Pray without Ceasing

My friend Shellie gave me a Red Journal. Its a prayer journal, but different from my "regular" prayer journal. In this journal, I am to write all my prayers in the simplest form possible ("God, remind me that I am created exactly as you intended" or "Lord, please let Mr. Ken's surgery be successful") and I am to write them in only blue or black ink. THEN, when God ANSWERS these prayers, I am to write the date (and I sometimes write a little note about the answer) in RED. It didn't take long at all for me to have in my hand a visual of all the "little" prayers that God has answered since I got my Red Journal. It's a really cool concept. It is a red journal in that the outside of it is red, but also because I journal God's answers to my prayers in red.

 

My Red Journal has reminded me that God is very near to me and that He is trustworthy. I have grown to put all those fleeting prayers down in my journal and I have friends that will ask me to "put this in your red book".  Seeing answered prayer after answered prayer jump off the page in red makes me want to ask more of God. It makes me want to be bold in my asking. I am more deliberate in my prayers all together. I am more careful to make sure that I take things to Him in prayer and am more careful to cover all those I love in prayer. I trust Him more and more and realize that nothing is too small (or too large) to take to my Father. One simple little exercise has encouraged me to have a deeper and richer prayer life and for that I am sooo thankful!

 

I wonder, does God always answer our hastily whispered prayers and I am just realizing how often He does because I have them written down or does God honor our effort when we take time to pray more deliberately? Maybe some combination of the two?

 

All I know is this...I have a whole new understanding of the concept of praying without ceasing. If your prayer life needs a little pick me up (or maybe a complete overhaul), I encourage you to go get a red journal and start recording your prayers and God's answers. You'll be amazed!