Now that I am (interim) pastoring at Christ the King PCA I find that I am spending a lot more time in prayer. I also find it difficult to keep track of all that I am praying for, and for how those the situations were resolved.
I started with a pen and paper prayer journal, but I have found that I never have it when I need it, and since I tend to lose things I worry that it might fall into the “wrong hands” if I try to carry it everywhere. So I am now experimenting with a new system. I am treating prayer like I treat other parts of my life—prayer is something that I need to prepare for, that I need to keep track of, and most importantly, that I need to do. It is a (blessed, glorious, holy) task. So, like other tasks, I have begun putting prayer requests into my Remember The Milk (RTM) list. (For an introduction to using RTM for Getting Things Done (GTD), see this.)
- Image via CrunchBase
I have a “Pastoring” list where all prayers get added (along with other churchy things). All prayer requests get tagged with the “@prayer” context tag (I use the @ in RTM to create contexts; if you’re familiar with Getting Things Done that probably makes sense to you, if not try here). If the prayer is about a person, I stick their phone number in a note, and if they have a tag in my system (my wife gets a tag, and so do co-workers and other people I interact with regularly) that tag gets added as well. I also add the date of the prayer request to the note. If the prayer has an expected end date (“pray that my stressful event Friday goes well”) I give it a due date, if it is more open-ended I don’t. I use the notes feature of RTM to keep track of how it all develops. When the prayer is answered, I “complete” the prayer, but I can still go back to it later because RTM will let you see completed tasks—all your answered prayers.
This system is secure (RTM’s servers are super encrypted, and my passwords are super weird and long), it is available to me anywhere (I love my new phone!), and it works almost exactly like most prayer-journaling systems I hear about. The biggest downside is… well, it feels weird. Prayer is such a sacred thing, and pen-and-paper seems more personal/appropriate/holy.But is pen and paper more sacred than bits and pixels?
I have talked to a couple of pastor friends regarding this but have yet to find a system that works for me. Does anyone have any suggestions, pen-and-paper or otherwise? Is there anyone out there who uses technology to keep track of their prayer life? Anyone think that sounds, for lack of a better word, weird? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Hey Man –
I looked at RTM and couldn't justify the 25 bucks a year for a to do list which would work with the iphone – since that was the place I would normally put them – after talking to someone. I like the encription idea since putting prayer requests as to do lists on my calendar isn't exactly secure – but it works for the general ones.
Try toodledo, which has a great iPhone app and a number of other ways to connect. The web interface is pretty ugly, but it is more feature-full than RTM. I used to use toodledo but it has no android app, so I'm back to rtm.
Also, as a MAC guy, you have access to Things, which I hear is pretty awesome.
thx ill look into them – b
Hi!This is awesome blog.This is true that by prayer things done better .This is real fact of life.
Thanks for reading.
I prefer to pray in my closet and not keep track of my prayers, when my head gets crazy I tend to e-mail myself with those prayers.
And then I call my friend Ruby who is 75 years old and ask her to pray for me because she simply prays like you do by writing them down. Every time I call her she tells me of her prayer life like the time a little boy asked her to pray that their chickens would lay eggs and so said she would. She is a true prayer warrior, because she won't stop praying until the person gets back to her and what is so sad is I am one of her only friends that gets back to her. Three months after she started praying for this little boy and as she was sending a bible study to him, she happened to ask him, "By the way can I stop praying for your chickens?" The little boy was shocked she was still praying for him and his chickens. He simply said, "Yes, you can stop praying for them, they are laying quite well."
Her prayers are so powerful because they are really quite personal and I honestly think she likes them that way.
My prayer for you is that your stream of e-mails remain protected by the Father's hand.