Prayer Journal

What Is a Prayer Journal?

A prayer journal is a notebook or binder that contains your prayer requests, Bible study notes, verses that apply to a situation you are going through, daily confessions, goals, and revelations that God has shown you.

Why Should I Have a Prayer Journal?

In Proverbs it tells us that without a vision people perish. A prayer journal allows you to put before your eyes the goals that you are praying for and the verses that guarantee the manifestation of those prayer requests.

Each time I read the Bible something jumps out at me. No matter how small, I try to jot it down in my notebook because I believe it is God speaking to me about that topic. I then go back and review those notes and spend time mediating on them.

For example, God opened my eyes to the significance of hope and expectation this past year. I started writing down all of the verses I could find on these topics. Then I looked up the definitions and wrote those down. These actions are what build your faith. As you spend time focused on God's Word, the significance and power in those Words, and speak the Word yourself, you put into motion laws in God's Kingdom. No longer will it just be head knowledge. It will be revelation knowledge (heart knowledge) and that is when you see change in your life.

Another great reason to have a prayer journal is that it allows you to look back at what you have been learning. It also allows you to see all of the prayers that have been answered. You can then take time to thank and praise God for all of the wonderful promises you have seen manifest in your life.

How Do I Make a Prayer Journal?

The great thing about a prayer journal is that there is no right or wrong way to make one. For me, it has been a simple notebook that I write verses that stand out to me, definitions of particular words, word studies, prayer requests, Bible study notes, and confessions.

I have a friend who took a notebook and made sections with tabs. Each section was on a particular topic. For example, healing, faith, grace, etc. She would then write verses that she found on those topics in the appropriate sections and would also put her notes there.

Another friend of mine types out verses and definitions which are important to her and puts them in a three ring binder. The binder approach may give you a little more flexibility because it allows you to also include articles, sermon notes, etc.

What Should I Include in My Prayer Journal

* Things that God has taught you.

* Verses that apply to the situations in your life. For example, maybe you are fighting an illness. Write out all of the healing verses that you can find. Then ask God to show you which ones He wants you to stand on for your situation.

* Bible study notes.

* Word study notes.

* Definitions. It can be really helpful to look up the definitions of each word in a verse. It is amazing how much deeper you can go with the verse when you get more background on the words used.

* Sermon notes.

* Confessions.

* Goals, dreams and desires that God has placed in your heart.

* Prayer requests.

* Answered prayers.

Where/How Should I Start My Prayer Journal?

I think a good place to start is to write down the dreams, desires, goals and prayer requests that God has placed on your heart. Perhaps it is to see a loved one saved. Perhaps it is see your body healed. Perhaps it is to see yourself debt free. Perhaps it is to see yourself running your own business. This list will help you to determine what type of verses you want to look up.

Now, you can find verses that are verses relevant to your situation. An easy way to do this is to click here to go to the page on this website that provides verses by topic. It's free and hopefully easy for you to reference.

There are also many books in the Christian bookstores that list verses by topic. Sometimes they are in the devotional book section. You may want to buy one of those and use it to find the verses that stand out to you. If this interests you and you would like to save some money, click on the below pictures and they will take you to Family Christian Bookstores website. Here you can browse around and purchase using our site's discount.

Another great tool that I have used to find verses is a concordance. Let's say I want to learn about faith. I know there are tons of verses on faith but I don't know where they are. The concordance will tell me every verses in the Bible that has the word faith in it. How great is that?

Another place to start would be to start jotting down what God teaches you each day as you read the Bible. You can use this to branch off into word studies and so forth.

Reflection Questions

Here are some reflection questions that may also help you to get started.

As you meditate on these verses, what jumps out at you?

How are the verses you read related?

Do you see a consistent theme in the verses you read?

Why do you think those specific words were chosen?

What is God teaching you through these verses?

What are you learning about God's character and nature?

What are you learning about who you are in Christ?

What are you learning about what God's plan for you?

Prayer Journal Form

I have prepared a few blank prayer journal forms that you are welcome to print if you would like. Simply click here to view them.

Questions?

Feel free to drop me an email at ContactUs@OverflowLiving.com if you have any questions or suggestions you'd like to share.