Keeping a prayer journal: requests and answers
We pray, we ask, we wait, and then life goes on. A few weeks later, we no longer know what we had asked, or whether anything changed. A prayer journal answers this problem: it keeps the memory of your requests and of what God did with them.
What it looks like in your day
A prayer journal can be a notebook, a pocket diary, a notes app, it doesn't matter. What matters is keeping it. Here is a simple structure, with two columns (or two pages):
- The requests. What you ask God for: the date, the person or situation, what you ask. “March 12: For Marie, who has a job interview. May she be calm and may the right door open.”
- The answers. What happened next. “March 20: Marie got the job!” Or: “April 3: the answer didn't come as I hoped, but I saw that…”
You don't have to write much. One line per request is enough. Once a week, take ten minutes to open the journal: add new requests, reread the old ones, note what you have seen. If you are short on time, settle for just these two gestures: writing the request at the moment you pray, and noting the answer when it arrives.
For a beginner, three requests are enough. For a shy person, it is a very good tool: you don't have to speak, you write. And if some requests are very personal, you can use initials.
What the Bible says
The people of the Bible liked to keep the memory of what God had done. The prophet Habakkuk even receives an order from God:
“And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
Writing so as not to forget, and so that others can read: the idea is ancient. The psalmist makes remembering God's works an act of faith:
“I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.”
Notice the context: he is going through a very dark time, and it is by remembering what God has already done that he finds hope again. A prayer journal gives you this material: concrete memories of faithfulness.
Moses also urges the people not to forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 6:12). And Psalm 103 begins with an injunction that the journal makes possible: “Forget not all his benefits” (Psalms 103:2).
Pitfalls to avoid
Reducing God to a vending machine. Noting requests and answers can give the impression of a system: I write, I wait, I receive. But God is not a ticket window. Sometimes the answer is “no,” “not yet,” or “differently.” Note it too, these are often the most instructive pages.
Looking for an “answer” at all costs. By dint of wanting to see answers, we risk inventing some. Stay honest: “I don't know yet” is a valid answer.
Giving up after three days. The journal is useful above all over time. If you let two weeks go by, simply resume, without justifying yourself.
Making the journal too heavy. The more complicated it is, the less you open it. One line, one date, is enough.
Sharing without asking. If you write other people's requests in it, respect their confidentiality: initials, no sensitive details.
This week, pick up a notebook. Note three requests with the date. In a month, reread them.