Aside from my prideful desires for fame and acclaim, I write this blog to keep myself accountable to write. External structure motivates me more than an “internal drive”. I wish it were different. But acting like it’s not is like squeezing into pants that used to be loose, and thereby convincing myself that I haven’t gained more than 25 pounds since the whole “meet a girl, fall in love, get married” process. That is, treating myself like I am internally motivated ends, for me, in doing nothing. So I try to create for myself external structures for success. This blog is a means to that end.
Anyway, this relates to today’s list because for about two weeks I’ve been wanting to re-chart a prayer pattern for myself — what to pray on what day. Because the need of the whole world overwhelms me. And, because I don’t know where to stop, I often end up not praying for important things.
So here is this week’s list. A prayer “chart”.
Also, I could easily and understandibly categorize these groups differently. And some things will overlap, but I won’t sweat that. Praying for something twice or at a different time/group probably doesn’t hurt anything. The strategy is to pray for both the “daily” items and the items from that day of the week. So, for example, on Sundays I would pray for our church and for all the “daily” items below.
I think a helpful rubric for praying for myself, my wife, family and friends, et al is something like this:
1. Spiritual growth and life.
2. Current and pressing needs/situations.
3. Current employment and related people/situations.
4. Evangelistic opportunities.
5. Future plans/goals
Daily:
1. Laura and myself.
2. Our “more immediate” families.
3. Our community group/small group(s).
4. Other close friends.
Weekly:
1. Sunday:
Crossing church. The leadership. The ministries. Continued growth and influence. Biblical fidelity, etc.
2. Monday:
My home church: West Hills Community Church.
My parents’ church: Calvary Chapel Gilroy.
Laura’s home church: First Baptist Pompano Beach
3. Tuesday:
Extended family.
4. Wednesday:
More “distant” friends/people I don’t have much contact with anymore (This is not necessarily a geographical category).
5. Thursday:
The US Government, leaders. World political situations.
6. Friday:
The SBC. SBTS.
7. Saturday:
Missions. Missionaries I know. A country from Operation World.
So, there it is. By no means perfect or unalterable, but a good start.
If anyone sees something that should be inserted somewhere, please let me know.
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The Buzz...
September 21, 2007 at 2:15 am
Good list — and a good approach (the “external structure” part — you understand yourself and what you need to do in order to accomplish a goal).
How’s it going so far?
September 21, 2007 at 1:14 pm
It’s going alright. It’s hard to hunker down and pray after working at 5:00 a.m. a lot of mornings…
But still, it’s better than before I had made the structure.