One of the godliest people I know is my father-in-law, a true man of prayer. He had an intimate relationship with his heavenly Father which was evident in how he prayed. Family lore has it that he prayed for every person in his church daily! Sometimes, his prayer would be as simple as, “Lord, I want to remember brother or sister so-and-so before you.” What good would that do? In his mind, he was bringing that person by name before the very throne of God, and the Lord would know what to do with that simple, brief presentation. Other times, he made specific requests with some details. Admittedly, his church was not very large, but still, that was quite the commitment.

Wanting to learn how to pray better, I asked him about his prayer life, how he did it, what “method” he used, how long he prayed for, etc. I hoped to get some “how-tos” to energize my prayer life. The one response that stood out was: “I don’t pray enough.” Since then, I have heard other godly men say similar things; not one said, “Well, I pray just enough.”

For me, the struggle is my ever-increasing list of people and requests to pray for. Where do I begin? How much time does it take? Who do I pray for daily? Weekly? Monthly? Which items on the list take priority? How much detail do I include when I pray? It seems unspiritual to remove a person from the list.

The church where I fellowship currently is much larger than my father-in-law’s, and I am on the church prayer request list that circulates among the faithful prayers of the church. In addition, I want to pray for the people in our last church with whom we still have a close relationship.

“O wretched man that I am, who will save me from inundation by a ginormous prayer list?”

One helpful “tool” beyond a hand-written, long list of prayer items is an app for mobile devices called PrayerMate, and I highly recommend it. The website describes it this way:

“PrayerMate helps you pray consistently for the people and causes you care about. Develop a discipline of prayer as PrayerMate helps you organize your prayer life, know what to pray for, and actually pray.”

You can create lists, assign prayer frequency for each item, arrange in groups, indicate how many items to pray for each day, etc. The app will schedule your items according to your preferences. You can rotate actual prayers from the Bible, which can help you learn to pray like the godly people of the Bible. You can even tap into the prayer lists of various ministries and use PrayerMate for your church or life-group’s everyday prayer needs. Flexibility is the key that makes this app very useful.

No, this is not a sales pitch; I am not affiliated with this app in any way, shape, or form other than as a grateful user. I receive no financial kickback, and the app is free to use (although I am sure the developers would appreciate donations to keep the app going). I know how difficult it is to pray consistently, and I wanted to share this resource with everyone who gets E-Meds or comes to my Bible-Equip.org website.

To learn more, click on PrayerMate or copy this web address into your internet browser: https://www.prayermate.net/app. You can download the app to your mobile device from the Apple app store, Google Pay, or Amazon Appstore.