How Do I Actually Use My Prayer Binder?

Let's get really practical here.  First, this prayer binder was not created to be a prescriptive thing.  It’s not meant to be a liturgy you pray through page-by-page every day.  There are many ways to pray and obviously your prayer time will look different based on how much time you have, what’s going on in your life, and a variety of other factors.  Think of this binder more as a resource—a tool that compiles all sorts of materials in one place to guide your prayer time and make it more effective.  I think of it as a whole book of prayer prompts to get me started in a quality, comprehensive conversation with the Lord.  I look forward to sitting down with it and having tons of things to say to Him every day.  I do not necessarily go through each section every time I pray.  I certainly do not go through each section in order!  But carving out specific, focused prayer time and incorporating a wide variety of topics has seriously changed my prayer life.  

There have been times dealing with guilt when I spent most of my time hanging in the Confession section.  There have been times I feel a need to spend some time delighting in the Lord, and all I do is focus on Adoration and Thanksgiving.  And there are times when I just focus on requests…or even just ONE big request that I need to really sort through.  

Generally, I go through my binder twice a day—once on my own after my daily Bible reading time, and once while praying with my husband.  On my own, I may focus on one or two sections.  Then, as soon as our kids are in bed, my husband and I sit down together and pray through our binders again.  We pray out loud, taking turns section by section.  We got in the habit years ago of praying through the “CHAT” method (Confess, Honor, Ask, Thank), so we go in that order still as we go through the binder.  We just flip around—but If you want to change the order of your categories, you could!  I can’t say enough about how powerful couples prayer has been in our marriage.  But that’s another post. 

At the beginning, I spent a little time filling in specific prayer requests. for each page.  I prayerfully thought through how God wanted me to pray for the people in my life.  In some cases, I just asked them!  Everyone likes knowing they are being prayed for!  For me, if this prayer binder was going to work, it was going to have to require little extra time.  I usually have a pen with me when I go through the journal and I jot down answers to the prayers I’ve prayed, any new requests that have come up recently, and something I’m thankful for.  And that’s about it. 

I keep a lot of filler paper in the back of the binder as my "Pour Your Little Heart Out" section.  You can call it whatever you want. ;)  Sometimes when I need to really wrestle through something or sort out something with the Lord, I like to write out my prayers.  Of course you could use this paper to fill in other parts of your binder, or for anything you’d like!  Highly recommend.

My prayer is that this becomes a beloved tool that improves the quality and consistency of your prayer life as it has mine.  And, that this becomes a beautiful record of God’s faithfulness and love to your family as you see Him answer prayers and provide all you need.  I’m praying for you!