How To Make a Prayer Journal – Part 3 (Elissa Roberts)

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What if you don’t know where to start? You’re staring at a blank piece of paper and a Bible full of words. Where to begin? A few months ago I was in the car driving back from visiting my parents in Mississippi, and I was thinking back to my pregnancy with my oldest daughter Lydia and my prayers during that time. I

n Part 1, I mentioned the nightmares I had after the miscarriages, and I continued to have nightmares during my pregnancy with Lydia. I would wake up in the middle of the night my heart racing, and I felt paralyzed with fear. At the time, I couldn’t remember the reference or most of the verse, but I remembered one part of a verse, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” So, in the middle of the night I would say, “Jesus” out loud. I knew the enemy had to flee at the name of Jesus, so I would say the name of my Savior over and over until fear loosened its grip on me and I could finally fall back asleep. That phrase comes from Philippians 2:9-11, and in its entirety you can really see the power of praying the name of Jesus.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:9-11.

During that drive when I was remembering this season and those dark nights, I thought about that simple, one-word prayer, “Jesus.” And I thought about John 1.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. . .” (John 1:1-3, 14).

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Who is John talking about? Jesus!

If you don’t know where to start, start with the name of Jesus. The Word became flesh through Jesus Christ. If you are deep in darkness, if fear has a paralyzing grip on you, if you are hanging on by a thread, you have a Scripture to pray.

You have the entire Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

Pray the name of Jesus and watch the enemy have to retreat. Do not stress or let the enemy distract you because you do not “know” which Scriptures to pray. Isaiah 65:24 tells us, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.” If we are faithful to read and study His Word, the Holy Spirit will show us Scriptures to pray and give us verses to add to our prayer journals. As you start, remember the name of Jesus.

A great way to start your prayer journal is with a page that says “Names of Jesus” at the top. You can add to it a little at a time. If you are on Instagram, look up 100dayswithJesus . There are tons of names of Jesus with the Scripture reference that the name comes from. Most of the verses I add to my journal come when I’m reading my Bible.

In addition to my Bible, I have a few things with me: a stack of sticky notes, Twistables crayons I steal from my kids, and my prayer journal.

  • Whenever I find a verse or passage that sticks out to me, I first highlight it with my Twistables crayon. (These things leave a great mark, come in all sorts of colors, don’t bleed through your paper, and don’t cost much.)
  • After I highlight my Bible, I write the verse(s) on a sticky note. I can’t remember where I heard this nifty little trick, but it’s a good one. When you write a verse, write the reference first because it helps your memory better retain the reference if it’s first rather than last. I’ve started doing that and it does seem to help me remember the reference better.
  • Next, I attach the sticky note in the appropriate section. For example, if I find a verse that I want to pray over my husband, I write it on a sticky note and stick it behind the “My husband” divider. Every few months, I will gather all the sticky notes up and type those verses onto a fresh new page and add it to my prayer journal. But on any given day there are lots of sticky notes throughout my prayer journal. (The page protectors help here too because the sticky notes stick great to them.) Sometimes, I’ll take one and stick it to my bathroom mirror if I need to see it multiple times throughout the day. And other times if God lays someone’s name on my heart when I’m praying a certain verse, I’ll write that verse on a sticky note and give it to that person as encouragement. Keep your sticky notes and a pen handy when you’re reading your Bible, and that prayer journal will be full of verses before you know it! This morning, I was going through some old sticky notes I had stuck in the pocket of my prayer journal, and I found one with a quote from Priscilla Shirer’s book Fervent on the importance of prayer, “God has deliberately chosen this particular vehicle as the one that drives His activity in people’s lives. It’s what He allows us to use to cooperate and partner with Him in the fulfilling of His will. He’s created prayer as a primary way of putting us into personal contact with Him and with His eternal realities, any hour of the day or night.” And I found another with Mark 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
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  1. Kim Spring on February 20, 2016 at 5:24 am

    Elisa, thank you so much for this beautiful post straight from your heart. I learned a while back too that praying Scripture is so powerful because it is praying His promises right back to Him! This has been really fun to make. You are a beautiful writer and I’m loving being a part of this with you!

    • Lisa Rippy on February 20, 2016 at 11:49 am

      Kim, you and Elissa truly have a kindred spirit! What a blessing Elissa’s lessons have been already, and we still have 3 more to go 🙂 ….and as soon as we are finished with all these renovations, I can’t wait to run down to the store and get all my supplies!

  2. Elissa Roberts on February 25, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    Kim, thank you so much! It has been life-changing to discover the power of praying God’s Word. I am constantly in awe of Him!

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