How productivity helps you pray

Matt Perman April 18, 2019

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How often has someone emailed you requesting prayer while they are on a missions trip? Or for a period of time over the next week or so that will be especially stressful?

This is exactly what people should be doing, and it is a privilege to pray with them.

But the productivity challenge is this: how do you remember to keep praying for them?

So often we say we will pray, but then forget.

It’s easy, of course, to pray for them when you first receive the email that they will be going on the mission trip. In my case, a friend just emailed that he would be teaching overseas on certain dates and requested prayer through that time. So I prayed for him upon receiving the email.

But how will I remember to pray for him tomorrow, and four days from now, and a week from now?

Here is a simple productivity tip that solves the issue: Create an all-day-event in your calendar for the time the person will be gone, with the prayer requests in the note. 

Then, when you look at your calendar through that time, you will be reminded to pray for them and have their requests right at hand.

Certainly, there are other ways to remember to pray as well. But if, like me, you often just try to rely on your memory when people have requests for a period of time, this is a simple way to make sure you will be more devoted to prayer for them throughout that time.

And so we also see that productivity practices will not only help us do our work better, but live other aspects of our Christian lives more effectively and fruitfully as well.

Photo source: istock 

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Matt Perman is the director of career development at The King’s College and co-founder of What’s Best Next, which aims to empower Christians to be more effective in all areas of life. Perman is also author of the best-selling book What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done and a frequent speaker on leadership, productivity and theology from a gospel-centered perspective. He lives in New York City.

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