Using Technology to Draw Closer to God

Sometimes, it seems like the Amish people have really got it right. When I think about my relationship with God, I imagine that it was probably easier a hundred years ago. Nowadays, our lives are so busy with the distractions of television, internet, cell phones, and radios, that we seldom remember (or want) to take a quiet moment with the Lord. As a Christian, and the wife of a pastor, I often tell people that I will pray for them. Unfortunately, I do not always remember those prayers as often as I would like.

Recently, however, I found Echo. For once, I can honestly say that modern technology is drawing me nearer to God! Echo Prayer Manager is a wonderful online service, offered completely free of charge, that reminds you to pray. It reminds you as often as you like, since you set the times for your reminders. You can choose to be reminded by email, for those who sit at their desks all day, or you can choose to be reminded by text message, if you are often on the go.

Echo is super easy to use! There are three basic steps to using Echo Prayer Manager.

1.Create a prayer list.
You put in things that you want to be reminded to pray about. I usually use a simple keyword, such as the name of the person that I am praying for, in the subject line. Then, you can put the details of what to pray in the notes. It gives you three options of how often you want to be reminded: regular, more often, or less often. This way you can pray about the more important things more often.

2.Set reminders.

Echo Prayer Manager has a daily timetable that you can click on to set reminders. You can make them at any time of the day or night. When you click on the time, a box will pop up to let you choose whether it should be an email reminder or a text message reminder. You can have as many reminders as you want each day. I have chosen to have reminders about three times each day.

3. Echo sends you one prayer at a time.

For each reminder that you set, Echo will send you a prayer from your prayer list. Generally, it will pick prayers at random, but you also have the option to be reminded of a specific prayer at a certain time.

This service really helps you to remember to pray. Even if it is just a quick prayer while I am driving to work, I feel that this helps remind me to start my day off with God. I also love being randomly reminded to pray for my friends throughout the day. This way, when I tell people, "I'll be praying for you," I know that I will actually remember to do it.

Best of all, this service is free. If your cell phone carrier charges you for text messages, then you may incur charges for the text messages, but Echo will not charge you for the service.

EchoPrayer.com also has a prayer journal section, where you can keep updated on your prayers. This is a great way to visually see the many prayers that God answers. According to the website, a new feature will soon be added that will also let you send prayer requests to other people easily.

Echo was started by Ben Rugg, a Christian man who felt overwhelmed by the many things he wanted to pray for, feeling like he could never remember to pray for all of them. According to Rugg, this is how Echo Prayer began:

I complained about this to a friend one day and she told me that she sometimes writes people's names on slips of paper and then puts them in a hat. She pulls one name at a time from the hat and prays for that person. That way she prays for everyone and it's not overwhelming. Inspired by that idea, I created this site. It's a virtual "prayer hat" if you will. Instead of passively waiting for you to grab one prayer at a time, though, Echo actively sends you reminders. You customize it in the way that's most useful for you -- you can get emails or text messages any time throughout the week -- and it reminds you to pray for one person or issue at a time.

Rugg hopes that Echo will be used as a tool to help individuals, prayer groups, bible studies, and churches everywhere pray for each other more effectively and deepen their own relationships with God. Although I cannot speak for everyone, I personally have found this tool extremely effective. In being reminded to pray, I am also reminded of how many prayers God has already answered!

To sign up, visit www.echoprayer.com