The Bible I use most frequently is one I received from my church the year of my 8th grade graduation. It's really awesome, to be quite frank. In the back, it has this little prayer journal-type thing. What you do is write down your prayer request and the date. Below that, there's a sort for God's Response and the date.
Back in 2012, I felt that God was leading me to go to an event where you learn how to be a disciple who makes disciples. They called it "a Navy Seal boot camp for your soul*." In this prayer journal, when I first started praying about this, I had written, asking God that if it was His will, could I go to the event? Then I forgot all about it.
About two years later, there I was among many students and youth leaders/chaperones heading up into the Rocky Mountains. At the end of the week, we had a time to pray about what we'd learned and how to bring it back to our youth group and communities. I can clearly remember where I was sitting: on my hoodie on the ground by this little river. It was simply breathtaking. I opened my Bible and was reading some passages that they had given us, and I put it down to look at the handbook-type thing for the next verse, and to answer a question.
When I looked back, the pages in my Bible had turned to the prayer journal. I read the entry about going to the event and realized that God had answered my prayers! He had given me a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Him and to learn how to spread His love. I had totally forgotten about the prayer journal at the time, but God didn't forget my prayer!
Matthew 21:22 (NIV) says, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." As Christians, we need to be constantly praying. Praying is simply a way of talking to God. And talking to God has never hurt anyone, right? God never forgets what we ask of Him.
You can keep a prayer journal in a notebook or just pray silently in your heart and mind. It could be about anything—from a health issue to a math test to choosing a college to not tripping in the hallway!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV) says, “Pray continually.” Prayer has made such an amazing impact on my life, probably more than I know. And I am absolutely positive that if you have prayed, God has impacted your life as well, though it may be in ways you don't even realize.
So this is me, daring you. I dare you to pray continually. I dare you to pray about things, even if they seem so incredibly trivial that you don't dare say them out loud. God will be listening, and He will answer you.
—Meagan
* Sadly, they even made us do pushups!
Meagan is a thriving 16-year old who spends most of her free time doing homework, baking, rehearsing for Choir, hanging out with friends, or on Tumblr. She's also working on a novel and an original music album. She's excited to use the love God's placed in her heart to spread His amazing grace to everyone she meets.
