|
Claudia BarbaAUTHOR / SPEAKER
My prayer notebook is a tool that makes it easier to do what God wants me to do—pray.
I'm especially grateful that it guides me to pray for big life issues, not just urgent needs. My prayers for myself and others are now much more focused on hearts rather than behaviors--who we are, not just what we do. As I write down my prayers, I interweave them with scriptures that I've carefully chosen for each person and each need, so that I am praying God's words back to Him. When I ground my prayers in the scriptures, I have confidence that I'm praying in His will. It's easy to pray for those I love, but when I face the need to pray for someone I don't feel much compassion for, or hardly know, my notebook helps by making me think about God's goals for them and writing them down as prayers. My heart expands and softens, and love grows. On purpose, I have kept my notebook simple, since I want it to welcome, not intimidate me. Sitting there by my Bible, it reminds me that I ought to pray, need to pray, must pray. Picking it up and getting started is the only hard part (the devil hates it!). But once I get going, I find joy in talking to God through the pages of my prayer notebook. |