Rhythm through Prayer Journaling

Have you ever done skipping as a child or even in the gym during a workout? I must say, the girls are pros in skipping! They move with such elegance, rhythm, and focus. We used to team up and each member had a specific turn and none of us wanted to fail the team. We tried our best! But why am I talking about skipping?

A life of prayer is not stagnant; rather, it is active and constantly changing. A dedicated person’s prayer life keeps evolving as the hunger for God’s Word and prayer intensifies. As we keep maturing in our prayer life, our relationship with God becomes one of trust, honesty, and obedience. We realize that God invites us into His presence during certain times to worship, intercede, or giving some revelation.

Prayer closet under construction

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

I experienced a strange encounter, feeling that my prayer life is under construction. After thinking about this I realized that our prayer life must be in this cycle of maintenance or construction from time to time. Not just our prayer life, but as a child of God our whole being are striving towards completion.

    Under Construction

I thought Houses of Prayer was made of marble, granite, and Travertine — a series of thees and thous and this. I thought Houses of Prayers were holy places made for the righteous, not dirty sinners like me.

If this was a House of Prayer, it was a dilapidated shack. And that’s why I didn’t invite Him in very often. I didn’t want Him to see the mess I’d made. But He showed up anyway.

That’s what finishing carpenters do, you know.

With nails and wood
and grace flowing down
a Carpenter
turned my rundown shack
into a holy place.

He heard the invitation — “Lord help me” — even when it was all I had. And He came to heal us, the sick and weary.

         Jennifer Dukes Lee

What makes up the rhythm in our days?

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly .”

Psalm 5:3

Our days consist of fixed times of the day. These times are divided into different activities and give rhythm to our days. It also contributes to the fruitfulness of our days.

Seven times a day do I praise you’

Psalm 119:164

I recently fell in love with the eight prayer watches , four during the day and, four at night. Actually, it was an assignment from the Holy to me to research this topic on the prayer watches.

“On my bed, I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the night“

Psalm 63:6

I came to realize, after doing some research on this topic, that the prayer watches not only bring rhythm but also a breakthrough and a synchronized prayer life.

Tips to gain rhythm in prayer through journaling

• Be honest and declutter bad habits that keep you from finding the rhythm in your prayer life. You can even do a journal entry about it and pray about it.

• Ask God to bring your prayer life into rhythm according to the heavens divine time schedules.

• Design a prayer journal routine that fit your schedule

• Remember to keep in mind the sometimes sudden prompts and instructions of the Holy Spirit.

• Create a suitable prayer and journal schedule. I prefer to make movable tags for when I have to shift in prayer.

• Wake up early

• Repent for wasted time on your watch. Make it a journal entry. I remember how I just wake up, early enough to spend quality time with God, but instead, I wasted precious time watching my favorite channel on television.

• Most importantly, I recently found out that praying during the different biblical watches, brings us into heaven’s rhythm. My morning prayer journal session falls automatically during the first-morning watch (6 am- 9 am), although I woke up before that time to orientate myself.

• Meditate on the Word of God throughout the day and on the things the Holy Spirit communicated with you during the morning session.

Conclusion

I look back on this ongoing journey and I recognized the visual stimuli the Holy Spirit gave me:

Rhythm

Distraction

Construction

Sometimes we do not understand the way God chooses to deal with issues in our lives, but one thing I can tell for sure…is to keep the faith and trust Him. I can personally testify of how during this season heard how the voice of distraction encouraged me to give up.

But I stood firm , clothed with the full armor of my God and backed up by my activated journal theme :

I trust that this will surely strengthen your faith as it has mine.

Blessed journaling