Prayer journals can be useful tools for anyone looking to deepen their faith. Christians often use prayer journals to record the daily struggles, joys, and milestones of their spiritual life. Just as keeping a record of life’s highs and lows can be profitable to remembering and processing them, so keeping a record of prayers can build up your faith.
A prayer journal elevates regular journaling to a spiritual level. In this context, journaling becomes not just a record of daily events but a vessel through which to cultivate and commemorate your relationship with God. It is a place to write down prayers from each stage of life, allowing you to fully absorb the depth of their significance. It offers you the gift and privilege of dwelling upon them in the present and future alike.
To keep a prayer journal, think first of how you might keep a regular journal. What would you record? Perhaps you would write down the occurrences of your day, your goals for the immediate future, or your hopes and dreams for a date yet to be defined. The same principles apply to prayer journals, while adding a spiritual angle.
You can simply write down your prayers as they come to you, as though you are writing a letter to God. Or, many people find it beneficial to divide each day (or entry) into sections.
Start with writing down a prayer of gratitude for five to ten things you are thankful for today—even bullet points can work here, though it can help to flesh each one out. These could be as universal as a warm cup of coffee or the sun rising in the morning to as specific as a meaningful conversation with a cherished friend. Remember, nothing is too “small” to be thankful for, and life is full of everyday miracles. Shifting our minds to a perspective of gratitude can release stress and increase optimism and contentment.
Next, write down your prayer requests. Again, just as nothing is too small to be thankful for, so also nothing is too large to pray about. Taking note of these requests helps us view our goals and dreams from a spiritual standpoint, and allows us to remember and reflect on them in the future.
Lastly, record any times or situations you have seen your prayers answered—even if different from what you hoped for! This can be a helpful means of both reflecting on the ways God listens and works, as well as processing any disappointment through the lens of ultimate hopefulness.
By bookending our requests in gratitude and reflection on answered prayers, we remind ourselves that although as humans we are not in control, good things still do and will occur in God’s providence. Through keeping this journal, you (and those after you!) will be able to reflect on the stages of your life—its emotions, longings, and answered prayers—for years to come.
At Leatherpress, we care deeply about creating high-quality products that are made to last—because your thoughts and ideas from any single moment are worth being preserved forever. Kept safe in our journals, each prayer can be reread and reabsorbed even years down the line as enduring markers of your personal growth.
We offer three exclusive collections of journals as beautiful to the touch as they are to the eye.
Our Heritage Collection affords your soul-thoughts the home they deserve. Prayers find their resting place in each one like seeds planted in a garden. Within the rich, earth-toned covers and gilded pages of a Heritage journal, ideas composed in your mind blossom into three-dimensional life experiences.
Our Artisan Collection awakens the creator in each of us. Within these journals, thoughts or prayers can become the foundation of something new, something extraordinary—goals that couldn’t have been formed and insights that wouldn’t have been realized without first putting pen to paper. Preserve each prayer and capture its potential in these durable heirloom journals that will last from generation to generation.
Our Inspire Collection is the perfect place to capture those sudden moments of perception that come even when you least expect them. With their bold palette, a fleeting moment of inspiration blends with vivid color to remind us of God’s work through prayer.
Shop all Leatherpress products and start your prayer journal today here.
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