Your Pray List
For years I watched my dad pray faithfully for friends, family, and church members. It was like he has a memorized list of people and their needs all in his mind and he covers each of them every morning. As a teenager, I tried copying his style of prayer and found I had to get a little notebook and write down names and needs so I could remember who and what to pray for. Even if my mind is not as organized, I can be consistent and faithful in prayer.
You already have a prayer list
Many mornings I will sit down and write out an agenda for the day. This little list stays with me through the day as I check of each item in order of accomplishment. Often, I even jot down things I need to talk to someone about and will even sketch out priorities for a conversation. If I can do that for people and things, I should do it to maximize my time with the Lord, too.
One day I realized that I already had a daily prayer list I could follow: my list of contacts on my phone. Some of my contacts even have pictures—a great thing for right brain people. Praying for the people that matter in my life can be as simple as scrolling through that list of names. Perhaps for you it is your list of Facebook friends or contacts in another social network. Pray for them each day. You can do more than just “like” them or retweet them. Pray.
Your list for thanks
You also have a list to guide you when you thank God for what He has done. Open up your checkbook and pray through the register of spent checks. You can thank Him for providing those funds. Or perhaps this will be a cause for you to repent as you see areas where you did not honor the Lord with your money. If you do not use a checkbook, your online bank card record or credit card spending log could be your prayer list for both thanks and repentance. Lists such as these will prompt you to pray about the needs you have most and perhaps you will not depend on Visa, MasterCard, or Discover to solve them anymore.
Praise and worship lists
In the front of my study Bible, there is a list of the attributes of God. What a simple way to get started telling Him how great He is and how much I love Him. Another way of spending quality time in worship comes by praising through the alphabet. This handy list will propel you into discussing the intricacies of God’s nature instead of just dwelling on the details of your dilemmas. “A” means He is always there. “B” stands for His boldness. “C” is for the cross where He took my sin…. Get creative with this list when talking to your Creator.
The greatest thing is having your name on His list.