Prayer List

"A Christian who is saturated with the Word is likely to have a calm, wholesome outlook on life; to be kept steady in the path of God's will in neither joy or sorrow, wealth or poverty; he is likely to be a pleasant companion, not voluble in aimless talk; and he will not be overly disturbed by world conditions." (From The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot)

This quote was said by Elisabeth's father who also gave this list in response to his youngest's son request to help him in forming his own prayer list.

1. Revise it occassioinally.
2 Three columns: Organizations/People/Personal
3. A daily list, then another for each day of the week.
4. Any area of life where you find
a. trouble
b. mistakes
5. Don't limit prayer to these things--pray for things you read about in the Bible.
6. Pray about the two most important decisions:
a. wife
1)one who wants to go to the mission field, not just because you want to
2)pray before you become involved
b. lifework

My own prayer list is in need of revising. In the past I've divided my prayer list into days of the week. For example, immediate family--Monday, extended family--Tuesday, personal--Wednesday, friends--Thursday, local and country leaders--Friday, church family and missionaries--Saturday. I'm going to revise it to kind of follow the ACTS method: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. The "adoration" section will include character qualties of God (a different one or two each day). The "confession" part will be my own personal struggles and sins, "thanksgiving"--praises and "supplication"--requests for the groups listed above.

I have a book on my shelf that I pull out every now and then called Face to Face: Praying Scriptures for Intimate Worship by Kenneth Boa. This book is divided into days of the year. You pray through scripture for Adoration, Confession, Renewal, Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving and Closing Prayer. This book is a wonderful way to pray the scripture back to the Lord and focus our prayers.