Blogging is one of those things that you really need to keep up to date at in order to make an impression. That's what I've been told and what I have read. At one point in my life I was a good daily blogger. Nowadays, it's a hit or miss activity. Sometimes, I find that is the same way with prayer, at least in my life. At times I feel as if my prayer life is great. At other times I berate myself for my sluggish prayer life. Like most things in life, I think that prayer is sort of cyclical. There are times when you are up and there are times when you are down.
Lately, I have been on an upswing in my prayer life. I'd like to share with you how that upswing began. It began with an app for my android phone. That's right. Modern technology has brought me more deeply into an ancient practice. I am praying more often and more specifically than I have ever done in my life. All this is thanks to an app called PrayerMate (available in the Google Playstore and the i Phone app store).
Prior to the use of this app, my prayer for church members was hit or miss. I came to realize that I was overwhelmed by the numbers of parishioners times the number of their concerns, both for themselves and people they know. I found myself paralyzed not really knowing which way to go with my prayers. So, I offered up a bunch of generic prayers on their behalf. The volume of the concerns was simply too much for me to handle. I tried written lists. The only problem with lists were that if I wrote them at the office, I didn't have access to them at the house and vice-versa. I needed something I could take with me anywhere I went. This app has made that possible.
It works like a card system. I create categories and populate the categories with cards that represent specific people or specific concerns. I have the ability to give details to each of the cards and up date them as needed with new information. I also have the ability to determine how many cards from each category are pulled out each time that I decide to pray. I also have the ability to automatically archive cards and to link to external feeds to pull in a devotional or information about a topic for which I want to pray. Ultimately, may goal is to make this blog into a feed that you will be able to pull up and use in PrayerMate that have installed on your own phone or tablet. That way, you would automatically get copies of this blog delivered to you with my thoughts and observations on prayer. I will also publish prayer concerns each week as well as updates as they are called in or made available to me.
I truly think that this blog and the ability to ultimately automatically link it to your phone or tablet will prove a vital source of prayer for our church and community. Stay tuned for more details as I figure out how to make this happen.
Lately, I have been on an upswing in my prayer life. I'd like to share with you how that upswing began. It began with an app for my android phone. That's right. Modern technology has brought me more deeply into an ancient practice. I am praying more often and more specifically than I have ever done in my life. All this is thanks to an app called PrayerMate (available in the Google Playstore and the i Phone app store).
Prior to the use of this app, my prayer for church members was hit or miss. I came to realize that I was overwhelmed by the numbers of parishioners times the number of their concerns, both for themselves and people they know. I found myself paralyzed not really knowing which way to go with my prayers. So, I offered up a bunch of generic prayers on their behalf. The volume of the concerns was simply too much for me to handle. I tried written lists. The only problem with lists were that if I wrote them at the office, I didn't have access to them at the house and vice-versa. I needed something I could take with me anywhere I went. This app has made that possible.
It works like a card system. I create categories and populate the categories with cards that represent specific people or specific concerns. I have the ability to give details to each of the cards and up date them as needed with new information. I also have the ability to determine how many cards from each category are pulled out each time that I decide to pray. I also have the ability to automatically archive cards and to link to external feeds to pull in a devotional or information about a topic for which I want to pray. Ultimately, may goal is to make this blog into a feed that you will be able to pull up and use in PrayerMate that have installed on your own phone or tablet. That way, you would automatically get copies of this blog delivered to you with my thoughts and observations on prayer. I will also publish prayer concerns each week as well as updates as they are called in or made available to me.
I truly think that this blog and the ability to ultimately automatically link it to your phone or tablet will prove a vital source of prayer for our church and community. Stay tuned for more details as I figure out how to make this happen.
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