I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me.
    You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave, O Lord.
    You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
    Praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.

6 When I was prosperous, I said,
    “Nothing can stop me now!”
7 Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.
    Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.

8 I cried out to you, O Lord.
    I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What will you gain if I die,
    if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you?
    Can it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
    Help me, O Lord.”

11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
    You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever! NLT

I want to spend just one more day on this psalm, and with a particular end in view.

I have just re-written my prayer list, having known for some time that I’ve needed to do this. In the past I have at times used lists, but recently it’s been my practice to work from memory, and it is easy to then miss some people/situations/needs for which I feel I ought to be praying.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to the making of prayer lists. My current list covers six days of the week. It’s not my intention to miss a day praying, but the ‘buffer zone’ can be helpful.

In my notebook there are one or two prayer points for every day of the week: these, ideally, to be offered daily. The others are spread across the six days I’ve earmarked. So in the main, I’m not praying for everyone/everything every day. If on Monday I am praying for person a) and person b), on Tuesday my focus will be on someone else. (But, of course, as the need arises, I can transfer someone to the every day list for a ‘season’)

If this all sounds rather rigid, I see it more as laying down a ‘track’ for the train of prayer to run along. But I want to always be flexible, so that if God signals that I need to switch tracks I will be ready for the change of points.

I see the list, then, as a guide to prayer, and not a burdensome self-imposed rule book. it will also inevitably require editing as time goes by. But it keeps reminding me of those who I believe should be in my regular prayers at this time.

I realise that many others also have some form of prayer framework, whether written down or memorised. I want to encourage you today to return to Psalm 30 and trust God to match up words, phrases, themes, ideas with the needs and people on your list. You might even want to jot down a Scripture next to their name.

May God bless and guide you as you pray today…and every day you pray. It is powerful to pray the Word.