual Warfare Specifics

~ Prayer Requests

~ News (Latest News Events Reported)

~ A-S-K Prayers

~ My work and peers

~ My spouse’s work and peers

~ My children’s schools and peers

~ Family

~ Friends

~ The Block in which I live

~ My church

~ My city

~ My state

~ My nation

~ The Church (all the Christian churches in the world)

~ World

~ Unbelievers/Lost

~ Christian Radio and Ministries

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

http://alifeofseasons.blogspot.com

http://prayerguardusa.blogspot.com

The Most Effective Prayer Life: Part 2: Write and the Prayer Journal or Prayer Notebook

In my previous blog post, I talked about how to have the most effective prayer life through WRITE and write. But, I didn’t discuss the ‘write’ part. That’s where this blog post comes to play.

I talked about this earlier in this blog that sometimes it’s necessary to write down, or prayer journal, your prayers. After all, if you’re like me, in my busyness, I forget a great deal of things unless I write them down. Needless to say, when it comes to prayer, why would it be any different?

There are 2 main ways to pray.

~ Prayer on the go (while you do life) (aka bullet prayers; praying without ceasing; etc.)

~ Quite Time Prayer (when you stop life and take intentional time to pray—where you are able to focus on worshipping God and listening to Him; WRITE; prayer-walking; knees; approaching the throne of God; prayer closet/throne room)

The WRITE way of having the most effective prayer life is the Quiet Time way. It’s the sitting down (figuratively or literally) and giving God the time. It’s the worshipping of God and the approaching the throne. This is what you do in your prayer closet (figurative or literal) or prayer spot/recliner/desk/table/walk.

Writing our prayers can be the best and most effective way to pray. Period. Hands-down. End of story. Exclamation point.

Why should we write our prayers?

~ We remember what we’ve prayed and what we’re supposed to be praying.

~ We can keep track of our answered prayer. (This helps us have a record of what God has done in our lives. It is our way to erect a monument so we don’t forget God’s blessings.)

~ It keeps us intentional in our prayer.

~ We can review our prayers and examine our prayers (see last blog post).

~ It brings us discipline and self-control.

~ It helps us to be persistent and consistent in our prayers and in our praying.

~ It helps us to focus and not get off-track while we pray.

So, how should we write our prayers?:

Write them in a prayer journal or notebook. They are both really one in the same.

What does a prayer journal or notebook look like? There are two main types:

~ Paper version

~ Digital Version (put on the computer)

I will talk a great deal more about this in the future. But, this is a start.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

The Most Effective Prayer Life: WRITE and write

How can we have the most effective prayer life?

That is the question of all questions for me. It’s the main reason why I am writing this blog (Prayer Guard USA) and Blog book of: “Prayer Guard USA Order of Battle.”

I must confess, I don’t have the answer. (Far from it, actually.) I have portions of the answer, but not the full answer. This is a work of progress inside of me and is active in my life. (I pray this will become a full-time goal for me—and of course for you.) I think over the next several months, and through the years, we’ll all be able to answer this question a little more than we can today. (I hope a lot more, though!)

So, let’s start to explore that question: How can we have the most effective prayer life?

The most effective prayer life is one that is based on: WRITE and write.

Write and:

Word-Based

Review

Ignite

Time

Examine

Now, let me explain what this means.

First of all, the most effective prayer life is an all-the-time, daily prayer life. It never stops or ceases. So, that is always on the forefront.

Next, the most effective prayer life is Word-Based, Reviewed, Ignited, Time-Oriented, and Examined. Then, we’ll discuss the write component.

The most effective prayer life is Word-Based. It doesn’t contradict the Bible. We read the Word before we start to pray, while we pray, and when we are done with our intention sit-down (figuratively—not literally) prayer. That is how we can hear the Lord the most accurately and the most clearly.

The most effective prayer life is reviewed. We go back through our prayers and take note of the ones that have been answered (how and when) and which we still need to pray.

The most effective prayer life is ignited. It’s intentional, alive, active, and focused. We don’t allow ourselves to get side-tracked, if at all possible. If we do lost our focus, we make sure to go right back to praying the moment we realize we’ve stopped.

We need to give it TIME. Every day. All day long. Prayer needs to be our PRIORITY. It must be put first on our planner, schedule, and calendar—not last. We need to plan things around prayer—not plan prayer around other things.

The most effective prayer life is examined. We look for what works, what doesn’t, how to improve, where we’ve improved, more lessons to learn about prayer, etc.

The most effective prayer life is: WRITE and write.

Write and:

Word-Based

Review

Ignite

Time

Examine

In the next blog post, we will look at the write and 6^th step/part of the most effective prayer life.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: pj4life1@gmail.com

Prayer is to be nurtured: Thought to Ponder

We can learn how to pray. All of us have the ability.

It takes practice, time, perseverance, and experience.

We can nurture our prayer lives.

So, hang in there—and don’t forget: PRAY.

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC; pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life); & Prayer Guard USA

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs:

http://reststill.blogspot.com/

http://fictionfaith.blogspot.com/

http://reflectremember.blogspot.com/

Additional Resources: All About Prayer

http://www.allaboutprayer.org/

~ Stacy Duplease

Remembering Your Present, LLC, Prayer Guard USA, and pj4life (Prayer Journaling for Life)

Author of Biblical Fiction, Bible Studies, and Devotionals

Email: Pj4life1@gmail.com

Blogs: