One Practice That Changed My Prayer Life

I've had seasons where prayer feels easy and effortless, and seasons where it felt as though it took every ounce of energy to focus while praying. 

In both of those seasons I've utilized one tool that has helped me to be consistent, focused, and authentically share with God.

In today's conversation, I walk step by step with you through this one practice.

Transcript

Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of The sowhat podcast. My name is Anna McGuire. And I'm so excited to sit down with you today to have a conversation about sowing intentionally into our lives so that we can reap abundantly in the days, weeks, months, and even years to come. A few months ago, I shared on Instagram how I spent a lot of my time praying. And that was using a list. I call it my prayer map to take time to pray every day. And I just showed this list my prayer map on Instagram, and I got amazing feedback. And a lot of people asking a lot of questions about it. And really, since that time, I've had multiple people messaged me or text me saying, Hey, Anna, remember, way back or a few weeks back few months back? When you share that on Instagram. Can you tell me more about it? And so I thought, yeah, I'll tell you more. I sent a lot of people pictures of it. And I thought, let me make an episode talking about prayer. So I grew up in church, I was born and raised in church, I got married in the church parents got married in I was raised in that church. So I've been in church, my whole life, literally. And I have struggled, really in those like middle school and teenage years, and really going into college where I really feel like faith really becomes your own unique way, because you're like an emerging adult and all of those things. And I really struggled with prayer. And if I'm being completely honest, it was kind of like lucid, like, it was a little boring. It's like, okay, you know, if God is, knows what my heart's desire is, I don't necessarily have to pray it. He just knows it. And I learned through a series of teachings and all of that and studying on my own scriptures. Like no, like, the Lord wants to hear from me, he wants to hear me ask like, he's a gentle God. He's not a god, that forces anything. He he's always looking for me to share with him what my desires are. And so I really wanted to grow in the area of prayer. But I really, if I'm being honest, I get distracted, I get bored, I lose my focus or my attention, because I start praying for this thing. And then also, my mind will go 100 different places, because it will like, kind of trigger a train of thought. And so I have been on a mission now for oh my gosh, it's like, what year is it? Okay, it's 2022. So like, 11 years of wanting to grow in my prayer time. So in college I really wanted to grow in this specifically is my freshman year. And I was really struggling and I'll never forget, I was with my roommate, Janelle. And she was like, Hey, you want to see something cool that I've been working on? I was like, Yeah. And she pulled out from her journal, this thing that she called a prayer map. And I was like, Oh, that's really neat. And what it kind of it looked like was like a looked like a family tree of sorts, or like these, like bubbles with people's names and specific things. She was praying for those people or their specific topics, like college and work and it was amazing. And she was like, Have you ever made a prayer map before? And I was like, I know, I've never even heard of such a thing. She's like, Yeah, it's like, you sit down and you make like a map of things to pray over. And it helps you not get distracted while you pray. So I thought, well, I want to grow in prayer. So I will take the time to do this. So I sat down my freshman year of college, and I did a lot of what Janelle did it kind of looked like a what are those things called like a thought cloud or, like an idea cloud where it was like I had like a bubble where I was like, praying for family and then shooting off of that bubble. I had like, my dad and then I had my mom and then I had Allison and Abby and my cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents. And then from those bubbles, like Sophie was like, my dad, like then another bubble shoot off like his work, and his ministry that he's in and for Abby, like she was in grad schools, I put her grad school Allison stone High School, so high school. And anyways, it just was like this really fun prayer map. And that continued to evolve and grow. And literally every changing season, I would make a new prayer map and I saved and I still have a lot of those prayer maps. And this is really become a rhythm of my life is
having a prayer map. Now it's not so bubbly looking anymore. It's actually a document that I just make on my computer. I had did do the bubbles up until probably two ish years ago. And then I have like a template that I just edit on my computer. But really what it is, the purpose of it is, is to help me to stay focused, and help me to lean in while I'm praying. Because like I mentioned earlier When I would set aside the time to pray, a lot of times, I'd get distracted, I'd forget what I was praying about. Or I would be like watching the clock, like, Okay, can I get through two more minutes? When really I knew God wanted just to hear from me, like, he didn't want me to feel pressured or feel like this is boring. Instead, he wants me to enjoy it. So I made a prayer map, again, and again and again and again. And now. It's just a habit of my life. And I love it. And honestly, days where I don't have it, like on hand with me, I feel a little bored and lost again, I'm like, Wait, what am I brain for? Again? Because keeping it in front of me is important. It is important, it helps me stay on track. It really does. I it's just a part of my quiet time. And I say, Well, why wouldn't you have it on hand? If you're doing this at home? While we're traveling? Sometimes I'll like forget it, I won't be my journal or I won't have my binder, which I'll get to the binder piece in a minute. And I just won't have it. And I'm like, What am I do, okay, and I think, like, take out like a piece of paper and just start writing down things. And it helps me get back on track. So it is a really simple thing that I do there. There's no and this is one thing that I've like shared with people, whether it was through messenger or text messages or voice memos, is there's no wrong way to do this. Other than it's just you map out what you want to pray for. So for mine, you're going to hear some crumpling. I know, right now is because I'm pulling out mine. I have just like headers, and then things under those headers that I'm praying for. So the first thing on mine is is Andrew Wayne, which that's my husband, Andrew Wayne McGuire. And so there are things under His name that I'm specifically praying for. So the first thing I'm praying over his life is that he would have a here I am send me heart all the days of his life. That's one of his life verses, Isaiah six, eight, here I am, here I am, Lord send me so I pray that over him that he would have a here I am send me heart all the days of his life. I pray Luke to 50 to over him that he'd grow in wisdom and stature and favorite God, and all people. I pray for him that he would value obedience over sacrifice, that he would have integrity. I pray for supernatural creativity and wisdom over him. Identity, his identity would be fully found in Christ. I'm literally reading this like word for word off of here, because I want to give you some ideas. I pray that he would have a strong mind and a strong body. And then I pray specifically over a marriage, I pray that we would continuously grow to be one, I pray that we only have eyes for God and for each other. That's actually something we pray over each other every night, that we only have eyes and desire for God and for each other. I pray that we have strong communication and a strong friendship. And then I pray that we would vividly reflect God in our marriage. So those are some things that I pray over Andrew, that and in any given day, I might not hit all of those things. Sometimes I'll take like four or five of them. And I'm going through it and it really just helps bring a vibrant and what's cool as those will then like trigger other things to pray for. Like, as I'm praying creativity over him. I'm like, Oh, that's right. He has this project he's working on for our church. God, would you give him creativity and insight on how to do those flyers well or that video Well, and give him your insight and creativity in that. So I prefer the first header I have is Andrew than I have Archie Richard which is our son obviously things I pray over him that he would be an oak of righteousness, that he would own that he has a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Acts 1336 that he would serve the purpose of God in his own generation. I pray for spiritual, physical and mental health over him. Pray that he be a truly brave leader. I pray that you'd love the Word of God, that he listened to the voice of God above all other voices. I pray for his future wife. I prefer his friends. I prefer his future college roommate. And so you might say why is that? Because Janelle, who is my like, I can't even like to choose my sister, my best friend. She was my roommate in college. Her mom actually told me, I think it was like our sophomore junior year of college. She said, You know, it's amazing, Anna, is that I have been praying for you. Since the time Janelle was a baby. And I started like crying in that moment.
She said I would always pray for Chanel's future roommate that she would be a great influence and a great friend. And God answered my prayer because you were just after her and I was like, Okay, I'm going to pray for my kids future college roommate. So that's his hope total side note, say prefer his future wife. I prefer his future college roommate. And then I'd pray that he walks in peace enjoy all the David's of his life. So I pray over Andrew, I have Archie and then I have my parents and things. I'm specifically praying over my parents and my parents in laws. There's my siblings. I have that as a header and their specific things. I'm praying over my siblings. I have my nephew column and specific things. I'm praying over him Then I have my family and my friends at large, specific things. I am praying over them. And then I have myself things. I'm praying over me, that I would have trusting God alone, that I'd find my identity in Jesus that would be led by the Holy Spirit and not my flesh, my feelings or my emotions. I pray that I would be present in every moment. And then another one that I have is my church, Parkside church, I have my leadership team mapped out on there, our core team or serve team, I pray over our core convictions as a church, I pray for the the the ministries I specifically help oversee, I pray for our future building. I pray for our future. People that are going to come and the children that are being born into our church. And then the the last header I have is my friends in ministry. So I have a lot of friends that are missionaries, and pastors and Oh, my goodness, just they do so many things, evangelists and leaders of organizations, and so I pray over them for their families for protection over them for provision over them. So that is what my map looks like. So I've been doing this now for Yeah, 11 years. Well, my mentor, her name is Lisa. And she's incredible. She's a pastor in Dallas, Texas, and she is just so inspiring, and so wise. And so not too long ago, I had shared with her about just kind of what my she was checking in on me. She's like, so what is your spiritual life looking like your daily habits. And I told her about my map, she was like, oh, actually want to show you what I use. And she pulls out this binder. And she was like I actually made this years and years ago. And I call it my prayer binder. And I was like, Whoa, that's cool. And in it, she had what looked like my prayer map. And then she had things as I'm actually flipping through my prayer binder right now. She had like sleeves and notes of things. And that inspired me that I want to make a prayer binder. So I have a yellow binder that I had from being a school counselor. So it's not like this like cute.
Like flowery binder, it is literally highlighter yellow. And in it I have these clear sleeves that I just got like Walmart or Target. And in it, I have different scripture verses and I have missionary cards and I have pictures of my family and my friends. And I have pictures that students drew for me at the middle school. That means a lot to me that I just have committed to pray for I have logos from our businesses, I have a logo of my of the podcast, I've the logo of our church. There's so many different things. So I've turned my prayer map into like this prayer binder that I really flipped through each day, to keep me on track and really to inspire me to pray over the people in my life. And can I tell you even just doing that has taken it to the next level. You might be saying, okay, Anna, like do you want me to do a prayer map? Or do you want to do a prayer binder Do you want me to do both? This is my encouragement to you get started with a prayer map. Maybe for you, you're like I want to grow in the area of prayer, I want to have a more exciting and fresh prayer time. Then I would say your first step, create a PE prayer map. And it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Like I said, I did it on a document on my computer that I edit, you don't even have to go that far, you can take a post it note and just jot down a handful of names or handful of things you're praying over. Or you can pull a page from your journal and just write in your journal. Or you can print something off whatever works for you just take some time. And I have found I'm serious when I say it is been a game changer. And there's been seasons where I've been diligent and using my prayer map. And there's been seasons where it's like, okay, like I will, you know, kind of just skim through it. And my prayer life is significantly different. When I truly take time to pray through, like, be specific and be bold in my prayers and be clear about what it is that is on my heart. And I know God wants to hear from me. So a prayer map. There's no right or wrong way to do it. I'm just telling you kind of what I've done and what's been helpful for me, and you don't have to do a prayer binder. I've just have loved it. And I've enjoyed it. And I keep adding clear sleeves, because I'm adding more and more things in there. Like I added some pictures that I found the other day from our youth ministry it was our one of our first small group events and there's some like, oh gee youth students on here. I want to name names, but I'm not going to but students that make me smile and I want to pray over them. So I put that picture in there. And then I was a part of a woman's like Development Ministry development group. I put that picture in there. I have a picture of my mom and I that I found remind me to pray for my mom, I found a a thank you card from this ministry that I got to be a part of. I put that in there to remind me to pray for that minister. So there's it's just been super like this extra exciting piece on top of having that prayer mat. But a great place to start today is a prayer map, a prayer map. If you want to grow in the area of prayer if you want it to be fresh and exciting and don't want to lose your train of thought, or forget what it is that you're praying about, or you might feel uninspired, take some time to write down the things that you want to share with God and the things that you want him to move on your behalf for. Friend I have experienced in my own life, just how significant this has been. So I hope that as you take the time to sow intentionally into this area, that you experience the Reaping abundantly of enjoying, praying and join communicating with God in a real, fresh, authentic and a focused way. I love you, friend. I'm always in your corner cheering you on. And I can't wait to talk to you next week.