Julie K. Gillies

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. (Colossians 4:2)

About six years ago, I started keeping a prayer journal, and it has transformed my prayer life in a beautiful way.

Prior to keeping a prayer journal, I used random pieces of paper, sticky notes, or even 3×5 cards (sound familiar?) to keep track of who and what I wanted to pray for. That helped, but to be honest it wasn’t a very effective method of keeping a prayer list. Papers shoved in my Bible. Pieces of scrap paper everywhere. Unable to find the one I searched for. A mess.

2020 brought a lot of change into my life, and since I was on a break from my writing ministry, I decided to purchase something in the prayer journal category. For years I had resisted journaling because I already wrote a lot…articles, blog posts, and books. So the idea of writing even more was not even slightly appealing.

But once I took the plunge I realized and grew to love the incredible value of using and maintaining a prayer journal.

Here are 3 Good Reasons to Use a Prayer Journal (Do any of these resonate with you?)

A prayer journal will help you:

1. Pray Consistently. This is the number one benefit, in my opinion. My prayer journal helps me to pray and keep praying.  And consistent prayers are powerful prayers. Jesus said, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.” (Luke 9) My prayer journal reminds me to keep asking. It keeps me consistent.
2. Remain Focused. If you’ve ever sat down to pray and randomly started thinking of 14 other things, a prayer journal will change that. As a former member of Distracted Prayer Warriors Anonymous, my prayer journal keeps me focused. My list is in front of me, keeping me laser focused, and it’s not at all tedious. In fact, I’m grateful it’s there and as I keep my eyes on these written, holy reminders, the people and situations I want to pray for are lifted up to the One who always hears.
3. Pray Specifically.  My prayer journal is a flexible tool through which I regularly and specifically update what to pray for myself and others. I personally use one-word bullet points to keep it brief, and then as I pray I elaborate. (You may wish to do it differently.) For instance, my current bullet points for myself include:

• Grace for season
• Wisdom
• Joy
• Sharp, focused mind

My Method

I typically update my prayer journal about twice a month. Give or take. It’s not overwhelming. It’s not hard. It’s not super time consuming (though I have been known to linger on certain mornings because I’m busy processing and pouring out my heart on paper). It’s SO worth the effort. Updating it as life happens means I’m praying consistent, meaningful, focused, specific current-event prayers every day – until the next update.

And can I just add that praying consistent, meaningful, focused, specific prayers helps our souls immeasurably? It takes loads off our hearts. These prayers lifted to Almighty God is how we entrust ALL the things – the mess, the hurt, the longing, the hope – to the One who always hears. It encourages our hearts and holds us in God’s mighty peace, as Scripture points out:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

There is something about getting our hearts, our emotions, our heartfelt prayers out of our heads and onto the paper that helps. It’s cathartic. It’s a tangible way to process life issues, circumstances, and situations with the Lord.

Psalm 62:8 says,  “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge.”

It’s good to pour out our hearts to the Lord. Often when I do, a Scripture comes to mind and I write it down at the same time, right next to my prayer. It’s truth and encouragement, and when I go back over what I’ve written later, it reminds me to cling to truth and fills me with hope.

This method works for me, but your method may look different. Also, you may wish to update your prayer journal more frequently. That’s the beauty of it…you can adjust to your personal preference and your schedule. It’s important that using a prayer journal works for you, so you will actually use your prayer journal and then actually pray more.

What I Use

For those who might be interested, after much searching I landed on THIS PRAYER JOURNAL because I’m picky. I wanted separate areas. I wanted spiral-bound. I wanted large. And I wanted quality, thick paper that ink wouldn’t bleed through. But you might be less choosey (ha!). There are lots of pretty journals out there, many are under $10. You could even use a simple lined notebook from Walmart or the dollar store.

Remember that Prayer journals are PERSONAL. They’re as individual as we are. They’re a helpful tool – a place to pour out our hearts, to list the people, situations, and circumstances that concern us so that we actually pray {more} for ourselves and others.