Day 62

Before and After

 

My time: 38:53

Slowly my times are going back down...thank goodness.

Yesterday while doing my nightly bible study/devo (I use the Devotional to End All Devotionals-I highly recommend it.) I came across a little section in my bible that I'm going to share because I really liked the ideas. (I use the NIV Quest Study Bible For Teens, published by Zondervan)

It was titled: "I'm in a prayer rut. How can I pray in new ways?"

"Here are six suggestions:

1. Journal your prayers. Like the psalm writers, write out questions, heartaches and struggles-not just your requests. Don't forget to journal praises too. And let your creativity show by writing poems or song lyrics or a letter to God.

2. Take a prayer walk. Walk around your neighborhood and pray for the family in each home you pass. Or take a prayer walk on the sidewalk around your school.

3. Pray over your calendar and schedule. Got a test coming up? Pray for peace of mind. Pray for the players (both sides) in Friday night's game, Ask God to bring Christians to your winter youth retreat.

4. Pray over the news. When you read or hear about a troubling or tragic event pray for the people involved. 

5. Personalize the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Take each sentence or phrase from this well-known prayer and write it in a way that directly applies to your life.

6. Be quiet. If prayer is a conversation (which it is!), then you also need to listen in silence. As you listen expect God to tug at your heart, stir your conscience or help you realize something you need to do or change."

I do some of those, but some of them were new to me. I have some other prayer suggestions of my own. I learned this one from the camp I went to recently: pray the cross in every class. Pray for the person in front of you, behind you, and on each side of you. You could apply that almost anywhere you go, not just in school. Something I personally do is subscribe to a prayer newsletter. Every week I am sent a list of prayer requests that I take about 5 minutes to pray for. The one that I use is NAMB's Prayer Connect Newsletter. (And if you visit their website, check out these other prayer resources) Another idea I got from camp is to get a yearbook and pray for a row a week-or daily-for each person individually. Something else you could do is just find a list. I know radio stations like KLove and Air1 have prayer requests on their websites. You can submit one or find people to pray for.

I know another great idea is to pray for this project! Pray that God will touch the lives of the people it serves and pray for those at the organization. And pray that He will bless it to raise even more money to help more people. And if He leads you to donate, please do!

~Haley