Making a Prayer Jar Reminds us to Pray
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How Can Using a Prayer Jar Help Your Prayer Time?
Using a prayer jar helps to remind children and adults just who they want to pray for. Prayer is key to our spiritual well-being, and we can’t forget that without it our faith would not be as strong. It’s important to make a prayer jar so that you can place all your prayers inside and then take them out when you need to. This way, you’ll always have some guidance with you no matter what you’re going through.
What is a Prayer Jar?
A prayer jar is a gentle reminder that it is time to pray. We don’t always remember to pray on our own. A prayer jar placed in an area that we will constantly see it is a great way to remind us to pray.
My kids love making crafts, and the prayer jar craft was no different. This definitely helped them dig a little deeper into their prayer life. You can use a prayer journal as a daily reminder to pray. With prayer jars, they are able to walk into a room, pull out a prayer stick and do a quick prayer. Adding a prayer jar to any room of the house reminds us to intentionally pray, it increases our prayer life.
How Does Using a Prayer Jar help you grow closer to God?
Anyone who wants a deeper walk with God can benefit from using prayer jars. Using a prayer jar is one way to encourage yourself and others to pray, which in turn invites God into our lives more.
The Bible tells us in James 4:8 that if we want to draw closer to God and him to draw closer to us we must pray. Prayer is the number one way we show God how much we love him. Using a prayer jar is more than just a craft, it’s an action that brings us to the throne of God.
The keys to growing closer to God are found in James 4:8 which says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you“.
How to Pray to God
One of the most common things I hear people say is they simply don’t know how to pray. Praying to God does not have to be this long, elegant prayer you see so often in the movies. I know because I was one of those that was always afraid to pray in public at church in fear someone would criticize the way I prayed. Keep in mind prayer, even in the bible was most often done in private, it was a personal moment between the person and God.
Why Do We Pray?
We go to God for many reasons, one being because he told us to pray to him. Give him our problems and not burden ourselves with them. Remember to praise him for all the things He has done for us in the past, present, and future.
4 Types of Prayers
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NIV)
There are four different types of prayers you should teach your children. Prayers to God for adoration, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving.
- Adoration/Blessing– Praise God for what he has done. You can sing songs of worship/praises or thank him for the beautiful sunset. Take this time to pray to God to bless you and others.
- Petition/Supplication– means we ask God for what we need or would like. We give our troubles to Him. (Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV) This can even include asking forgiveness for something you may have done.
- Intercession– is just like it sounds, you are asking/praying for someone else. In intercession, you are asking for someone else who is sick. You know they’re suffering with a terminal disease and want to ask God to heal them. You know someone is sick, you can pray to God to heal them.
- Thanksgiving– Thanksgiving is a prayer that expresses gratitude. To be thankful to God for what he has done for us or for others. I am always thankful for our move over the past summer to the home and city we are in now. It is as if God said, you always wanted to move back to that one town, here is one similar.
How to Make a Prayer Jar
Keep in mind that DIY prayer jars can be simple with just a tag or a label that says “Prayers” or extremely creative. Make a request jar of your own that you can use and place prayer sticks or cards into.
- mason jars/canning jars (1 pint or bigger)
- mod Podge
- Elmer’s glue or stick glue
- paintbrush (be sure you don’t mind it getting glue)
- construction paper
- scissors
- glitter
- leaves, petals, etc
- sequins, buttons, lace, ribbon (anything you’d like to put on the jar)
Instructions to Make your DIY Prayer Jar Craft
1. Clean your mason jar and dry it completely before beginning this project. Start by finding an empty jar, a glass container with a lid, any sort of mason jar will work. Make sure to wash it out with hot water.
2. Time to decorate your prayer jar! Take out everything you have to craft with and have fun with it. Don’t forget to add a trim to the bottom and top. You can even deck out the lid, just remember it has to be able to close. To decorate your jar, you could add stickers and even just tie some ribbon around the jar. There are endless possibilities!
Other ideas to decorate your prayer jar might be: Nature items like leaves, flowers, and feathers are great to craft with. Sequins, buttons, sticky gems, and some glitter will work great. You can wrap the lid with ribbon and use mod podge to hold it in place.
3. Label your mason jar. It’s time to write on the front and or back of your jar. I love adding a label to my prayer jar so I know which one this is for. (I also have a Blessings Jar) Glue a tag onto it, I used construction paper to write “Prayers” onto mine and I just wanted something cute for my prayer card messages to go in.
4. Fill your prayer jar with prayer cards, prayer stick or a combination of both! You can even have 20 for each, 50 for all kinds of situations. The possibilities are endless.
5. Add a label to the prayer jar. Use paper cardstock or construction paper and cut out a rectangle. Then write the letters P-R-A-Y in pencil and cut them out. Glue the label on the jar and coat it with mod podge. Paste the P-R-A-Y over the label so it really stands out. Now your Prayer Jar Craft is ready for you to fill it up with prayers. (check out below to how to make prayer sticks)
Once your prayer jars are washed fill with prayer requests. Either use little slips of paper or buy some tacks (or use as is without the tag). Write down what you want to pray for or draw a picture of it. You can also paint if you feel like being artistic!
4 Tips for using the prayer jar to deepen your relationship with God
I used a prayer jar to deepen my relationship with God. Here are five tips for using the prayer jar:
1. Write down your prayers. Write your letters for your prayer jar, do not print them off of your computer. You want this to be personal.
2. Keep the jar next to your bed and pray from there.
3. Pray before bed and then pray again when you wake up.
4. Frame some of the prayers that come out of this so that you can look back at what God did for those requests. Don’t forget to write down the date it was answered.
It’s okay if you don’t use a prayer jar for every single prayer because that is what this is all about — finding the best way to reach out to God and know Him more deeply. In fact, even when I had my prayer jar, there were some prayers I ended up writing on a scrap of paper or in my journal for a while. Prayer jars can definitely be helpful, but they are not necessary to have a relationship with God!
The benefits of using a prayer jar
There are a ton of benefits to using a prayer jar one is you can become more connected with God and the other you can place your prayers in a special place. If you make prayer jars with a group of friends you can also ask them to pray for certain things and keep them updated when they are answered, making the process of praying feeling more connected with others at the same time. I always think about how God tells us when two or more are praying our prayers are louder.
Why should you have a Prayer Jar?
I recommend having a prayer jar. Prayer jars are important for many reasons. For example, prayer jars are useful because they help you feel more connected to your spirituality and they help you communicate with a higher power. Prayer jars also have the benefit of making you feel comforted knowing others are praying for you too.
Types of Prayer Jars
These jars come in all different shapes and sizes that you can design any way you choose. I have seen prayer boxes that people decorate or you can grab some already decorated ones at the Dollar Tree that have an open top. Simply drop in your prayers on paper or index cards and let it go.
Some you tie a string around the top of the jar with a piece of paper strung through it that says Prayer Jar. Others glue or mod podge the entire jar and make it personal. There is no wrong way to make a prayer jar, the importance is that you use it.
Keep in mind the more prayer activities you add to your daily life, you’ll definitely be improving your prayer life.
Prayer Sticks for your Prayer Jar
For this prayer craft, you will simply need Popsicle sticks (we used the jumbo ones) and sharpies. If you feel like it, you can always embellish your prayer sticks to make them really stand out more.
Nicoli loved adding certain prayers to his prayer sticks. BabyGirl has 4 jumbo sticks that she wants to always focus on (growing closer to God, doing God’s will, speaking in tongues, and being in His presence) and then the rest are normal popsicle sticks with her remaining prayers.
What Should you put on Prayer Sticks
With each stick, you simply write down something you or your child could request from God. A stick might read petition over someone you saw today or praise God for something he has done for you recently. Just think about things you can be thankful for (praise God), specific prayers, family members, your community, church, positive thoughts, scripture verses, etc.
We decided to keep our mason jar open, we wanted our prayers to be able to reach God, even when we aren’t saying them. No point in keeping them hidden. Plus, our sticks were slightly bigger than our jar was. When you are done writing out your sticks simply place them in your jar for later.
Are you having a hard time coming up with ideas on “Things You Can Pray For“? Print this list out on cardstock paper and glue them to your sticks.
Expand Your Prayer Stick Opportunity with Your Kids
This is the perfect opportunity to go over each stick and see how they can expand on their prayers. We had a 45-minute discussion going over everyone’s prayer sticks last night. Each child wanted to talk about what they can pray for with each one. I loved it!
Example of a Prayer for the Prayer Sticks
Pray for friends– Ask them what they could pray over? Is there are any specific people and prayers? Ask as a friend group as a whole you could pray over the friendship, that they all find God, they do good in school, etc.
Pray for Your City– Ask them how they can pray for the city they live in? Why they would pray over it? If there is anything specific going on in the city?
Pray for a blessing– Ask your child who could use a blessing? A friend, a family member, etc. Or ask them if they saw the person crossing the road and explain that God did too and he can bless them even if you don’t know their name.
Praise to God– Thank God for something He has done for you lately. Nicoli was excited due to the snow so he prayed to Thank God for the snow so he could play in it.
Related: How to Teach Your Children to be Grateful with a Gratitude Journal
Why Pray a Blessing Over Someone?
“May you be filled with joy.” Colossians 1:11b, (NLT)
Typically, we only hear about blessings after someone sneezes or before a meal. Think back to the last time you were at church. Chances are your pastor prayed a prayer of blessing before dismissing church.
Blessings are asking God to help you or someone else. To pray for protection, mercy, or ask for a gift. So don’t forget to add those prayers of blessing sticks in that blessing jar. You never know who you will help!
This craft can be made by women, kids, men, or the whole family. These are good ways to make praying a habit and growing closer to God. Hope you enjoyed it!
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Teach me more about Jar prayers…..im a beginner