One of the things that concerns me about the impact of technology and social media on Christians today is that despite its promise to simplify our lives it actually complicates them. Oftentimes what that means for our devotional lives is that we are all too easily distracted rather than getting deeply connected with God. Certainly my own experience is that countless times I’ve found myself gazing at the screen of my smartphone for the umpteenth time that day and then catching myself thinking “when was the last time I prayed today?” I even have moments of resenting that little screen for constantly snatching my attention away from my God.
Can you relate to that?
If so then hopefully, like me, you’ll be buzzin about a new smartphone app that I got hold of last week. PrayerMate is a fantastic app that has turned the technology in my pocket into a device that now encourages me to pray. Essentially it provides a simple and easy to use structure that with a few swipes of my finger gives me stuff to be praying about. So my categories include:
- Find 3 reasons to worship (not the same 3 as yesterday)
- Family members
- The various Hill City gospel communities (by name)
- Unsaved friends
- Human Trafficking minitries
- The persecuted church
The beauty of PrayerMate, however, is that each category is totally customisable so you can essentially pray for whatever you want. Furthermore, you can subscribe to news feeds from a whole host of churches, ministries and mission agencies to get up-to-date prayer fodder! (I pray for the persecuted church by subscribing to the feed of one of my favourite ministries – Open Doors). Similarly, you can also access model prayers straight out of the Bible. I don’t often post shameless plugs like this, but I really am impressed and grateful to the developers of this app. Oh, it’s free as well!
So for what it’s worth – I reckon you should go grab the PrayerMate app and get plugged into a new way of praying.
You can find out more about PrayerMate here, as well as watch the video below.
Blessinz.
(This article was originally posted by Pastor Dai Hankey at his personal blog, Sanctified Rant, that can be found here).