I heard quote recently that caught my attention: “The enemy of great isn’t bad. The enemy of great is good.” Intrigued? I am.

I think I settle for good too often, but it can be a hard concept to grasp. How do I know when to deny something good to wait for something great? How do I know what good things I should get rid of to make room for great things? Is it ever possible for me to know? Is it something I really need to know? I consistently pray that Christ would align my will with His and that he would allow me to enjoy his greatness, but too often selfishness, greed, and an eagerness to grasp good things get in the way.

I was recently encouraged to start keeping a prayer journal. Not so much a journal of my prayers, which I’ve done before, but more a list or a collection of things I want and need to pray about. I’ve known about people making prayer lists before, but it was finally laid out to me in a way that made a lot of sense. It basically consists of several different list of things to pray for: one for daily prayer requests, one list for each day of the week, several different topical or name lists of churches, pasters, missionaries, etc. I want to pray for, and then a list of answered prayers and praises. While this isn’t exactly how it was explained to me, this is what I took away from it.

I finally implemented this plan this morning. While I knew this would be very helpful in praying more purposefully (as opposed to praying off the cuff), I was not quite prepared for the magnitude of things I needed to pray for. Each list I had just kept growing and growing. While it’s a little intimidating to look at everything at first, I’m excited about how this will shape the way I pray and spend time with God. Please be praying for me that I will be able to continue this and grow through it as well. If you haven’t tried this before, I encourage you to do so. If you want more details of how I’m doing it, I’d be happy to share.

Blessed Be Your Name - Matt Redman
Unashamed Love - Lamont Hiebert

You Said - Reuben Morgan