Prayer: Graphic Organizers

Our lives have become broader than ever; we can literally touch people around the world. So much information can become heavy, even a burden, when we genuinely want to pray, but feel overwhelmed with praises to lift up and petitions to remember. We say, “I’ll pray for you,” and we really mean it, but the shear number of needs we know threatens to sabotage our best intentions.

Somewhere in all the needs, praises, concerns, and ever-present confessions, we must return to where Jesus’ pattern of prayer begins:  worship of Who God is. We may leave out worship of the One Who hears our prayers, because we are in such a hurry to tackle the mountain of information. Kathy helped us understand Jesus’ index prayer here,when she shared 3 lessons on what we know as the “Lord’s Prayer.”

Here are four ideas to help manage your prayer times and make it fruitful:

Four Square Family Prayer ~ This breaks down concerns into 4 areas, beginning close to home and moving “outward.” Use it 4 days or for a whole week.  The exercise of writing new info each week helps you to reflect on God’s power and answers. Write down needs, but also jot down answers and applicable promises from Scripture. Hole punch sheets to include in a Prayer Notebook.

One Month of Praying for People ~ This sheet is specifically designed to help you focus on all of the “others” in your life. Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6 uses all plural pronouns; isn’t that interesting? Use this tool in your Prayer Notebook to help you manage the bigger picture of the work of prayer.

Letter of Response to My Father ~ This letter writing tool helps us express ourselves in personal letter style to our Father in heaven.  Great tool to use once a week, or use it every day for a week to sweeten your prayer life. The notes help to indicate the parts of Jesus’ pattern of prayer.

One Week of Responding ~ 7 Days of response sheets take you through a week, along with suggestions for what to focus on, space to journal, and an inset reminder of the elements Jesus included in the Matt 6 pattern. These 1/2 sheets are ideal for printing off and putting into a binder or carrying in your Bible.

I invite you to find a tool that looks like it may work for you. Like a menu on a fridge or a planner in your bag, these tools are meant to make your prayer life more fruitful and effective as you spend time communicating with your Lord.

We’d love to hear if you plan to try out one of these tools and let us know how it goes. Do you have another great tool you’d like to share?

Thank you to Tara, who designed these for our Women’s Ministry and for others who long to spend time with their Father.