organizing prayer requests

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring;

For His grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much.

-John Newton from the hymn "Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare"

I remember once seeing a cartoon of a man walking through church. A good friend approaches him, and he begins to think, "Oh, there's Harold! I told him I'd pray for him. 'Dear Lord, would you please bless Harold and help him with...' Hi, Harold! I want you to know I've been praying for you."

Have you ever been there? I have tried for years with some success and some failure to lift up requests and burdens before the Lord in prayer. All I can say is the persistence does pay off, and encourage anyone (including myself) to never give up! I found a great help to organizing my prayer life this summer and share it with others in hopes it may be a help to them as well.

I've tried notebooks and index card files but this little binder from Wal-Mart is what has finally worked for me! The spiral note cards are perfect for memory verses, and loose index cards fit into a pocket at the top. I have several categories (urgent requests, missionaries, ministries, church, family, direction, etc.), one category on each index card, and try to pray through a few each day. Some, like urgent requests, I pray through every day. It's easy to start new cards as needed since they are loose, and I was especially encouraged when I was able to re-write one category of requests because so many had been answered!

Ephesians 6:18 "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."