Keeping Track of Prayers Asked and Answered

Isn't it amazing how the Internet has collapsed distance and time?  It's coming has surely ushered a quantum leap towards time travel.  A friend of mine and I just finished a Bible study by Max Lucado.  We have discussed things in the study even between out Texas and Virginia residences.

Some final enlightenments were several ideas about how to keep track of our prayers asked and answered.  They were so simple and I think useful that I just had to share them with you.

The suggestions include keeping measurable records of things for which we pray, identifying Scripture(s) references that remind us of God's assurance to provide for our needs, and logging concrete ways in which God's answered prayers are manifesting themselves.

For starters, Max Lucado provided us with some Bible verses that assure us of God's provisions and actions in our lives.  To name but a few, the verses include:

• Ge. 50:20,
• Psalms 139, 130:5-7, 38:8, & 23:4,
• Rom. 8:34,
• 2Cor. 4:17,
• Phil. 1:6,
• James 1:2-4 & 12,
• 1Pe. 1:6.

Then, Max instructed us to state our challenges as prayers and that we consider how to make our statement a concrete reminder of God’s faithfulness to you.

Several ways to do that include:

• Share it with two or three friends or ask them to email or text it to you throughout the week.
• Memorize the Scripture your statement is based on, or post it where you will see it daily.
• Print your statement on a small card.
• Attach the card to a potted plant as a visual reminder that your faith is growing even in this challenge for which you pray.

I can just envision my card rising higher and higher on that tomato plant to which I just attached it.  That is pretty cool!

My Bible study partner set a goal to record every prayer in a journal and to post it to this blog.  Then, every time one of the prayers were answered,she would make a little notch on a twig, which she would post somewhere she could see it.  The notches served to remind her how the Lord was working to answer her prayers.  Here is a copy of the twigs she gathered to get started.

Prayer Twigs

Max then suggested that a three column chart be made to help catalog prayers, relate the prayer request to Scripture and log when progress was being made on the prayer.  Click on the following link to download a blank copy of the chart if you want to use is suggestion (I have included the Scripture for assistance; I hope it is readable even though it is on a very small font.)

You'll Get Through This Prayer Chart

WOW!  Finally a way to be reminded every day of God's presence and the wonderful specific provisions and promises He fulfills for which we can give Him thanks!

Set aside time for quiet prayer. Express your gratitude to God for all the ways He has demonstrated His care for you. Entrust your ongoing questions and struggles to Him, and ask Him what you might need right now. Allow a few moments of quiet, inviting God to speak His words of love to you in the silence. Close your time by praising Him for Who He is and for His sovereignty in your life.
Let us hear from you.  Share your prayer request with those following this blog by either providing detail by filling out a comment on this blog or sending your prayer details to epwarrior@aol.com in an email for posting.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Surprise Sewing Machine!!!!!-Answered Prayer

Janicemr55@hotmail.com writes:

This is truly a prayer that was prayed and answered.

I have been enjoying learning how to quilt the last couple of years. The sewing machine I had used for a very long time was wearing out and I knew it.  While I was hopeful that it would survive, it finally gave up the ghost.

That was a sad day. I had sewed on that machine for years. Fortunately, a friend loaned me a machine until I could get another one of my own. I figured that it would take quite a while because sewing machines are not cheap, and the Lord knows how much money I have.

Still, I was praying for a machine of my own. With so many more needs in the world than mine, I was unsure that God cared about something so insignificant as a "sewing machine." 

Well, one night I was on the computer and a message came across from a friend. She had seen on my Facebook page that I had taken a real interest in sewing and quilting. It's something I had done for many years , but just in the last couple of years got into quilting and really enjoying it. It is a real sense of accomplishment when the project is completed.

My long-time friend of 35 years asked me if I would be interested in having her library of Sew Beautiful and East Quilts magazines. To which I replied that I would love to have them. And I was really thrilled, as each of the magazines also included patterns. Wow... that would be a bonus! Here's what I was going to get:

Anne replied to me, "Well if you want the magazines there will be much more to come with it." Then she sent me a picture of a beautiful sewing machine. Was a picture from one of her magazines or was this something I was going to be receiving someday? I really didn't know.  I got another message from her about a week later and she said the machine was going to be delivered. Oh Boy!!

Last night I received about an 8 foot sewing table that folds and is on wheels, the incredible library of magazines, and what JOY I had when the sewing machine came through the door with a very nice plastic cover. I'm thrilled to say the least . It is a PFAFF sewing machine. I have never heard of those, but I understand they are European made with steel parts and are just wonderful...

The Lord put my questioning of whether or not "a new sewing machine was worthy of His time and effort" to bed.  So many people ask similar questions.  I wonder how many give up on their dreams and desires before even asking The Lord to provide for them.

This answered prayer reminds us all that if The Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, do you think He cares any less for the things that could bring joy to us? (Psalms 50:10, Matthew 6:30-33)

I have always intended my sewing activities to be used for God's glory.  I enjoy making things to share with others.  I have already made each of my children, grandson, nephews and other relatives and friends quilts. I even sewed pockets inside of shirts that help carry cellphones and other electronic things.


I'm very thankful for the new PFAFF sewing machine, but I'm even more grateful that God cares about the "little" things. So with this story "I Am Counting My Blessings"!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Call For Prayer

Jeremiah 29:11-14

11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'

Every minute of every day we are all blown back and forth by the winds of change. There are no exceptions. Our predispositions and their correlation to God's will determine how we stand in the face of these winds of change as described in Matthew 7:25-27.

Given that the Lord, God, Jesus Christ, has told us in the opening verse Jeremiah 29:11 that He has plans for those who believe, it behooves all of us to seek His guidance.  When calamity arises, God has planned for our welfare and a future of hope.

While the future, eternal salvation of all believers in Christ is sealed and can never be taken away, if you are as I am, plans for navigating the present circumstances are often so bewildering that they can bring us to our knees.  It is at that very point in time that the Lord tells us, "then you will call upon Me and pray to Me."

Do this and He makes us a promise, "I will listen to you."  The only conditions He places on us is that we be sincere of heart when we call upon Him.To what degree must we be sincere?  "When you search for Me with all your heart."

Sincere Porcelain/Without Wax on cracks 

 
We have to meet the definition of "sincere," which is "without wax." Our heart can be likened to a beautifully crafted porcelain vase containing our soul.  When the Lord holds it up to His Light, there will be no wax trying to hide its flaws or cracks.
With Wax on Cracks      

                          


 

The Lord also promises to "restore your fortunes".  This is generally where people get dollar signs in their eyes.  People want to be enriched even beyond that for which they've prayed.  A quick study about Scripture in the Bible related to restoration reveals the level of restoration that God has in mind.  The word "restore" means to be make or kept whole or to make up for loss(es).

Sure, the Lord may make you richer than you ever were before, as He can do as He pleases, but Scripture says to expect fortunes lost to be restored (Job 42:10, Dt. 3:5, Jeremiah 30:3).  The Lord will bring you back into the position you were in before your loss was incurred (Can you lose something you never had?).  Aside from that, you can expect a restored soul (Psalm 23:3), restored joy of salvation (Psalm 51:12), restored from thirst and hunger, to health and liveliness by healing (Isaiah 38:16, 57:18, Zech. 9:15, 17, Jeremiah 30:17, Joel 2:26)

So, the call is to pray.  Pray for those in need, pray that lost souls will come to know and believe in the grace of His sacrifice, pray that we will all be brought into the fullness of Christ's mind.  Pray for our leaders, pray that the sick will be healed, that the downtrodden will be restored.  Leave your prayer requests in the comment section or email me directly with circumstances at epwarrior@aol.com.  

Make your request known to God.  Philippians 4:4-7- Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say, rejoice ! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Daniel 9:18 NAS

O my God, incline Your ear and hear ! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.