“Oh Lord, hear me praying; listen to my plea, Oh God my King, for I will never pray to anyone but You. Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before You praying earnestly.” Psalm 5:1-3
I write the above verses from Psalm 5 in the front cover of each new daily prayer journal I begin. I also write each one of the Bible versus I assigned to my children when they were younger. At the start of each journal I revise and write my list of ‘permanent’ prayer offerings. This list includes all those things I pray for repeatedly on a daily basis. And, I include the following prayer for all: ‘O Lord, Keep us all safe and free from all evil; guide us each in what is ours to do.”
I share these things because, for me, it is all part of my earnest prayer. It takes time to write all of it down in each new journal. I don’t read the entire prayer list everyday because I pray for those concerns and situations that are most in need that day, but occasionally when I am tight on time, I lift the entire list up by saying, “for all those intentions I pray for daily.” The Holy Spirit knows my heart and lifts them up for me.
Praying earnestly involves our thoughts, our needs, our hopes, and our dreams. It involves praying for the needs of not just ourselves, but for others, such as our families, our friends, our nation, and the world. Praying earnestly means honest sharing of all our concerns. It means praying even for people and things that may be difficult to pray for because we have been hurt, forgotten, or deceived. We share with God our difficulty in praying for these things and ask His Holy Spirit to make our prayers complete wherever they are lacking. God looks into our heart while He listens to our prayers. He accepts nothing less than earnest prayer. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be honest.
Begin and end each day by looking to Him in heaven and lay your requests before Him in earnest prayer.
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