For a few months now, my friend Peyton and I have been praying about and working on a new blog called “Sisters on Our Knees”, and I’m excited to announce that it is officially launched!
Of course, I will still be posting on Blog of Joy, but you will also find me posting on Sisters on Our Knees.
Our hope is that Sisters on Our Knees can become a joint effort of sisters in Messiah around the world. If you ever feel led to write a guest post or share a testimony of answered prayer, you can email us at: sistersonourknees@gmail.com
Yesterday I did something that I had gotten out of the practice of doing. I opened up the Intercessors for Israel prayer e-mail and prayed along.
Every time that I pray along with these weekly prayer prompts, I feel so strengthened and connected to the Father. It keeps me up to date on current events in Israel, and also fills me with hope that the Father is hearing our prayers.
If I want to be so committed to this, why don’t I pray along more often?
Any excuse I come up with isn’t good enough.
I’ve always struggled with praying consistently for Israel for years. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth.
Distraction is often zapping our time, efforts, and prayer life.
But if we open up the Word of Life, and quiet our soul to hear His still small voice, we will know His heart. We will know His will. We will know how to pray.
Sometimes there are many prayer requests on our hearts. We have family, friends, communities, and worldwide issues to pray for. And we need to focus on these important things. But we also need to remember to always “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6).
photo from pinterest
That small strip of land, about the size of New Jersey, is unlike anywhere else in the world. All the earth is His, but Israel is His special treasure.
For the YHVH has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling, saying, “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it. I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor I will satisfy with food. I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her faithful people will ever sing for joy. “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”
(Psalm 132:13-18)
His heart is for Israel.
With so many people in the world standing against Israel today, we must stand up for this Promised Land.
A little while back I shared about the power of prayer, and some scriptural reasons to pray. The Father has been showing me, over and over this year, how important prayer is. He’s been convicting me to pray about more aspects of my life, and to “not be anxious in anything, but in everything through prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:7)
photo from pinterest.com
Keeping a prayer journal is a wonderful way to remember prayer requests and to build a prayer strategy.
As far as choosing a notebook, I’ve found that a three-ring binder is a great option. I’ve used a regular notebook for a prayer journal if it’s only focused on one subject, but when it comes to a book with multiple prayer requests, a three-ring binder is excellent for organization.
Benefits of using a three-ring binder:
You can rearrange the pages as desired. (If I fill a sheet of paper with prayers for a certain person, I can move a blank page to the next spot and keep writing.)
You can add prayer guides that you’ve printed online. Simply hole-punch them.
You can store pictures of people to pray for in the pockets on the inside of the binder.
Writing down prayers definitely has it’s benefits. Sometimes I forget what I’ve prayed for people in the past, and then I’m not as likely to see how Yahweh answered those prayers. But when they’re written down, I can see exactly what I prayed and how He answered.
Here is a fictional sample that I’ve written as an example to get your creativity flowing:
photo from pinterest.com
P.S. If you would like some more resources and inspiration, here a Pinterest board that I’ve started on Prayer.
