Benefits of Prayer Journaling

Prayer journaling can be a wonderful way for people who have lost faith in their lives to reflect on what they truly want. For those struggling with an unexpected turn in their life, prayer journaling can be grounding and productive

It is always a personal journey that you can use as an outlet to express your concerns, your thoughts, and feelings to God without feeling judged by others. Let’s explore the benefits of prayer journals so you can decide if this is something that could work for you!

Prayer Journaling Can Help You Keep Track of Your Prayers

I like to write out my prayers in detail at the end of each day. I start by revisiting all the people that I’m grateful for that week, then make specific requests for those things which take priority over others. It’s nice when you have time to reflect on what God has done in your life and it also helps me keep track of what I am praying for.

You can also keep track of the prayers you are asking God in your prayer journal. If it is something that concerns you, write it down. Write down your doubts, fears, and worries as well to help you process these things and let go of them so they don’t overwhelm you all at once. I love looking back on my past days when I can remember all the blessings that God has given me, and reflect on how amazing my life is.

Prayer Journal Example:

I’ll share an example of one of my prayer journal entries with you now:

May 17, 2019- Dear God, I don’t know what your plans are and I’m not even sure how I got into this mess in the first place. I told ya I didn’t want to move! All I did was trust that everything would be okay and it sure isn’t. I prayed to you and let it go just like you say to do. Now I’m wondering if that was a good thing to do. I should’ve stuck to my guns and not did it. Lord, I know you are a good God and you allow some things to happen but I don’t understand this. What is your plan? Well, I know you say you will make beauty come from ashes so I’m ready for whatever you have in store for me. I do ask that you protect my family though Lord. I know you love them just as much as I do. Please help. Please help me know everything will turn out fine. -Eliza

Yes, that was a difficult time in my life. When I prayed for help, it seemed like no one cared. Looking back now though I see how God answered me–not at the time but later. That’s one of the benefits of prayer journaling: you can go back and read your prayers from years ago, and see if they’ve come true.

How can prayer journaling benefit you?

Prayer Journaling helps You see the bigger picture. With prayer journaling, you can see how your struggles are benefiting someone else in ways that they aren’t aware of. When I look back on my prayers, I can see how different things intertwine and how God is always managing our lives. It’s a humbling experience when you can look back and see what God was doing in your life at the time.

Prayer Journaling helps You Get in the habit of praying.

A prayer journal would be great for people who want to get into the daily habit of praying, and it can also help you remember to pray at the end of a long day. Prayer is something that has always been central to my life as well. I’m glad that praying is a daily job for me, and not something that I have to force myself to do.

Prayer Journal helps You Set Goals for the Future.

A prayer journal would be advantageous because you could look back at what your goals were in the past and see how far you’ve come! It’s always good to be able to share your goals with God and know that he is right there with you, always.

Prayer Journals Are Unique

Your prayer journal can be your prayers to God, questions, or praises. The benefit of this prayer journal is simply writing down whatever you feel. It can be messy, all over the place, or neat. It does NOT matter unless it does to you. This is a great way to be able to keep track of my prayers and where I’ve been in my life. Over the years, I’ve gone through several different types of prayer journals, they really help me to know what God is doing in my life.

Life is a journey and it’s important to know where you’ve been in the past. I’m able to look back on my journaling and see how much God has done in my life no matter what I was going through.

You Can Be Yourself

The best part about a prayer journal is it is between you and God. No one else has to read it unless you allow it. Get out all of your thoughts, feelings, and worries without worrying about judgment from others. This is when you can be yourself and bare everything to God.

When you start to journal, you can be honest. You won’t have anyone judging you as you write down what’s on your mind and in your heart. You don’t need to hold back, because this is just between you and God. No one else has to see it or read it. If the words are hard to come by, just write, “I’m having trouble finding the words to speak to you God. Can ya help me?” Just continue to write to him.

Plus, if you’re writing down your thoughts and feelings, you can always go back and reread what’s in there later on. When you’re sad or happy, bored or stressed . . . whatever. You can reread the things you have written and remind yourself of how loved you are, or that your struggles aren’t yours alone.

Prayer journaling can help those that Have Lost their Faith Begin Again

Remember that entry above? Well, you can pretty much say I was really being tested and I could’ve completely lost my faith during that time, but I didn’t. I had remembered all the times before that he had been there for me. As a teen, I was a very strong Christian, but later in life, I lost my faith. It would take a good 15 years to find it again and it was a slow process. Journaling definitely helped with that.

When you have faith, it’s easy to just pray to God and let go, but when you don’t believe anymore, that’s hard. I would always tell people, no I’m not pessimistic, I’m just a realist and I know bad stuff can happen and it normally does to me. (That would change though.) When you’re journaling, this is a great time to let him know about your struggles and even talk back to God like He said in the Bible.

It takes patience and perseverance on your part. You have to be willing to continue writing down your thoughts and feelings to God until you start having different feelings than what you had before. I remember when my heart would feel heavy, but now instead of feeling angry at the world, I felt God in it all. My journaling during that time was getting out some anger towards those that had wronged me in my past and during that time period. It could get very dark, but it would begin to change. I had learned of a few methods that was working, I was also seeking a counselor.

If you have lost your faith or just feel like it’s slipping away, journaling is a great way to help hold onto it and know that God will never leave you. You may not be seeing his hand in your life right now, but he is there and waiting for you to reach out. He does have a plan for you and more than likely it is better than the plans you are coming up with.

Prayer Journaling teaches Mindfulness and Gratitude

If you aren’t aware of what mindfulness is, it basically means living in the present moment. (But when your mind is clutter with all the what if’s and worries you can’t focus.) It’s about having the power to use your mind and body to reach a state of peace and happiness. In today’s society, it can be easy to get distracted with our daily routines, but we don’t have to give up on ourselves because life moves fast.

Prayer journaling can be a great way to de-stress yourself and let go of your worries. Give them over to God. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or stressed, get out a pen and paper — even if it’s just for 10 minutes every day. Get whatever is on your mind out of your head by writing it down, then close the journal and put away the pen. Try to focus on the moment for a few minutes.

I learned from personal experience that when I was having a hard time at home, the best thing for me to do was to write how I felt and pray to God. Being grateful is great for your mental health. Consistently being thoughtful and appreciative can help you have a stronger gratitude. (Check out our Gratitude Journal for Kids). Gratitude is one of the key things that can help improve your life and those around you.

When you journal, there are times when you forget what was going on and are reminded of how blessed you are. In times of hardship and despair, writing your feelings down will help you to see things in a different light. It’s not about the small stuff. In fact, it’s never too late to change your life.

Grounded and focused on what’s important in everyday life

Journaling at difficult times in life is often a helpful way to get through those tough periods. For those who journal throughout the day, it can also be an excellent method for recording thoughts and feelings.

To see Prayers Answered

Prayer journals can be a great encouragement for both new believers and those who are experienced in prayer. There should be a page on your journal where you record prayers answered to remind you of the many ways God answers our prayers. This is especially important for people who have recently come to know Christ because it will reassure them that Jesus really does answer their prayers. You can also include the prayers you wrote down like “I prayed for (name) who is dealing with (situation) and X happened” or “These were the areas I needed prayer most and they were answered”.

Scripture Writing in Your Prayer Journal

Prayer journaling can be a reflective exercise in which you memorize Bible verses and recite them to yourself. These verses can then guide you through tough times or be used as reminders of the love and support God provides.

I have penned hundreds of scriptures in prayer journals that I’ve read over and over again throughout my life. When I was younger and just beginning to study prayer journaling, I would write down scriptures to remind myself that God has a plan for me and that he loves me. When my marriage looked like it would end in divorce, I wrote many scriptures about enduring all things and trusting God. After prayer journaling for a while now, scripture memorization has become much easier for me because my focus is on knowing the word rather than mouthing the words.

In prayer journaling, you’re writing down scriptures that are meaningful to you (so they will carry more meaning for you), memorizing them so that they become engrained in your mind, and reciting them out loud so that you can speak to God with the word in your mouth. All of this prayerful effort is a way to worship God with your mind.

Why should we use a prayer journal?

Keeping a prayer journal has many benefits. You can record your prayers as well as scriptures and review them intermittently to get the most out of God’s Word. Throughout this article, I have mentioned benefits that can be felt in your life. Let me tell you more of what benefits I received from journaling. The benefits are things like: reducing stress, increasing gratitude, and mindfulness [knowing what’s important]. It will also help with being grounded and focused on what’s important in everyday life instead of the little things. The benefits could also be help with a softer heart towards others and yourself in addition to turning your life over to God. There are really more benefits that can be found when journaling, but I will stop there for now!

Journaling has helped me grow and learn new things about myself. It is something I have added to my daily life and feel benefits of on a daily basis. It has helped me become more mindful, grateful, grounded and focused on what’s important in everyday life. Journaling is something I enjoy doing and will continue to do so with the help of God! I no longer have to stress about every single thing I do.

If you have any questions about how journaling benefits you or advice for others, please feel free to comment below or email me at eliza@homemom3.com ! I love hearing from others and want to help in any way that I can!

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