10 daily habits that will help you connect with God: Journal your Prayers

Howdy! What a friend we have in Jesus! Seriously, like I touched on in last week's blog, He wants a relationship with you. And I have been learning here in the past month of just how significant that is. Sit here with me for a second: Jesus, the Son of God, came to a broken

world to die on the Cross of Calvary and be resurrected three days later, paying the price for our sins and purchasing our forgiveness, because God the Father so deeply desires a relationship with you and I. Jesus, with His death and resurrection, bridged the gap between humanity and God, therefore reconciling us with the Father and allowing us a way to live forever in Heaven with Him. WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS!!! I can't believe I get to talk to Him daily!

So...

What is prayer and why would we want to spend time praying to Him everyday?

When you accept the free gift of salvation, the gift you receive is not only eternal life, but also a relationship with God. John 1:12 (English Standard Version) says, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." Since you have accepted Him, you are now a child of God and because you are now in relationship with Him, you talk to Him. Prayer is how we talk to God. There is no special formula and God does not expect perfect words or sentences, He just expects you to talk to Him.

This song so clearly depicts why we pray and just how sweet it is to be in relationship with Jesus. Give it a listen!

We are commanded to love God and love others

As for why you would want to spend time intentionally praying to the Creator of the Universe... because He's the Creator of the Universe. He is God!!!! Worthy of our obedience, worthy of our attention, and worthy of our love. We pray because we are commanded to love God and love others.

In Matthew 22:36-39, Jesus tells His disciples, "‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" (New Living Translation)

Okay Jess, I get that because we love God we talk to Him, but what does loving others have to do with prayer? Great question!

James 5:16 says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." (New Living Translation) God created Christians for community; our faith is not a lonely one or an independent one, and we need other believers; our brothers and sisters in Christ to keep us from drowning spiritually by interceding on their behalf to God as the Holy Spirit does you, personally (Romans 8:26-27).

He's listening

Our second why to pray is my personal favorite!! We pray because He's listening. Jeremiah 29:12 says "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." (English Standard Version). That's pretty straightforward! God hears you because He's listening, but here's the exciting part: He's not listening passively, He's listening actively. He's leaning in; drawing near to you as you draw near to Him. David teaches us about this throughout the entire book of Psalms, but here's an example in Psalm 34:

• "The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help, He rescues them from all their troubles" Psalm 34:17 (New Living Translation)

Psalms 46:1 says that God is our ever-present help in times of trouble (paraphrase). This leads me to the "three omni's" of God: He's omnipotent, meaning all-powerful. He's omniscient, meaning all-knowing. He's omnipresent, meaning all-present. He knows what you need before you need it, and He walks through it with you-- ahhh, my absolute FAVORITE things about God (I mean it!)

But not only do we serve a God who is always ready for us, but a God who delights in us. John 15:7 says "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!" (New Living Translation). I know y'all see the exclamation mark! God the Father delights in you and He wants to give you the desires of your heart if only we will remain in Him.

This leads us to our last why to pray...

Prayer is a command

No caption needed. Okay, Jess, show us the scripture!

• "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you," 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (English Standard Version)

• "Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying," Romans 12:12 (New Living Translation)

• "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart," Colossians 4:2 (New Living Translation)

Now that we have an understanding of prayer and why we do it, let's dive in to the reason we are all here:

Daily habit #2: Journaling your Prayers

Testimony Time!

The first time I was introduced to prayer journaling was about my sophomore year of high school when my Sunday school teacher, Sandy (if you're reading this heyyyy!), told me about her prayer journal. She told me that writing down her prayers helps her fight her battles. But Jess, isn't the reading the Bible how we fight our battles? Yes, but here is what my teacher meant: when we keep record of what we pray for and how God answers those prayers, we have a tangible reminder of God's faithfulness to us. So, when we are at our worst and our faith is dwindling, we can look back in our journal and be reminded of how God redeemed that situation and in turn, restoring and strengthening our faith.

At this point in my life, I was in awe of the Father for the first time since I originally accepted Christ at nine years old, and all I wanted to do was strengthen my faith (and y'all I am so inspired by this woman!), so I opened up an empty journal and starting recording God's faithfulness! The rest is history!

How I journal my prayers

The most important part of my day is my quiet time with Jesus. In a typical quiet time routine, one would start with prayer, read scripture, and finish with prayer. I follow this same formation, except I take time to journal three sections of prayer: praise, prayer, and reflection.

Praise

For the purpose of organization and aesthetic, I use a pink pen to represent praises; the section of my prayer where I give thanks to God for who He is and what He's done in my life. Gratitude has healing power. Jess, what? If you've followed along with {King}dom Minded for in the past year, this should ring a bell. If it doesn't, allow me to ring it for you: thanking God for His grace will help us accept the grace that is given to us because when we fill the space with thankfulness, it drowns out the guilt and the shame that once consumed us. There is no more room for it. It has no entry, no in, no place in your heart and in your soul. Now all that fills your soul is the truth of who your Father is and the overwhelming love you feel for Him replaces the shame (which is NOT from God in the first place) with the joy of the Lord and stirs your affection for God.

Prayer

I use a black pen to represent the section of my prayer that I present my requests to God and intercede for others, as I mentioned earlier. This is where I just get real with God. One of the best pieces of advice I think I've ever been given came from my current Sunday school teacher, Mama Rice (if you're reading this howdy and I have been gig'n em!). "If you're mad at God, tell him. He already knows." Now, this is not to say that all of my journal entries surround being mad at God, but it does mean that in this space, I am completely transparent. God has never and will never withhold anything from me, so I don't want to withhold anything from Him.

Reflection

Finally, I use an orange pen to represent reflection; the section of my prayer where I reflect on how God is sanctifying and transforming me, and apply what we've talked about previously: recording God's faithfulness. How did God answer that prayer? What have I learned through this? How am I or the people I love different as a result of His answer?

Call to Action

So, to recap: Prayer is the most intimate part of our relationship with God and it is so important because that's how we directly communicate with Him. He loves us so much that He leans in to actively listen to our prayers, so we should spend intentional time in prayer for ourselves and others daily. I encourage you to try journaling your prayers this week and see how your faith is strengthened, and remember:

"There's no wrong way to do it

There's no bad time to start

It don't have to sound pretty

Just tell Him what's on your heart

'Cause it's not a religion

'Cause it's more like a friendship

Just talk to your Father

Like you are his kid"

(Talking To Jesus by: Elevation Worship, Maverick City Music, Brandon Lake)

XOXO,

Jess :)