I also learned the importance of keeping a prayer journal and a prayer list. The prayer journal is a powerful testimony to God’s sovereign grace and goodness. Each time you begin your Bible study, simply write a “letter to Jesus.” Taking my cues from David, the author of Psalms, I began to share with God the contents of my heart. We often fool ourselves into thinking that God does not know the innermost feelings we harbor in the recesses of our hearts; jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, doubts and fear. God already knows them; I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:10). I noticed that as I began sharing those with the Lord and writing them down, God began to deal with me, helping me to simply have faith and trust in Him. I began to let go of the anger, the fear, and the bitterness that had taken hold of my life. Within those letters to Jesus, not only was I sharing the contents of my heart, but I was also sharing the burdens of others. One morning, after I had done this for a month, I began to read some of the older letters and discovered that God had not only been working within my heart to change my focus, but He was also answering my prayers. It has been nearly a year and a half since I wrote in my prayer journal, but after sharing this, I think I am going to begin writing within its pages again.
I admit I am also forgetful and this is where the prayer list comes in. Thankfully, the church I am a member of now has a weekly published prayer list that is broken down into broad categories. There are some churches that have prayer lists arranged in a different way and some do not have prayer lists at all. The thing is to have something where you can jot down prayer requests and needs so that when you pray, you know what you need to approach the Lord about for the sake of interceding for others. I have learned that if I want to see God answer prayers, then I must be willing to be exact in my prayers. For example, if I simply just lift the Jones’ family up and ask God to take care of their needs, not only there is a lack of sincerity in my prayers, especially if I know some of the needs of the family. It is when we get specific and we ask God to meet their financial needs, the emotional needs, or whatever we know their need is, that we really see the Lord go to work. It is not because the Lord doesn’t know the situation, but it is as the apostle James wrote, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3). When we take time to understand the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will learn to become more effective in our prayers for them. As a side note, I honestly believe that the reason so many of our prayers go unanswered is because we do not believe God will answer them, we do not know what we are asking for and pray in a general sense, and our prayers are filled with platitudes and lack real sincerity.
As I do my Bible Study and as I am reading, I use the pen and notebook to keep notes of what I have read. There are times that a phrase, a passage of scripture, or even a word will seem to stick in my mind. These are the things I write down and when the real Bible Study begins. Biblical phrases and words can be researched through the concordances. Many of my sermons, Sunday school lessons, and devotionals have started out as notes jotted in the notebook. What I normally will do is beginning on Monday, I read and take notes until I have about five or six items written down. Once that happens, I will stop reading and will begin researching one of the items written down until I have studied for an hour. Over the next few days, I will spend the hour studying one of the things written down, taking notes and cross referencing key words or phrases in the concordances. Once my hour of Bible Study is done, I will end in a prayer, and stop studying for that day. The reason is that one intense hour of Bible study provides a lot of spiritual food for one day. From my own experience, anything over that hour is lost; we lose our edge to study we begin to fight the flesh. The hour of study provides enough spiritual food to meditate on throughout the rest of the day without giving us too much of an overload.
I will be the first to admit that it is always difficult starting and maintaining a serious Bible study routine. In my own life, I am having to reestablish a new routine because my schedule has changed because of the new semester requirements. Satan will do his best to keep you distracted – children, spouse, pets, neighbors, and just about any other possible distraction will happen as you seek to spend time studying God’s word. Don’t be discouraged because it is a normal part of the spiritual growth cycle. Satan has nothing to fear from a Christian that will not read and study their Bible on a daily basis. These Christians are not the soul winners, or visit shut-ins, or even pray regularly for themselves, for their families, or members of their church. Satan fears those who do study the Bible because they are the biggest threat to his success. Some of your biggest spiritual challenges will happen once you decide to become serious about your Bible study habits – but the rewards and benefits will be worth it.
