I was talking to someone a couple days ago about praying with a purpose; distinctively praying with motive and direction. This person had some concerns and mentioned that they pray daily while involved in another daily regimen. Let me pause here to say that the majority of us live busy lives but if we want God to take us seriously then we need to take Him seriously. When I sit down to consult with someone to write their resume or to consult about some other project I want their undivided attention. It would be rude for me or the other person to constantly be on the phone or doing something else while trying to conduct business. I believe God requires the same respect from us. So getting back to my point, I went on to share with this person that it's not enough to just say you know and you believe God answers your prayers you must have conviction and one of the ways that conviction comes is with being conscientious about your personal communication with God, recognizing it's two-way communication not one-way.
One thing I've done since I was a child and still do today is write down things that are a great deal to me on a small piece of paper, I date it and even put THE TIME on it! ha ha ha! I think it's a writer thing. ;) Oh and by the way, I don't just write down the issue I write it down in the form of a prayer like a letter. That note then goes in this BIG BIBLE I've had since a child in between pages where Hebrews 11:1 is found. If you know that scripture you know why it has significance for me. ;) This has been my pattern since I was a child, so you can imagine it is a real faith builder for me because though I've thrown some notes away I still have notes I pull out and reflect on from time to time. THESE ARE NOTES THAT GOD HAS FULFILLED; ONE FROM 1995!
Nothing here that I'm saying is LAW; you don't have to write down your prayers. But when was the last time you took a serious inventory of every single thing you've had before God that you wanted him to do and then revisited that list from time to time to see what has happened or what God "is" doing? God is not our "genie in a bottle" but many times unless an issue is something really major, we pray about the thing and when God answers it in the way we want we don't even give much thought to it. We just go about our way. We might tell Him thanks but we don't make as much a deal out of telling Him thanks as we did begging Him for it. Have you thought about the idea of making a list of "everything" you needed or wanted God to do in your life or for someone else could build YOUR faith? If you need to spice up your prayer life, build your faith and actually SEE EVERYTHING God has already done and is still doing, try tracking some things for a while. Ahhhh...why not even track specifically a prayer petition to see your prayer life improve. :)
