Written Prayers ~ Do They Count?

[maryjohanna]

Hello all. After taking some time away from CC, I decided to return with a question/topic that might sound really silly and childlike. I am really interested, though, in what everyone's opinions are on this even though it isn't anything super controversial or really intriguing. Hang with me here ....

The reason I have been away from CC for a while is because I have been going through a lot during a very pivotal time in my life ~ COVID-19 doesnt help anything. In the midst of this, I have constantly been online: Christian forums, CC, Yahoo answers, Quora, etc. ~ I have been spending so much of my time online answering and asking questions for advice and support. While there isn't anything wrong with leaning on others, I found myself in a place of isolation from the Lord. I was getting myself into a dangerous pattern of listening primarily to what everyone on various platforms was telling me. I was talking up a huge game on here about prayer and listening to God in times of suffering, but I wasn't living it myself. At all. I CHERISH every conversation I have had on CC with various blessed people, but God was truly calling me to step away and listen to Him in the silence. I urge everyone reading this to shut your laptop, power off your phone, and take at least 2-3 days away from forums. Take time to seek GOD for answers, seek GOD for advice, seek GOD for information. Get away from the noise!! At a certain point, people's opinions will start to take over. I am not saying to abandon this platform (and others) ~ I just found myself in a really stuck place just constantly seeking answers and approval through messaging and comments I left. I was losing time with my Savior. I have decided to limit how often I visit and how long I stay on CC. We need God to be our primary relationship, not a forum. @NotmebutHim commented on my profile and reminded me of a special passage: PSALM 1. We are reminded that we are like trees planted in streams of water when we meditate on His law and speech day and night. Be that tree!

To connect this with my question: during the time I have been away, I have really been trying to get my prayer life straightened out. For some reason, my heart is there but I struggle to really let the Lord in on everything. Not because I don't want to... I guess its that I feel I don't truly know how. What is best way to communicate with Him and have conversation? I am a writer. I love writing. The Lord has occasionally brought up the idea of praying in a journal, writing down my prayers to Him, as a way to "vent," while also talk to Him and share with Him the depths of my heart. I haven't heard about people praying through writing before ~ do you believe this counts? Do you think writing down your prayers/praying in a journal counts as conversation with God? I really feel led to pick it up, but I want to pursue Him properly and earnestly. What are your thoughts on this? Do you (or anyone you know) do this/have done it before?

I would love to hear people's outlook on written prayer, and even things they do to keep their prayer life healthy and sustained. God bless you all!! I feel led in this moment to share this message with you all and I PRAY that I helps/touches someone who comes across this thread.

 

[shittim]

Bless you sister, you were missed.
An anointed man of God spoke to a group I was with, he had a teaching he was given to share on fasting, that is wasn't specifically food but anything that got in the way of relationship, one gentleman got "electronics" as his word of knowledge and it brought the realization of how his spending time with electronics in ministry wasn't the same as spending time in personal one on one relationship. Dr Caroline Leaf's work in the science of neuro-plasticity indicates we are to be communicating with God about every 10 seconds, that is how He made us.
I also recall a prophetic word shared by a man "there would come a time a box would set in the corner of the living room, and the devil would talk to us from there", reminding me also of how in the beginning of TV there was a debate ob how to use this new tech, Edward R. Murrow believed it should be used to educate and enlighten, CBS went with using it to entertain, and we now see the dumbing down that has taken place in the last 70 years.
In my own life within the last 3 weeks I have been reminded through accidents I have had, (and all " accidents" are not accidents, they are attacks of the enemy who comes only to steal, kill and destroy,) that I had tended to spend more less time in the vital one on one relationship and digressed into a still good but less that what He desired thinking about Him, meditating on Him.
bless you

 

[TabinRivCA]

Thank you for reaching out, we all should do that when at times we need other perspectives. When you journal you are speaking to God, as you write and your Spirit is talking to Him, just the same. I was blest to get a One-Year-Bible, that helps me read the whole Bible in a year. I'm really getting to see a side of God from the OT I didn't realize.
I've heard many, even lately, characterize God as wrathful and mean in the OT, when He repeatedly had mercy on the people who kept turning to idols to the breaking point when He had to punish them. It shows what a loving patient Father He is. That is how I address Him in prayer, as a personal Heavenly Father who is for us.
Yes I too have been chastised in my life, but after all is settled, I can see how 'All things work together for good to those who love the Lord'. He does things to refine us as they do with metals and bring us closer to Him. Sometimes while listening to some favorite preachers I have, they pray so beautifully at the beginning of their message, it has helped me pray and worship Him in more depth.
Also, each day ask for more wisdom because God said He will give it to us when we ask. God bless you @maryjohanna !

 

[shittim]

Something special happens when we write, Chuck Swindoll has said' Thoughts disentangle themselves through the lips and over the fingertips", Sounds like He has called you to a time of growth through this.
Bless you

 

[maryjohanna]

UPDATE: Just yesterday evening, I wrote in my journal a prayer before I went to bed. Without going into crazy detail, the relationships in my life are interesting right now ~ there is a romantic one I am trying to escape (emotionally abusive & toxic), others I am trying to mend, including my old friends and ex. My ex, who was also a best friend and a beautiful man of God, is someone the Lord has laid on my heart immensely lately. We haven't spoken in a year. I have spent months now fretting over the status of my old friendships and PRAYING for some kind of comfort. God lovingly sent my two old girlfriends I had a falling out with my way (through letter) and I am now in touch with them through written letter. He answered my prayers.

My ex was the only person who was up in the air to me. After posting this thread and deciding to write my prayers last night, I sat down with my journal and prayed for my ex. I prayed for his wellbeing and I prayed that God would give me the opportunity to communicate with him sometime soon. God tells us that when we seek, we will find (Matthew 7:7) and Luke 17:6 reminds us that with full assurance in the Lord, complete faith in Him can make anything happen. I closed my journal last night, filled with my prayers about these relationships and my ex, telling God I knew He would answer and give me direction. I told Him I had faith in Him.

Everyone... I woke up this morning to an email from my ex saying he would like to talk to me if possible, and to let him know if I was interested. GOD ANSWERED ME. I wrote my prayer. I wrote it with confidence. And He answered me within hours of the ink touching the paper. He is an AMAZING AND GRACIOUS GOD!! I am now contemplating/praying about how to respond, but I cannot believe I was questioning written prayer and wondering if it would work and asking for progress in my relationships just yesterday evening, and woke up today to a blessing, a gift, and a response. God confirmed the beauty of written prayer to me, while also answering the prayer I wrote in allowing me to reconnect / talk with my ex. It is just amazing.

PRAISE THE LORD EVERYONE, HE HEARS US ~ even through pen on paper.

 

[oldethennew]

personally, hub and I totally identify with your wanting to 'write-down' your intimate feelings in order
to feel closer to your Creator, we both do it all of the time...
it is excellent for a cathartic therapy...
and, it is written in stone, it's a lovely way to connect to our Saviour...

 

[Silverwings]

I absolutely do love to journal my prayers from time to time. I enjoy going back and reading thru them, it shows how much progress has been made in my growth, and just how many prayers he has answered, it is truly enlightening. There was a prayer a couple of prayers apps that I subscribed to also over the years, that were helpful at the time. God bless you on your journey!!

 

[shittim]

Hmm.... I recall a time in my one on one time with Him where He took me through events and decisions where what I had done 30 and 40 years ago paid off currently, a friend of mine shared the ministry he had of how God weaves our lives like a tapestry, like Isaiah 28, " line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little...... Sounds like He is using your journal to bring to remembrance your wonderful walk with Him. In the old testament we have several mentions of remembrance stones placed so the people would not forget what He had done for them, also the Jewish calendar has many important dates celebrated for the same reason, the enemy doesn't work by giving us a hatred of God, but he gives a forgetfulness of God.
Curry Blake at jglm.org mentions a time in his youth when he was taught there would be time we might have Bibles confiscated, so he reasoned he would write his own in a spiral notebook and thus have it. Years later he noted how verses would come out of him at the right time and for the right purpose, as though pulled out for such a time as that.
We know that writing has the power to get this into the mind unlike merely viewing the words on a screen, Dr. Leaf and others mention this in their work on neural plasticity and such.
God is so good to us and will grow us as much as we will be grown.

 

[Prycejosh1987]

Hello all. After taking some time away from CC, I decided to return with a question/topic that might sound really silly and childlike. I am really interested, though, in what everyone's opinions are on this even though it isn't anything super controversial or really intriguing. Hang with me here ....

I think they do, in the gospel of John, Jesus prays for himself, then his disciples and then for believers, its written down and it stands until today. A lot of prayers in bible are written down, Psalms are full of prayers. Prayers that are written down are just as effective. Its like when we say God bless you to someone online, its typed but still stands.