Making a List, Checking it...often

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy," Philippians 1:3-4

Good morning, dear friends,

Photo: geralt pixabay

I am a recovering, "to-do" list maker.

There was a time when my brain functioned like a normal person's (although some would probably argue that my brain has NEVER been normal.)  Getting up early in the morning, I would think about my day, and then write a list of things to do, goals to achieve, and things to buy.  I would plan out menus for the week, or the month, and write a list.  (There were times when the lists actually made it to the store with me.)

The same is true of my prayer lists.  I would write out lists of people for whom I am praying, and then pray through the list.  The lists have gotten increasingly longer over the years, as people have come in and out of my life, and my "circles of friends" have included missionary families and friends all over the world.  As the lists get longer and longer, I realize that I can't make it through the lists all at one shot.  I break down the lists, and then try to be faithful in praying by categories, or by needs, or something to make the lists more manageable.  It becomes a daunting task.

Perhaps I am not alone with this.  It seems to be an impossible task to pray faithfully for the 200+ names and requests that end up on my lists.

One of my desires recently has been to find a different way to pray more effectively for the people closest to me.  I know that God desires that I lift others up in prayer, but I just didn't seem to be getting it done in a way that is pleasing to Him.

So, I decided to abandon the list.

Now, before you start throwing things at me, and labelling me a heathen, let me explain.

My prayer list has serious flaws.  One, my list is impersonal.  Just name upon name, hundreds of them, to the point where even if I spent one minute praying for each name on the list, I wouldn't make it to the end in a day's time.

Two, my motivations had changed.  I had become obsessed with the list.  I had to pray through the list, or I would feel guilty.  What if I neglected to pray for someone that day, only to find out later that they really "needed" to be prayed for that day?

(It's silly, I know, but that's how my brain works.)

So, instead of getting frustrated with the list and the way I was going through it, I decided to take a look at my motivations:  Why do I have the list in the first place?  Is it so I can check through the list, and say that I have prayed for everyone on there?  Do I feel if I don't pray for people every day, that I am "letting them down?"

Or do I really desire that the Lord meet the needs of my friends and family members, as well as the people to whom I minister here?

A short passage in Philippians 1 caught my eye as I was wondering how I could be more effective in praying for my loved ones.  Here are the verses that caught my attention:

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now: being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:3-5) 

1.  My time of prayer for others should be anything but routine.  Instead of just being another "task" on my agenda as a "Spirit-filled" Christian, I need to remember the reason why I pray in the first place.  There is just something spontaneous about praying with thankfulness and joy.  It cannot be confined to a mere list.  There should be a conscious effort on my part, as I lift others up in prayer, to consider the needs and joys of others, and ask God to intervene in their lives.  Once I lose sight of that, my praying for others is not as effective as it should be.

2.  My time of prayer should be Spirit-led.  Makes sense, right?  I have no idea what people are going through at any given time on any given day, but the Lord does!  As I start my day with Him, God brings people on my mind ("upon every remembrance of you") and then I pray specifically for those people He lays on my heart at that specific time.  There are names that are always on my heart--my husband, my children, and my closest family members and friends--and then there are others that I feel especially "burdened" to pray for at a given time. Other times, as I am glancing through my list of names, some will literally "jump out" of the page for me, and I pray specifically for those folks.  Then, as I leave my list and start my day, I think about loved ones near and far, and I enter into a conversation with God for the needs of others.

3.  There is no expiration date on my prayers.  This is a sentence that caught my eye in a devotional book on prayer that I read recently, something for which I never really thought about before.  I had trapped myself in the guilt that if I did not pray for everyone, everyday, that I was letting others down.  In short, I forgot that God was the one who was doing the blessing, the healing, the encouraging, the strengthening.  This passage in Philippians reminded me that God is the one "which hath begun a good work," and He "will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  The prayers I pray today, and yesterday, and tomorrow, are just as real and valid in God's eyes.  There is no time limit to one who is eternal.

I still have my list.  It probably needs to be rewritten, but it definitely needs to be rethought.  I have made some changes to my prayer time, as well.  I write down my lists, AFTER I have prayed.  I try to keep paper nearby as I work through the day, and as things come to mind, I jot them down.  Then, I can look back through the lists and see how the Lord is answering the prayers.

I would love your feedback on your prayer time, if you journal, if you "list" and ways that you have stayed encouraged in prayer for others.  Feel free to leave a comment below!