How to Pray Like A Warrior

Your Organized Guide to Leave No Man Behind

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” 

-James 5:16 

Hey hey heyyy, 

Are you feeling a bit forgetful lately? Do the people you promise to pray for never actually get any prayers? Do your prayers tend to be self-centered? Do you lay awake at night wondering what it was your Great Aunt Suzie asked you to pray for? 

Then I got a cure for you! Call 1800 110 2232 for a solution and pick up your dementia medication today! 

I hope you’re laughing, because I worked hard on that one… 

We all know that situation too well. Great Aunt Suzie has been talking your ear off for the last hour, and you’re trying not to throw up your Thanksgiving turkey as she describes how she dislocated her shoulder in extreme detail. 

“Oh hun, dearest, could you pray for healing, for my shoulder? I know you always wear that cross necklace, so I’m sure you and the Good Lord are pretty close. Oh, and my arthritis too? It’s getting hard to read my Home Garden Magazines as my hands shake so much…” 

Now, even though Great Aunt Suzie can talk a mile a minute for hours on end, you do truly love the woman and don’t like to see her in pain. You make a mental note to pray for her. 

…and then you don’t. 

…and poor Great Aunt Suzie never gets any prayers. 

…and you’re a bad niece. 

…shame on you 

But it’s okay, you don’t have to be the bad niece. I gottcha. I did a little brainstorming and came up with a few tips and tricks so we can all take advantage of the power in prayer. For surely God did not ask us to pray just for kicks and giggles. Check out my post on praying for others here. 

1) Use The Notes App

You write everything else down in your notes app, why are prayer requests an exception? I know you don’t go anywhere without your phone. This one is by far the easiest and most effective 

2) Pray in the Moment

As Great Aunt Suzie is telling you about her dislocated shoulder, send up a prayer right there. This truly only takes a few seconds and this way you know you have at least prayed for her once. I do this especially when I’m in a conversation with someone and they use God’s name in vain. I tell the Lord I love Him, and am sorry He was disrespected, then ask Him to have mercy on the individual. All that takes point two seconds, it’s not even enough to cause a pause in the conversation. 

3) Keep a List of People in Your Bible.

I go more in-depth in this post and provide a printable organizer, but the idea is to write down the names of people you want to pray for daily, then stick it in your bible. This way, when you pray, you read through the list and don’t forget anyone. This doesn’t work as well for individual prayer requests, but it does help with people you desire to pray for every day i.e family, friends, your priest, and such. 

4) Create a Prayer Board

This one is for the aesthetic girlies. I’ve never made one of these before, but they look so dang cute so I had to add it in here. I love the idea because it feels so wholesome as it’s not just looking at your phone. This one does require a bit more work and is not portable, but if you have a little prayer corner in your room, a prayer board would complete the look.

5) Keep a Running List on a Whiteboard

This is the more practical, efficient version of the prayer board. Hang up a whiteboard somewhere in your room. As people ask you to pray for them write down the intentions in your cute little cursive handwriting. It’s easy to erase when prayers have been answered and easy to add intentions as well. Every night before bed, kneel down and go through your intentions. 

6) Prayer Notebook for Bible Study

I attended a friend’s bible study last year, and absolutely loved how they began each section. Everyone would pull out their notebooks and then went around in a circle sharing prayer requests and updates on any answered prayer requests. Not only do I love how this so beautifully highlights the importance of community and leaning on those around you, it also brings glory to God in sharing answered prayers. 

A few other things I wanted to mention when it comes to praying like a warrior… 

Mother Mary, what a woman! Her intercession is powerful, don’t underestimate it.  

Don’t forget to offer mass intentions as well. Silly me thought every mass could only be offered for one person. Low and behold I found out a bit ago that you can offer a single mass for as many intentions as you would like. After all, God’s grace is endless and bountiful. Not to mention that at that time HEAVEN TOUCHES EARTH AND HIS SACRIFICE IS TIMELESS.  

So yeah, mass is kinda cool… 

I like to go through all my intentions before mass starts, offering them up to God, and then again, when the collection basket is passed around, I close my eyes and reflect on Jesus’s sacrifice, lifting up my requests to Him. 

I want to challenge you all to stop slacking on your prayer intentions and start praying like a warrior. Mediocrity in prayer is for the lukewarm, and the lukewarm get spit out… so let’s not do that. 

Pick a strategy you’re going to incorporate into your life, commit to it, and then comment it below! 

I’ll be praying for you,

Xoxo

Rory😊