This page contains:
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Request Box
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Sending Balloons to Heaven
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Good night prayers
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Letters to God
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'Fishing for Prayer' Net
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Prayer-Letters to Friends
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Prayer Diary
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Thanksgiving on Post-it Notes
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Time Capsule
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Prayer baton
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Armour of God
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Request Box
Put a cardboard box marked ‘Prayer Requests’ in the corner of your office / staff room / student common room with some notepaper and a pencil to hand. Invite your colleagues / fellow students to put in any requests for prayer that they may have, anonymous or named. You can promise to pray for them, either on your own or in a regular prayer meeting with other Christian colleagues / students. People are often touched by the thought that someone is praying for them, even if they have no or little faith themselves. Offering to pray for someone in this way may also open up further conversations about prayer and your faith in Christ.
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Sending Balloons to Heaven
This is a fun group activity, particularly for children, though anyone can enjoy it! You will need helium balloons. Write prayers for, or just names of, people overseas, onto balloons. At a specific time, all release the balloons, praying together. It is a good symbol of the ‘prayers of the saints’ (that’s all Christians) flying up to heaven for God to answer. You could even write your address / email address onto a balloon and see if you get a response from someone finding it!
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Good night prayers
When I was a student we were asked by the Christian Union to spend a year praying particularly for three friends whom we would love to come to know Jesus. As a way to remember to pray persistently we were given three glow-in-the-dark stars to stick on the ceiling above our beds. It was a brilliant idea because every night when I switched my light off, those three stars were glowing, reminding me to pray, and reminding me of those three special people whom God loves (like all of Abraham’s descendents –as many as stars in the sky)...By the way, all three of those friends of mine became Christians!
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Letters to God
Some people find it easier to write down their feelings than to verbalise them. Try writing a letter to God, expressing what’s going on in your mind. You might want to say sorry for something, or there may be a situation you just can’t understand and want to pour out your feelings. Maybe you want to make a promise to God to do something particular or to change a habit? I often find that writing something down helps me to understand it or deal with it. By writing specifically to God, you accomplish all of the above and leave it in His hands – the best hands to deal with it!
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'Fishing for Prayer'
Net
Get or make a fishing net and stick one end on the wall. Cut out
little paper fish for people to write prayer requests on. Stick them
onto the net so people can read them and pray. If it is more of a
private prayer, then simply roll the paper fish up so it could be a
message in a bottle.
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Prayer-Letters to Friends
Many people who are in full-time Christian work write prayer letters to send to friends and home churches, telling them what’s going on, and requesting prayer for their work. It’s a great way of keeping in touch and helping people to pray specifically. However, you don’t need to be a missionary, a vicar or a bishop to be an important Christian: each one of us has a vital role to play and has prayer needs, whether in your job, at Church, or at home. In that sense every Christian is in ‘full-time Christian work’.
If you’re not a traditional pen-and-paper letter-writer, why not send out prayer-emails to your contacts? And don’t forget to request prayer on this very site too!
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Prayer Diary
Keeping a prayer diary is like writing any other personal diary, except that it tends to be more focused and have a clearer purpose. A traditional diary can sometimes become rather introverted and self-indulgent! In a prayer diary you write about your daily experiences in the form of prayer.
e.g. ‘Dear Lord (rather than ‘Dear Diary’!), thanks for the nice weather today, and for the chance to do particular activity. I’m worried about name, please help them with particular problem and help me to know what to do to help. I’ve been finding difficult task hard at work at recently, please provide some help for me…etc.’
There may be ongoing situations written on one page of your diary to refer to generally.
I kept a prayer diary over some years, using it every few weeks. Every so often I would go back to read over my thoughts and prayers, and make a note of answered prayers by drawing a smiley face next to my original requests. I would then draw a face with a wiggly mouth next to those prayers that were still awaiting answers, and a surprised face next to the ones, which had been answered in surprising ways! It was always fascinating and encouraging to look back. It also reminded me to thank God for answering prayers: sometimes I had forgotten to do so. You might devise a different system for making a note of answered prayers.
This idea can also be used in home / cell / prayer groups for members’ prayer needs, and similarly looked back upon, as a record of answered prayers.
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Thanksgiving on Post-it Notes
During a chosen day, carry around a pen and post-it notes. Make an effort to jot down every time something positive happens or you are aware of a reason to thank God. This might be 1) for the sun, which provides the energy to run the planet, 2) for having a house to wake up in, and food for breakfast, 3) for having transport to get to school / work, 4) for some kind words spoken to you during the day…
If you really thought about it you would probably run out of post-it notes! By the end of the day you may have a whole pad of blessings. We too often make a habit of only noticing bad things that happen, and gradually forget about the good things that surround us daily. This exercise can help alter our perspective from the ‘glass half empty’ to the ‘glass half full’ mentality.
Understandably, there might be days or indeed long periods of time when you may feel that there is little to be thankful for at all. Perhaps you have been unwell or unemployed for a long time? Perhaps you have difficulties with your family or job?…and so on. If so, you might find yourself thinking, ‘Well, that’s o.k. for you, but what about my situation?’ You may find this exercise emotionally difficult, but on the other hand, it might help you to recognize some of the good things you do have, and feel a bit more positive. I pray that this will be the case, if you give it a go. Often it is the people who face the most trying of circumstances who are examples to others for their ability to realize how much there is to be thankful for, even in hard times.
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Time Capsule
Many of us make ‘New Year’s resolutions’. Why not think about your Christian life and make a note of some promises to God to try to keep for a year, or a month, or why not through Lent? It doesn’t have to be at New Year. Examples might be, ‘I will try to do a Bible reading every day’ or ‘I will remember to pray regularly for such and such, who is unwell’ or ‘I will make an effort to make time to talk to the homeless man I pass every day’. Put the piece of paper into an envelope and keep it somewhere safe. Make a note in your diary of an appropriate date to open your prayer time capsule, and then reflect on what you achieved or didn’t! This activity can be done privately or perhaps in a small group, if you feel comfortable enough to share your promises with others.
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Prayer Baton
At my local church, for the last 6 months or co, the leaders have asked for two volunteers each week (children or adults) to promise to pray for one hour a day, particularly with the local Church and community in mind. The following week the volunteers report back to the whole Church in the service, with their experiences of praying that week, and then 'pass on the baton' to the next two volunteers. It has been really encouraging to hear how God has touched people personally and the Church as a whole through this. One child who volunteered went up to her bedroom each day, and one day she same down saying that she loved praying because it made her feel 'all clean'! Other people have talked about how God has pointed out areas of the town or people to help, or simply that they have felt blessed by spending extended time in God's presence. This activity really gets your church praying, and believing that prayer will change things!
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Putting on the armour of God
In his letter to the Ephesians Paul instructs Christians to be strong
in their faith, especially to resist opposition from evil. He gives us
a visual illustration of a soldier preparing for battle. Each item of
armour to represent an element of our faith.
Ephesians 6: 11-18
11 Put on all of God's armour so that you will be able to stand firm
against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12 For we are not
fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil
rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers
of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the
heavenly realms. 13 Use every piece of God's armour to resist the enemy
in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be
standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of
truth and the body armour of God's righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on
the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully
prepared.* 16 In every battle you will need faith as your shield to
stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.* 17 Put on salvation as
your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God. 18 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the
Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all
Christians everywhere.
Why not try getting up in the morning and preparing yourself for the
day by thinking (or saying out loud) each garment as you get dressed,
using this as a prayer of protection, equipping you. (Most of us do not
put on a helmet or a shield but be creative! Perhaps the shield could
be your jacket…Let’s be prepared to stand for Christ!
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