Family Prayer Journal - Working on Monday's

My OCD is having a good time with me right now. I like to have everything all done and in order before I start something and I am just going to have to deal with it.

 

 

This pic is the nightmare that is my office space right now. I am reorganizing all of my binders and paperwork. Ack!! I worked in here all day yesterday telling myself that I could post once I get it done. Well, that's out the door. I am posting through the mess because we need EVERYDAY to get through our prayer topics. So here goes:

 

Monday's

 

There are 6 topics to each day:

1. Kids
2. You on Monday, then specific child each day there after. If you have several children, you may need to double up.
3. Your husband - with a specific prayer item each day.
4. Finances
5. Friends & Family
6. Church & Work

 I will be covering each one of these individually this week.

Today our focus is Kids. My Monday prayer for the kids is pretty straight forward. It is a question I ask myself:

 

What would I most want Jesus to do for my children at this time (help them with)? What concerns do I have at this time?

 

This is my first prayer on Monday. Well, let me clarify; this is the first prayer after the Four Steps of Prayer. What is that, you ask? I read a teaching years ago that really spoke to me. Cheri Fuller, who is one of my Prayer Mommy hero's, first introduced me to this concept.

1. Praise - Start by giving God praise. If you struggle with this, pray the last 7 Psalms back to God. One for each day of the week. :)
2. Confession - agreeing with God that we have sinned allows us to restore fellowship with him. Isaiah 59:2, "If we hold wickedness in our heart, the Lord will not hear our prayers". Ask God to reveal any words, actions, or attitudes not pleasing to him. Any grudges we are holding on to or quarrels that are unresolved. Then welcome His Spirit and ask Him to direct your prayers.
3. Thanksgiving - absolutely crucial. Many confuse praise with thanksgiving. Praise is lifting God up for his many attributes. Thanksgiving is being thankful for all that God has done. Thankful for answered prayers, provisions, material, physical and spiritual blessings, for the gifts of our children, and most important, our salvation through Christ.
4. Intercession - means entreaty in favor of another, standing in the gap for others. Intercession is love on our knees, when we aren't praying for our own needs but for others.

Okay. So now you are like, "Um Christie? I totally don't have time for all this". Ladies, you will be surprised. Have you ever made a budget and there was no possible way that you would make it, but you were faithful and at the end of the month you were still able to tithe each week AND your bills were still paid AND you still ate that month? It's the same thing. Once you get into these habits they become apart of who you are. I don't think..."Um, OK, praise. OK, now confession...now thanksgiving". I don't have to think about it, it is how I have trained myself to pray. You can do this!!

Now, back to Kids. What is your most vital concern for each individual child at this time? I don't write this out in my journal. I pray it out loud when I ask the question. Our concerns are ever changing. Every Monday you can hit whatever concerns are on your mind, at this time, in this season, in each child's life.

I am going to give you an example:

What would I most want Jesus to do for Nathan at this time? (For the sake of the example, I am going to type this out.)

Father, please continue to hold on tightly to Nathan. Please protect him from the deceitful voice of the enemy. Please make all that tastes good to him from the world begin to have a bitter taste to his mouth. Please help him to stop doing dip and the many other unhealthy choices he is enticed by and making. Please help him to rise up to be an example among his friends as one who walks a path of righteousness. I Jesus name! Amen!

And there you have it. I do this for each one of my kids on Monday's.

Please keep in mind: this is not a legalistic thing for me. I use this manual as a guide. Sometimes I sit down and pray directly from it, but ultimately, I release all these prayers to Jesus as I am writing the manual. Again, there is significant power and release in writing it out.

If you need help, let me know. I want you to succeed in praying for your children and your families!!


Father, please bless each one of these ladies who come before you and lift their children's needs up to you. Help them to hear from you and find great peace in releasing their concerns to you. You are an awesome God and for these ladies I thank you!! Amen!!