Mar 29, 2016

DIY Prayer Binder, Get Your Prayer Life In Order




My prayer life was looking, well, pretty pitiful! I had tried reading various books on boosting my prayer life, getting a grip on prayers, honing your prayers, streamlining prayers, etc. Nothing was working!

Now, don't misunderstand me. I said all the "Normal" prayers, Our Fathers, Hail Marys, praying for all family members, friends, special petitions, my own petitions, and on & on. But it was all so... jumbled. Never in the same pattern, coming up with great prayers one night, forgetting them the next, forgetting so-and-so's request... just a mess! And so, my Pinterest investigation began.

Nothing was looking great until I came across Kari from Stone Soup for Five's Prayer Binder, it was quite literally, an answer to my prayers! I turn on my Relax Melodies app, for some background sounds, then I set up my 30/30 app that Kari suggested and helps me stay on task SO MUCH!

I spend 1 hour a day, and I pray for everybody and everything under the sun (slight exaggeration, but it's pretty close!)  AND I get 30 minutes of bible study within that hour! Amazing, right? Yeah, I thought so, too! 

Kari suggested reading The Hour That Changed The World by Dick Eastman.  So while I was gathering my supplies that she suggested, I bought this book and dived in.  IT was fantastic! I couldn't wait to organize my prayer binder and get an effective prayer life.

To start off, I organized my prayer binder exactly like Kari did hers. I thought that after a while if something doesn't work for me, I can make adjustments. But so far, everything is flowing smoothly.

This is what I used:

Supplies:

1- Avery half sized binder
2- packs half-sized paper
2- packs half sized dividers
1- pack half sized page protectors
1 pack individual tabs
a couple rolls of washi tape

I found the book used on Amazon for about $12 total, and with a coupon from Staples, the grand total for all supplies and books came up to $33.78.

For the outside pockets, I made a cool watercolor graphics page, which I'll link at the bottom of this post, and you can print it out for yourself if you get the binders with the clear pockets! If not, no worries, I'm sure you can personalize your binder all sorts of ways!

I also had a book called Prayers with Purpose for Women by Jackie M. Johnson that was AMAZING for all my subcategories! You'll see what I mean in my photos.

This is how to break it up:

*Sections need to be using the plastic dividers*


Section 1- Praise,  praise God for all that He is! I like to think of this as the worship songs part of the church.  2.5 minutes.



Section 2- Rest, I sit and picture snuggling up to God, resting on his shoulder; a silent surrender to God so he can shower his love on you. 2.5 minutes.



Section 3- Confession, A.K.A. Spiritual Cleansing 2.5 minutes.


Section 4- Scripture Prayer, This is where you study the bible. I'm currently doing the read through the bible in a year with the Good Morning Girls. I spend 30 minutes on this one.



Section 5- Petition, Prayer for me. These I have split up into subcategories, using the individual tabs. This is where I used the prayers from the book Prayers with Purpose for Women by Jackie M. Johnson I mentioned above. Y'all, it's amazing! And you can switch these around. Obviously, you can add more subcategories for the weekend days. Or maybe you have a category that you need more prayer time in because you will be repeating the weekend tab over the weekend days.

 Monday- Christ follower,
Tuesday- Wife & Marriage,
Wednesday- Mother,
Thursday- Stewart,
Friday- Work/Encourager,
Weekend- friend & sister.
2.5 minutes each subcategory, but on the tab for that day.













Section 6- Husband (optional) I also broke this into subcategories using the individual tabs.  I didn't have a book like the Prayers with Purpose for Women for the Husband category, but I'm sure you can adapt some of the prayers to fit your husbands. What I did was just write down prayers from the heart. And I'm always adding new ones to the pages as they come along.

To protect the Mr.'s privacy, and that of my future child, I won't show their individual prayers, but it's broken down like this-

Monday- Faith,
Tuesday-Husband/Marriage,
Wednesday-Father,
Thursday- Brother/Son/Friend,
Friday- Employee,
Weekend- Leadership.  I also printed off a monthly calendar from Inspiredtoaction.com for Husband, and I pray a vertical line daily so I start the first line on Monday and the last line on Sunday.
2.5 minutes.



Section 7- Child (optional) Again, I broke this down into subcategories using the individual tabs, Monday- Christ Follower,
Tuesday- Wisdom/Discernment,
Wednesday-Integrity,
Thursday- Purity & future spouse,
Friday- As a Student,
Weekend- Career. I also printed off a monthly calendar from inspiredtoaction.com for Children and pray a vertical line daily, same way as the husband section.
2.5 minutes.



Section 8- Extra- This is where I write down the prayers that I hear people need. Like, "Oh, so and so's father in law passed away this morning, pray for their family." Or any that I hear specifically from friends and family. 2.5 minutes.


Section 9- Daily, I broke this down into subcategories using the individual tabs,
Monday- Family,
Tuesday- Christian friends,
Wednesday-Non-Christian Friends,
Thursday- Church & Missionaries,
Friday-Our Nation, Weekend- World. I also printed off a 30-day prayer calendar for our nation  from ifapray.org, and same as the others, praying a vertical column daily. 2.5 minutes,


Section 10- Listen, This is where you ask specific questions for God and listen for his answers. 2.5 minutes.


Section 11- Thanks, You allow your mind to wonder over the last 24 hours and thank God for everything you can think of. The more specific, the better. 2.5 minutes.





Section 12- Praise. We began with an act of adoration, but we will end with an act of magnification of God. 2.5 minutes,



Below are the binder cover inserts I made using Picmonkey.com. Click the link below each design and it will bring you to googledocs so you can download!

Link to Download


Link to download


Link to Download



Please, go to Kari's blog to see all the details. She does a much better explanation of the sections than I do.

And get the book, it's amazing! Your prayer life will be so streamlined, it's the difference like night and day!

How do you streamline your prayer life? Leave your tips below!