How to keep a prayer journal: requests, answered prayers and gratitude
Short answer: write each prayer request in one or two lines, pray through the open ones each day, and when a prayer is answered, mark it and add one line about how God answered. Add one grateful line a day. Over time you get a record of God's faithfulness to look back on.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)
1. Write short requests
Name the person and the need: Mom's surgery on Friday, wisdom about the new job. Short entries are easier to pray through.
2. Pray for others too
Keep requests for family and friends next to your own. It turns the journal into a list of people you love.
3. Pray through open requests
In your quiet time, read the open requests and pray for each one. You do not need new words every day.
4. Mark answered prayers
When an answer comes, mark it answered and write one line: what happened and how you saw God in it. Hannah remembered hers out loud:
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:
— 1 Samuel 1:27 (KJV)
5. Keep a gratitude list
One grateful line a day. Small things count: a kind text, a quiet morning, a meal shared.
6. Look back when you need encouragement
On hard days, read your answered prayers and gratitude list. They remind you that God has been faithful before.
Doing this with Gracetide
Gracetide has a prayer journal built in. Add prayer requests for yourself, family and friends, mark a prayer as answered and add a line to remember how God answered, and keep a gratitude list that grows day by day. There is no account and the journal stays on your phone.
FAQ
What should I write in a prayer journal?
Short prayer requests for yourself and others, a line when a prayer is answered, and one thing you are grateful for each day. Short entries are easier to keep.
What if a prayer has not been answered?
Leave it open and keep praying. Not every prayer is answered the way we hope, and an open request is still worth bringing to God.
Should a prayer journal be private?
Many people keep it private so they can write honestly. Choose a place only you can see.
Get Gracetide, a calm daily devotional and prayer app (Google Play)
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