At the beginning of last year, I made a goal to spend the entire year focusing on connecting with God in prayer. I read a couple books and did topical bible studies based on prayer and in August, I upped my game by creating a prayer binder. It has easily been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done to invest in my quiet time with God. Now that I’ve had some time with it, I thought it might be a good time to share it here, too.
First things first, a prayer binder is a tool that helps to keep all of the things I want to pray for in one place. The best thing about using a binder, as opposed to a journal, is that it can always be evolving. Throughout the past 5 months, I’ve rotated and changed things out so that the flow of prayer comes naturally to me. My prayer binder now incorporates prayers (both written by me and by others), scripture, photos, and a couple embellishments here and there. I’m really into paper-crafting, so I had a lot of supplies on hand that I used to get started. Even though mine has lots of patterned paper and decorative bits, it can also be as plain as you want it to be. Here are the supplies I used:
- A Binder – I used the Carpe Diem in Robin’s Egg but the Avery 1″ mini binder is also a great option.
- Black Ink Joy Pen and Tombow Markers
- Card stock and patterned paper for the dividers (7-10 pieces)
- Plain white or lined paper (amount will vary based on what you need per section)
- Photos – of people, groups, etc that you want to pray for or praise God for
- Sticky Notes
- Stickers and fun embellishments
- Washi Tape
- Binder
- Hole Punch
- Tab Punch
When you get down to it, my binder is comprised of 4 main parts that are made up by the acronym PRAY: Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield. I also have a resources section to keep random information and notes. Each day, I start by praying my way through both the praise and repent sections. When I get to the ask section, it’s set up into daily and weekly prayers. There are things I pray for each day, an then a rotating list of things I pray for weekly. This process give me a more reasonable amount of things to pray for each day and it helps remind me of specific details that I may forget without notes in front of me. This is followed by a section where I yield and being still before God. Throughout all sections, I write my prayers on sticky notes so that they are easily movable. It’s a way for me to wait expectantly, because when God answers the prayers, they get moved to the praise section. This way, I can continually see the work he’s done and the prayers he has answered. Here’s a look into what I’ve included in each of the sections:
P – Praise
- Song Lyrics and Bible Verses about Praising God
- Pictures – nature makes me feel especially worshipful
- A list (and some photos) of my 1000 Gifts from the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp
- A page full of sticky notes of praises and answered prayers
- Words/names that describe God – particularly in ways that resonate with me in this season of life
R – Repent
- Sticky notes of sins I am repenting and convictions that have been brought to light
- Prayer of repentance
- Bible Verses about Repentance
- I have a couple quotes from the book 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke
- I pray specifically for the sin in my life and for my eyes to be opened to the things that I need to bring before the Lord.
A – Ask – Daily
- I use an “emergency room” section (an idea from The Reset Girl) which is a spot for anything that is urgent, needs daily prayers, or for specific and upcoming prayer requests.
- Bible Verses I include with the “emergency room” section
- Psalm 147:3 (healing)
- Jeremiah 17:14 (healing)
- Psalm 31:3 (guidance)
- Psalm 57:2-3
- Deuteronomy 31:8
- Joshua 1:9
- Ephesians 6:11-17 (spiritual warefare)
- I also pray for Kevin and our marriage daily using the 9 Prayers Audrey wrote as a template.
- I pray daily for myself, my heart, goals, divine appointments, and my relationships as they relate to the prayers for the next section.
A – Ask – Weekly
- Monday – Our Marriage
- Even though I pray for Kevin and our marriage daily, I include it on Mondays as well in more of a ministry type of way and the way we welcome people into our house and life. This is also a catch-all for anything else related to our marriage that doesn’t fall into the daily section. For example:
- Our House
- Hospitality
- Our goals
- Even though I pray for Kevin and our marriage daily, I include it on Mondays as well in more of a ministry type of way and the way we welcome people into our house and life. This is also a catch-all for anything else related to our marriage that doesn’t fall into the daily section. For example:
- Tuesday – Friends, Small Group
- This is easily my most robust section, as it includes both photos of each person/couple, scripture I pray over each, and any prayer requests or things going on in their lives that I want to pray for. It brings me so much joy to see their sweet faces as I’m lifting them up in prayer.
- Wednesday – Non-Believers, Social Media/Influence, Blog
- The third day of the week is all about praying for non-believers all over the world and non-believers we interact with on daily basis. I pray for interactions with non-believers and the people we may have influence on in terms of social media, the blog, etc.
- Thursday – Our Jobs, Work, Stewardship/Finances, Military
- This is a big one – I pray for our specific roles and interactions at work as well as the way we steward our money and pay off our student loans. I ask God to continually give us direction in these things. I specifically work with people who have served in the military, so i’ve included that in this section as well.
- The prayer below is from Belief Net
- Friday – My Family
- This is pretty self explanatory, but I also have pictures, verses, and specific things I am praying for for each person in my immediate family and my relationship with them.
- Saturday – Kevin’s Family
- This is the exact same set up as I have for my family, except with Kevin’s side.
- Sunday – Government, Our Community, The Crossing (Our Church), Missionaries, Ministries and Organizations we Support
- This is also quite the doozy of a section. I originally had these split apart but I kept feeling myself overlapping them in prayer, so I put them all together. I’ve found a couple really great prayers online for each of these.
- Isaiah 9:6c-7 (Government)
- Colossians 3:14-16 (The Crossing)
Y – Yield
- Bible Verses on Being Still + Hearing from God
- Conditions for hearing God’s voice
- Enneagram Quote about Resting in God’s Presence – As I have studied the Enneagram, I have learned a lot about the impact it has on my faith and some of the things that I have a hard time with. For me, that is being still before God. No question that this has always been a struggle, but I had just always called it a distraction or wandering brain. I picked out a couple quotes from The Sacred Enneagram and some images from @xoenneagram on Instagram that relate to this topic and the Enneagram.
Resources
I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Cori the Reset Girl (her video is below), but there are tons of great resources on the internet.
- Mysa Home Styling’s Setting the Table – you have to sign up for emails to get this little guide, but I’m telling you, it’s worth it. I keep this in the front of my prayer binder and it’s been a good reminder to make my home more comfortable for others.
- The Hour That Changed the World – A PDF that goes through 12 different aspects of prayer
- Rachel Wojnarowski – Rachel’s website has LOTS of prayer patterns and resources you can use in your prayer binder
- The Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller
- Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
- Prayer for Uncertainty
