For years we have had a family devotional time following family dinners a few times a week. In all honesty, we have achieved only mediocre success. About once a month, it all seems to come together with the perfect dinner, good conversation, time spent with laughter, a scripture reading that is rich with life application, followed by a time in real prayer for our lives. In those brief moments, my husband and I get the crumbs of encouragement to keep trying. A few months ago, we started strategically focusing on our time in prayer together.
We began by taking the time to write down our conversation and prayer requests. Sometimes the prayer requests were big things, such as my husband looking for a job, or small things, such as asking for some sunshine the next day. We used a very formal sticky note system.
We discovered in a short time that we could see God moving in our lives. It was easier to see the big answers to prayer for a new job, but we started noticing His hand providing solutions to our prayers for the smaller things too. These crazy sticky notes on the table became the spark that fueled our conversation and prayer time, then suddenly it was not just the adults who were calling out the “God Moments,” but our son could also see them. Together, we noticed the physical changes taking place within each of us as we focused on our family’s foundation of prayer.
They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
Luke 6:48, NIV
We created this 20 Days of Prayer, Family Prayer Journal to help you change the conversation during your family time. Each day has a prompt, a scripture, and a place to reflect. But we hope that you will document your prayers. The days can be done in as short as five minutes or extend the time longer depending on your schedule. They also do not have to be done 20 days in a row. The desire is to see God move in your family through prayer. We encourage you to take notes, write prayers and requests together, and reflect back on the journal from time to time. Enjoy this journey together as a family.
Free Download, 20 Days of Prayer, Family Prayer Journal
