Write down the Prayer List

Write down the Prayer list

“And I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son.  If you ask me for anything in my name I will do it.”  (John 14: 13)

Christ renews a great promise to me this day.  Yes, I believe that every prayer is answered because God’s word is true.  This presupposes that my prayer is according to the mind of Christ, and that the object of the prayer is good for me and not harmful to my neighbor.

In 1996, after reading and reflecting on John 14:13, I made the following prayer list:

• Holy Spirit and his gifts


• Healing


• Job


• PUS


• Daily needs


• Protection


• PaulSJ


• Prosperity

At the end of the list, I appended these words:  “Having prayed for these in the name of Jesus, I now exercise patience and wait for God to act.”

Reflecting on my prayer list 10 years later in 2006, I confirm that all have been answered except one.  I am still working on that one.  I have also grown in the past ten years in spiritual understanding of God’s word.  Because God loves us so much, he rightly answers prayers that are in accordance with his mind and plan for us.  Every good parent does the same.  Nobody gives his five-year old sod a cobra to play with because he asks for it.

God advised the Prophet Habakkuk to “Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.  For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.”  (Habakkuk 2: 2-3)  Why make a note of the prayer list?  A written record helps us to know when and how God answers our prayers and our faith in him will grow.