My precious friend Ashley, was my Secret Santa for our Bible study group’s Christmas Party. She gave me a beautiful new prayer journal and I’ve been trying to make good use of it. I’m trying to start a new habit of giving God my first… the first of my attention, my money and my time. I have my alarm set for 5:00 a.m. and my coffee pot programmed. We’ve been trying to do more preparation at night to make our mornings less of a hassle, too. Unfortunately illness and unexpected weather has not made it an easy task, but this morning, I was up before my alarm and reading His Word. I also spent some time reading Follow Me by David Platt. (Our Bible study group is doing the study workbook and it is eye-opening. Let me tell you.) I’ve been using the P.R.A.I.S.E. format for my prayer journal: P – Praise, R – Repentance, A – Acknowledgment, I – Intercession, S – Supplication for Self and E – Equipping (found it in Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore). It helped give me a good foundation in the beginning of my journaling, but slowly I’ve been drifting into jotting down what is closest to my heart. This morning I wrote some thoughts bouncing around in my brain after doing some reading of Follow Me.

God’s Will Revealed
I’ve found myself completely obsessed at times, with “knowing God’s will for my life”. In this particular passage, David Platt gives a great perspective on this:

God has a will, and he has made it clear. From cover to cover in the Bible, God wills to redeem men and women from every nation, tribe, language and people by his grace and glory. Subsequently, we are not surprised when the last words of Jesus to his disciples are, ‘Therefore go and make all disciples of all nations.’ We have no need to ask God to reveal his will for our lives; instead, we each ask God to align our lives with the will he has already revealed.

Its pretty obvious that God has called us to follow him and make more followers. My question is, where do I get started? It seems pretty obvious to me, that the best place for me to start is in my own house, beginning with myself. Here are some of the thoughts I jotted down in my journal this morning…

What can I do to grow my relationship with God?

• Daily Prayer Time (giving God the first of my day)
• Spending time in the Bible everyday (I listen to a daily reading plan on the Bible app on my way to work… The One Year Bible)
• Making an extra effort to pray throughout the day – Bless my meals!
• Ending my day with a short prayer and Bible time

What can I do to encourage my husband’s relationship with God?

• Be a Godly wife (love the Proverbs 31 wife, she’s my hero)
• Share my daily experiences with God with him
• Be supportive and helpful, not a “nagging wife” (avoid Proverbs 21:19 wife like the plague)

What can I do to grow Godly children?

• Pick a weekly Bible verse to memorize and keep it up on the fridge so we see it everyday
• Lead them in prayer at meals and bedtime
• Read more Bible stories (Alston loves David and Goliath right now)

What else can I do?

• Make sure we all make Sunday a priority (breakfast, plan ahead for less stress)
• Make Wednesday Bible study a priority for me but not an inconvenience for my family (plan ahead)
• Pray over our home and keep some Bible verses around for encouragement