I have loved journaling ever since my ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Ware, made us do it (5 pages per week!) Of course, I have long since thrown all of those journals away, as there was nothing worth remembering much during those years that held any spiritual significance – believe me! Structured prayer journaling is completely different. I still have every one of them, all the way back to 2001. That is when I created the Prayer Closet Organizer! I encourage you to check out my video about the PCO in the Prayer Closet tab of my website, and start journaling yourself. This prayer journal will officially be available in stores in the Fall of 2013 – can’t wait! But until then, start prayer journaling on your own.
One of my favorite year-end activies is to review my year of prayer journaling and recap it, so I thought I would share what God did.
If you are a numbers person, then you will appreciate my accounting of God’s goodness. I logged just a little over 282 prayer requests in 2012. God answered, “Yes” to 189 of them, and “No” to 27 requests. On one prayer request, the Lord said to “Wait”. I am going to carry over 47 open petitions from last year to this year, which is bit of a high number compared to my previous years, but I have a lot going on and apparently a lot is going on in the lives of the people I love and pray for, too. The other 18+ results to prayer are unknown to me, but God knows. So what I want you take away from this data is that God says “Yes” far more than He says “No”. I am not sure that most people believe this, but I am happy to report that this has been a consistent trend in my prayer life. Furthermore, since God is “no respector of persons” (Acts 10:34), He will do the same for you!!!
Behind these numbers were significant issues and God has worked each one to His sovereign will. It is my pleasure to see the hand of God working in my life and of those around me.
1 Peter 4:7 says that “The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-disciplined so that you can pray.” So get out your pen and paper, and get ready to see what God is going to do in 2013!
~gina
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“Organizing Your Prayer Closet: A New and Life-Changing Way to Pray” has just won the BEST BOOK award in the Prayer Category by Christian Retailing Magazine! See the press release here.
Award-winning author Gina Duke is a wife, mother and Director of Women’s Ministry at her local church. She is a witty and point-on expositor of God’s Word as a conference speaker. With a B.S. in Organizational Leadership, Gina is able to bring a clear word for authentic Christian living. Through her book, “Organizing Your Prayer Closet: A New and Life-Changing Way to Pray” (Abingdon Press), she imparts 1 Peter 4:7 with the gift of structured prayer journaling. Gina also blogs and offers numerous videos and resources at GinaDuke.com. You may also follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TheGinaDuke.
I love the idea of a prayer journal. I completely agree that God says yes more than He says no. Even the no’s are negotiable when you look for what He’s really saying yes to.
Kathryn, I am glad you like the idea of a prayer journal! My book, Organizing Your Prayer Journal” has a 60 week structured prayer journal inside. I highly recommend it.