Why should you write down your prayers? Can I write down my prayers to God?
Is writing to God the same as praying? Does God hear written prayers? Does writing down prayers work?
These and many more are some of the questions people often ask. You should know that just because you write down your prayers does not make them any less genuine.
Instead, it helps you think through your conversation with God as you are praying the entire time you write down the prayers.
In this article, I will share the following with you:
- Why you should write your prayers down.
- 35 benefits of writing down prayers.
- How to write prayers.
Why You Should Write Your Prayers Down
Habakkuk 2:2-3. KJV says – And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
3: For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
You should write your prayers down, so you don’t forget them. This is because when you pray and God answers your prayer, there is a tendency for you to forget. When it comes to prayer, sometimes we forget the middle part, the period between asking and receiving.
Many of us don’t remember what it is like to wait patiently for answers from God. Others attribute the answers to their prayers to luck or good timing and subtract God from the equation.
You should write down your prayers because prayers answered, but forgotten don’t make for unshakable faith. Only prayers prayed, waited for, answered, and remembered to do.
So, write your prayers down in a journal, computer, mobile device, diary, note app, sticky note, notepad, or in the margins of your Bible.
Write down what you need, what you are asking God and expectantly waiting for.
Write down everything; your weaknesses you want God to help you with; write your greatest joys and painful heartbreaks. Also, write the names of those you are praying for.
Here Are 35 Benefits of Writing Down Prayers
I would provide the 35 most crucial ones on the benefits of writing down your prayers.
Writing down prayers:
1. Helps Remind You of God’s Answer to Each Prayer.
Often we pray, but after God has answered, we forget to even notice that He has granted our requests. So, writing down your prayer will help you note when God answers.
2. Makes Prayer More Inspiring.
Unlike how monotonous it is sometimes when we pray with only spoken words, writing them makes prayer a little more inspiring and exciting.
3. Helps You Spend More Time with God.
For those who cannot pray for long, writing provides a better means to spend more time in conversation with God.
4. Is a Way to Relax When Anxious or Depressed.
Conveying your thoughts to God in writing when you are depressed, anxious, or stressed is a great way to ease off negative feelings and emotions. It also calms you and helps you relax better.
5. Can Fill You with Joy.
Writing often floods the mind with thoughts. When conveying your thoughts to God through written words, the Holy Spirit can fill you with joy by bringing thoughts that will make you joyful.
6. Makes Your Prayer Life Less Stale.
When your prayer life feels like it is becoming stale, writing the words instead can be a great way to revamp it.
7. Enables You to Pray When You Don’t Feel Like Praying.
It is easier to converse with God through written words when you don’t feel like praying audibly.
8. Reminds You That God is Working in Your Life.
When you develop the habit of writing down prayers, you will be constantly reminded of how God is consistently working in your life.
9. Provides Clarity.
Writing down prayers creates clarity where you might otherwise not have the right words to pray.
10. Helps You Persist in Prayer.
Usually, when we pray about a particular thing, a few times, we move on to something else. But by writing down your prayer and going over them, you are reminded that there are some things you should still petition heaven for.
11. Helps You Recognize Patterns in Your Life.
When you write down your prayers, it helps you reflect on them. This will assist you in noticing patterns in your life, whether good or bad.
12. Reveals Areas of Growth.
When you write your prayers, it reveals areas of growth in your life. Often, this encourages you to pray more.
13. Reveals Aspects of Your Life You Need to Pray More About.
Writing down your prayers opens your eyes to the aspects of your life that need to be addressed in prayer; this may be a sinful habit.
14. Can Draw Your Attention to Those Who Might Need Care And Attention.
Praying for someone keeps your heart attentive to their life. When someone has been on your prayer list for a long time without the answers you are anticipating, it moves you to pray more.
15. Helps You See And Record How God Answered.
Writing your prayers gives you something to look back on to see how the Lord answered. This reminder spurs you to continue praying about other things, knowing that He will answer.
16. Reminds You to Pray for People Regularly.
Many of us are out-of-sight and out-of-mind types of people. Writing our prayers helps us remember those we need to pray for and those to follow up on.
17. Makes it Easy to Continue Where You Left Off.
There are interruptions and distractions sometimes when we are praying. When writing your prayers, if you are interrupted for some reason, you can easily continue from where you left off when you return, or the next time you want to pray.
18. Keeps You Focused on Your Prayers.
Writing your prayers in a way helps you maintain a more focused and organized prayer life.
19. Makes You More Likely to Remember All the Elements of Prayer.
When you write down your prayers, you can look over them and see what you have missed.
It is easy to jump right into the list of concerns for your life or the lives of those you want to pray for and forget all the different elements of prayer that Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer.
In writing your prayers, you are more consistent in praising God, confessing your sins, asking for help for yourself and others, and offering thanksgiving when your prayers receive answers.
20. Assists You in Being Honest with God.
Writing out your prayers assists you in being more open and sincere about what is in your heart. You can describe in vivid words the state of your heart.
You can be honest about your thoughts, the temptations you are facing, and where you have fallen short. The truth is, God already knows all those things about you.
He knows what is in your heart before you do. But the intimacy of penning down your prayers helps you acknowledge those things before Him. It also helps you repent where necessary.
21. Shows What God Has Done.
When you pen down your prayers in your journal or anywhere else, it enables you to look back through the pages and see what God has done for you.
22. Constantly Reminds You of God’s Faithfulness.
Writing prayers help you keep a record of God’s faithfulness in your life. You can see how He has answered many prayers and moved in your life and the lives of those around you.
23. Shows You How God Has Changed You.
You can also see practical ways God has changed you over time through your prayers when you write them down.
24. Enables You to Reflect On God’s Word.
Tim Keller says in his book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, that prayer is the continuation of a conversation God started with us in His word. In other words, our daily prayers should come from what we study in God’s word.
That said, writing your prayers can help you reflect on what you have read in Scripture. You can praise God with written words for what you learned about Him in the Bible.
More so, you can confess the sins you have discovered in your life through His word. Additionally, you can ask for His help to grow in aspects His word has shown you are lacking.
25. Reminds You of Many Periods in Your Life That You Have Forgotten.
The prayers and entries you put down help you remember different periods of your life that you may have otherwise forgotten.
26. Helps You Practice Gratitude.
When you write down your prayers, you can easily keep track of the things God has done for you, thereby filling you with gratitude for His goodness.
Knowing He has granted your requests many times than you can count naturally assists you in having a grateful heart and practicing gratitude.
27. Reminds You of God’s Love.
When you need a reminder of God’s everlasting love and faithfulness, you can open your journal and start reading through the prayers you have written in the past, noting those God has answered.
This will help you see and feel God’s overwhelming love afresh.
28. Shows You How God Has Walked With You Through Different Seasons.
God has walked with many of us through different seasons. Regardless of how they have been, you can acknowledge and remember each of them when you write down your prayers.
29. Builds Faith.
Seeing a long list of prayers God has answered can boost anyone’s faith to an unshakable level.
30. Strengths You.
When we pray and receive answers to our prayers, we feel strengthened to pray more. However, you can only conveniently have a record of the many answers to your prayers if you write these prayers.
31. Encourages You to Pray More.
I have observed that the more I pray and receive answers to my prayers, the more I want to pray.
You will also get this feeling if you start penning down your prayers to keep track of each and God’s answer to them. The answers you will see will encourage you to maintain a more prayerful life.
32. Makes You Love God More.
When you see God’s all-round goodness through the answers to your written prayers, the natural response is always loving God more deeply.
33. Helps You Grow Spiritually.
Penning down prayers spurs you to pray more, and the more you pray, the more spiritually you grow.
34. Helps You Focus Your Thoughts.
It is no secret that when we write, we tend to concentrate more than when we speak. So, writing down your prayers helps you focus your thoughts more on your prayer.
35. Keeps You in Tune with God in a More Practical Way.
The written prayer letters to which God has granted the answers keep you in tune with God positively and practically. Seeing the many requests God has granted does this.
Photo by Bich Tran on pexels.com
How to Write a Prayer?
1. Decide What Thought You Want to Convey to God.
Making up your mind about the things, especially the first thing you want to let God in on will make it easy for you to start writing a prayer. Are you writing to ask for forgiveness or thank Him for His blessings?
2. Express Your Gratitude to God.
Psalm 100:4-5 KJV says – Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
So, the next step is to ensure you begin your prayers by writing words to appreciate God for His many blessings over you and your family.
3. Communicate with God Sincerely.
Be truthful about your feelings and express your thoughts to God without hiding anything from Him. Pour your thoughts into your prayer journal.
4. Pen Down Things About Current Happenings in Your Life, Family, and Friends.
Writing prayer is a personal experience where you can share your thoughts and ask God to take care of you and those around you. You can also write specific needs and areas of your life you need Him to help you and your family.
5. Write Words of Thanks to God.
Thanking God at the end of our prayers is always the right thing to do. So, end your prayers with words of gratitude to God.
Conclusion
Do you write down your prayers? What benefit have you found in doing this? Are they anything like my list of 35 benefits of writing down prayers? If they are, how have they changed you?
If you have yet to pen down your prayers, get a journal and pen or your mobile device and start writing. Start documenting your prayers. I assure you, your life will change for the better.