How To Make A War Binder

Maybe you’ve watched the hit Christian movie “War Room” based on the book “Fervent.” Today, I’m going to show you how to make a war binder – a mini war room from which to pray.

how to make a war binder
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What is a War Binder

Hey friend. If you are here, you may be wondering, “what is a war binder and how do I make one?” Well, I’m here to tell you all about it. A war binder is a book, notebook, binder, or journal that you keep to use in prayer. It may contain your bible study, devotionals, prayer lists, inspirational quotes, bible memory verses, drawings and other artistic compositions, and any other thing you might want to add to it. The beauty of it is that it is very personal and yours to completely build.

The term “war binder” was inspired by the best-selling Christian book, Fervent. The movie War Room was later inspired by it. The book is about spiritual warfare. It suggests that when we enter into pray, we should think about it with a warrior mindset and be aware that we are fighting a very real enemy. In the movie War Room, the story follows a woman who literally fashions a room in her house to resemble a military war room. Instead of monitors, her walls contains photos and petitions of the people she prays for her. Instead of a cabinet of advisors, she has her bible and prayer books.

For those of us who can’t dedicate an entire room to our house as a war room, a “war binder” becomes our best option.

Supplies

  • Travelers Notebooks
  • A Traveler Notebook Cover
  • Art Supplies (stickers, markers, highlighters, etc)
  • Washi Tape
  • Pens

A travelers notebook is a long notebook. It is typically a thin book and contains blank, lined, graph, or dot grid pages. A travelers notebook cover is just a cover designed to hold anywhere from one to six notebooks. Inside the cover are bands that hold the books in place like a spine. Travelers notebook covers can be found at Michaels craft store. However, I wanted something more personal. So I had someone make one for me on Etsy. It has a sewn cover and I chose an anchor theme because of all the sea and water references in scripture, but you choose whatever resonates with you. I’ve provided a few links below, but you can find them at other places both online and at craft stores.

Alternatively, you can use a Faith edition Happy Planner. The Happy Planner is a type of planner that is totally customizable. Its made for decorating and they have a Faith inspired edition that lends itself very well for a war binder. You can find faith Happy Planners at Hobby Lobby and on The Happy Planner site.

War Binder
Elastic bands hold the books in place
how to make a war binder

War Binder Subjects

Honestly, this is totally up to you. This is how you personalize it and make it your own. Your war binder should reflect your personal relationship with Christ. But to give you idea of what sections you can create, I’m going to show you what I do. Hopefully it will spark your creativity. I have six books:

  • Scripture (memory verses, important scriptures, devotionals)
  • Prayer & Gratitude (prayer lists, answered prayers, blessings)
  • Book Notes
  • Bible Study
  • Sermon Notes
  • Miscellaneous (anything that doesn’t fit in the above categories)
How to Make a War Binder

The inside pages are where the magic happens. The photo below is a page from my Book Notes notebook. I’m always reading and it’s here that I write down the main takeaways. You decorate it as little or as much as you want. Don’t worry if you aren’t artistic, there are lots of ways to fake that (more on that in a minute). I got these notebooks from May Designs.

Book Notes

Book Notes
Use stickers and washi tape to decorate pages

Sermon Notes

As you can see below, I’ve written down my sermon notes. These are really helpful as I try to implement what I learned on Sunday, throughout the week. Personally, I like to scribble notes in church and then come home and organize my thoughts in the war binder. Remember, no one is going to see your war binder unless you want them to. Make sure to make it your own instead of copying others. Making a war binder is all about inspiration.

Sermon Notes

Scripture

My scripture notebook is where I keep memory verses I want to remember. I turn to these during rough times or during my prayer for praise. Personally, I prefer to decorate the pages with something the scripture inspires within me. I did this page with colored pencils, but you can use any art supplies you want to decorate your pages, if that’s the way you want your war binder to look. Remember this is YOUR war binder. It doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

If you aren’t artistic there are other options. You can decorate with stickers and washi tape. Illustrated faith has lots of accessories like stickers and die cuts for those who don’t want to draw or need inspiration to get started. Washi tape is a Japanese masking tape. It is very colorful and comes in a variety of patters, colors and widths. It can immediately brighten up a page. Use it for creating borders and columns. You can cut it into shapes, ribbons and flags. Get creative!

Scripture

Prayer & Gratitude

In my prayer book, I have my gratitude on the opposite prayer page. Some people dedicate a separate book for gratitude. It’s up to you. Personally, I love writing down my blessings and answered prayers in my war binder and thanking God for them before I ask for more. Again, do what feels comfortable to you. I love writing down answered prayers. When I feel like God isn’t moving in my life, I open this up and look at all He has given me and how he has answered me so many times before. If you aren’t sure where to begin, read my Gratitude Journal Prompts.

Prayer & gratitude
Prayer & gratitude

Miscellaneous

Finally, I keep a miscellaneous notebook for anything that doesn’t quite fit in some of my other notebooks. These might include prayer cards that someone gives me, devotionals, book lists and other types of things.

War Binder Support

Lastly, if you need additional inspiration, Facebook is a great place to look. The main war binder group has over 35,000 members. There is also a sister prayer group and pen pal group.

In closing, I hope I’ve help you get started with your war binder. I’d love to hear what you put in yours in the comments below.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

Get your mind off your problems and on the good things happening in your life with these gratitude journal prompts.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

This post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase through one of the links I provide, I may receive a small percentage at no cost to you. Your support helps me offset the costs incurred with this blog.

Why Gratitude

Gratitude can totally change your perspective on life. Being mindful about the good things in your life help you focus on happier things instead of problems. The truth is everyone has problems and we face one problem after another. If you’re waiting for your problems to go away before you can be happy, you’ll be waiting your whole life.

Choose to be happy where you are, right now. There is always something for which to be grateful. Keeping a gratitude journal has show in studies to directly impact our happiness.

If you’re interested in additional journaling ideas, see my post 50 Journal Prompts. Here are just some of the benefits to keeping a gratitude journal.

  • Brings a feeling of calm
  • Helps relieve stress
  • Takes the focus off your negative problems
  • Helps you find what matters most to you
  • Learn more about yourself
  • Aids with depression
  • Makes you more mindful
  • Notice that small good things really are happening in your life

Today, I’m providing a list of gratitude journal prompts to help get you started.

Gratitude Journal Prompts
Courtesy of Unsplash

Gratitude Journal Prompts

  1. What are you grateful for financially?
  2. List things that have helped you get through hard times.
  3. What are you glad your parents taught you?
  4. Name 3 things you’re glad you learned in school.
  5. Describe a time you thought something wouldn’t work out, but did.
  6. List 3 things you love most about each of your children.
  7. Name a physical feature you love about yourself.
  8. What do you love most about your job? (If you’re at home, what do you love most about it?)
  9. If you could go back and thank someone from your past, who would it be and why?
  10. What do you love most about your spouse?
  11. Name something hard that ended up being good for you.
  12. For what talents are you most grateful?
  13. What has been your best experience this year?
  14. Describe a time you were grateful to be forgiven.
  15. List 5 things you love most about your personality.
  16. What do you think friends love most about you?
  17. Name 10 people you are grateful for.
  18. What was the best part of your day today?
  19. Write the last compliment you remember receiving.
  20. List things that make you feel comforted.
  21. Why are you grateful for your freedom?
  22. Which of the 5 senses are you most grateful to have?
  23. Describe a memory from your childhood that makes you happy.
  24. List ten things you take for granted.
  25. Why are you grateful for your family?

I hope these prompts help you realize you have reasons to be happy and content. In the comments below, I’d love to hear some of the things you are grateful for.

Dear Husband, I Need to Thank You

Dear Husband, I Need to Thank You. This is an open letter to my husband, because…well he deserves it. SPOILER ALERT: Mushy PDA coming up. Not responsible for tears!

Dear Husband, I Need to Thank You

Dear Husband,

I need to thank you.

You Complete Me

I felt empty before I met you. Empty like a piece of me was missing and I was tirelessly searching for it. I knew I found it when I met you. I can’t even put into words the wholeness that I feel everyday knowing you are my husband. When I was pregnant with your boys, I felt special. I felt connected to you. I felt honored and chosen to carry your babies. We are distinctly different. You make up for all that I lack.

You are my home. You are my family. No matter what happens in our future, I am complete with you. I will go where you go. Your enemies are my enemies. Your God will be my God. Your family is my family. Your home will be my home. Forever.

You Understand Me

I feel very misunderstood by many people, but worse I feel most people don’t want to understand me. But you, you always seek to understand me. This past year was hard, for many reasons, but for one in particular – the loss of my circle of friends. You know my heart. You know that I always have the best of intentions. You understand me. You get me. In fact, I think you’re the only person who truly does. But only because you are the only person who has taken the time. You always know what I need to hear. You know what worries me and what scares me. You know my secrets. You know exactly what I need at exactly the right time. Best of all, you never pass judgement. Thank you for taking the time to know and understand me.

Dan kissing my hand

You Comfort Me

We’ve been through a lot together. Miscarriages. Addictions. Depression. Death. Birth. Jobs. Sickness. Despair. Moving. Globetrotting. Grief. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Beginnings. Endings. Through it all, you comfort me. You do it in a way that makes me “see” Christ in you, working through you. I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you for overcoming your strongholds. Even through that rocky, confusing time, you comforted me. Many men would have cut and ran. Some men would have given up. When we lost our babies, when I’ve gone through horrific bouts of depression, you comforted me. You many not have always known how, but I promise you – you did. Even if all you could do was throw your arms around me. If all you could do was cry with me, I promise – you comforted me. Thanks for never walking out on me when life got hard.

Monticello

You Are Merciful to Me

I’m choking up just typing this. This is huge – and you probably don’t know that I’m aware of this, but I am. You cover my faults. You hide them. It would be easy to expose them. The world tells us it’s okay “to vent.” People are quick to share how someone has let them down or done them wrong.

But you – you don’t even bring up my faults in conflict or arguments. You spare me. You extend mercy when I don’t deserve it. While others might look at my faults with a magnifying glass, you cover me with grace. You give me permission to be human. You are slow to anger and quick to forgive me. You let me “win” even at the cost of your own pride. You are malleable when I am obstinate. You are long-suffering when I am insufferable. You save me from the embarrassment of my own shortcomings. I notice. I’m grateful. I’m humbled.

You Protect Me

Protection, real protection is such an attractive quality in a man. I don’t just mean physical protection. I mean the kind of protection that is hard. The kind of protection that shelters me from verbal attacks, criticism, anger, cruel intentions, and more. When Jack was born, we faced all kinds of criticism and judgement. But you did your best to protect me from it, going so far as to accept the “sentencing” onto yourself. I never saw you more Christ-like. After all, isn’t that what Christ does for us? He took on our sin and paid the price for us, so we wouldn’t have to. I saw you do that for me. I saw you risk everything to support me. That is love.

But also, you set me strait. You rebuke me when I need correction, thereby saving me from going down a dark path. My bipolar isn’t easy to live with and yet, you do it with so much gentleness. You protect me even from that, as much as you can.

Us

You Serve Me

In the flesh-driven world, “service” to your spouse is so misunderstood. It’s thought of in feudalistic terms like serfdom or worse, slavery. But real spouses serve each other in love. As in Christ’s example, “I came not to be served, but to serve.” You go to work everyday to support us. You make huge sacrifices, always putting yourself last, so we can come first.

Even when you come home tired, because of my bipolar, you get up with the baby every night. You have for years. I am ashamed that I can’t do that without huge ramifications with my illness. But you never complain. You do it so willingly and drag yourself to work the next day. When I’ve had a rough day, you offer to bring dinner home even though I know you’d rather not spend the money. You’ve taken our boys to the emergency room and waited for hours there by yourself. You’ve used your vacation days, not for you, but for us. When our babies are sick, you’ll run out at all hours for medication. It’s thankless and exhausting.

Dear Husband I Need To Thank You

Dear Husband, I Need to Thank You

Dear Husband, I need to thank you. I need you to know how much I appreciate your sacrifices and tireless efforts. I want you to know it matters and it doesn’t go unnoticed. I love you. More than I could ever put into words. More than I could ever show you.


The post, Dear Husband I Need to Thank You first appeared on My Beautiful Mess

Learn more about She Does Him Good: Praying For Your Husband

Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte

It’s fall, y’all! It’s pumpkin spice season and I’m sharing my favorite, natural, super easy slowcooker pumpkin spice latte.

pumpkin spice latte

I have a confession, for years as soon as it was September, I headed over to Starbucks for a pumpkin latte. Living in Texas, we don’t have much of a Fall here, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying all things Autumn (Check out my Fall Bucket List here). I love them so much that I decided to try making them at home. Today I’m sharing one of my most favorite recipes of all time. Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte.

I’m not always a huge fan of pumpkin spice stuff. I mean, seriously, can we all agree that pumpkin spice tortilla chips have gone too far? So when I say I love this pumpkin spice recipe, you can trust me. It is perfect for crisp autumn mornings in your PJs or you can even take it with you in a thermos for a hike. Personally, I love making a decaf version for evenings by the fire or outdoor bonfire.

Ingredients

To make this recipe, you’ll start by brewing a strong carafe of your favorite coffee. If you want really good coffee, consider grinding your own beans. and using bottled water to brew your coffee. Using quality ingredients, is what really makes a good cup of coffee.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it calls for canned pumpkin. I discovered this recipe many years ago and I wasn’t a huge fan of pumpkin spice because I had always had it with artificial flavoring. This recipe uses natural canned pumpkin so it isn’t overpowering. Just a lovely, subtle taste of pumpkin. I also prefer using cinnamon sticks to ground cinnamon. If you use ground spices, it floats upward and then accumulates on the top of your coffee, so keep ground spices to a minimum.

For this recipe, I prefer using whole milk even though I’m a typically 2% girl. I think the texture just seems to be better. If you’d like it richer, you may use half and half. If you are serving for a dinner party or if you plan on having several cups of it, you can always brew decaffeinated coffee or do half-caff. Its perfect for dinner parties and Thanksgiving so coffee is always ready with dessert.

Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice latte

Serving & Storing

This pumpkin latte is divine. I make it for all occasions, but it’s especially good for entertaining. You can certainly make it over a stove, but I love doing it in a slow cooker. Guests can serve themselves. Best of all, because you are making it in a slow cooker, it stays hot. Did I mention the house smells delicious too?  The aroma of cinnamon is just lovely in the house when this is in the slow cooker. While we are discussing coffee, if you are looking for a great coffee maker, you need to look into the NINJA Coffee Bar. It is awesome. It brews six different sizes including a full carafe and multiple single-serve sizes. It also has a milk frother and has a cold brew setting. I bought it to replace a Keurig that died after less than a year of owning and I’ll never look back!

I love serving it in beautiful mugs with whipped cream, pumpkin pie spice on top, and a cinnamon stick, but you can make it as fancy or as casual as you want. I will add that I have found this does not store well. So I recommend making a fresh batch instead of warming up again.

Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte

This recipe is great for everyday entertaining. It’s a simple fall recipe you make ahead of time for a crowd. It combines hot coffee and milk with fresh pumpkin and fall spices. 
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Course Drinks
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

  • 12 Cups Coffee Hot, Strongly Brewed
  • 6 Cups Whole Milk or Half and Half
  • 3 Cinnamon Sticks
  • 1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • 2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Cup Pumpkin Puree Canned

Instructions
 

  • Add milk and vanilla to warm crockpot 
  • Add strongly brewed coffee ( I use a French press to control the strength)
  • Add sugar, stirring well
  • Add pumpkin puree and stir frequently until fully incorporated
  • Cover and cook on high. It reaches peak temperature within 2 hours. 
  • (Optional) Serve with whipped cream, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon stick

Notes

Notes: For a sugar-free option, Splenda does well in lieu of sugar. For late night serving, you can use decaffeinated coffee. 
Keyword autumn, coffee for a crowd, crockpot, drinks, entertaining, fall, latte, pumpkin, slowcooker, spice

Looking for other great fall recipes? Try Zuppa Toscana Soup Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for other easy recipes! Don’t forget to PIN this post for later!

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Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte first appeared on My Beautiful Mess

slow cooker pumpkin spice latte

The Best Fall Bucket List: 50 Fun Ways to Celebrate Autumn

Crackling fires. Football. Chilly nights. Pumpkin spice everything! Welcome Fall with The Best Fall Bucket List: 50 Fun Ways to Celebrate Autumn.

The best fall bucket list

My husband and I started a tradition when we got married. We have a Christmas advent calendar. For 25 days, we celebrate Christmas by doing something Christmas or winter related every day. I can honestly say, it absolutely gets us out of our rut and into the spirit. It’s a great way to spend quality time together and to make memories.

So this year, I decided to do the same thing with fall. It’s been so much fun and the kids love it too. Here are 50 ideas that you can do to get that into the Autumn mood.

Also, I’m giving away a free printable to help you plan your fun-filled Autumn Calendar. You’ll need to make sure you have Adobe Acrobat or other pdf viewing software to view and print it.

The Best Fall Bucket List

  1. Take a Nature Hike
  2. Make a Fall Wreath
  3. Decorate Pumpkins
  4. Watch a football game
  5. Drink Spiced Pumpkin Latte (my recipe here)
  6. Go Black Friday shopping
  7. Visit a Haunted House
  8. Make a Costume
  9. Make & Drink Hot Apple Cider
  10. Decorate Your Porch for Fall
  11. Go Camping
  12. Stargaze in Your Backyard
  13. Plant Fall Flowers
  14. Bake Pumpkin Bread
  15. Watch a Scary Movie
  16. Go Apple Picking
  17. Visit a Pumpkin Patch
  18. Build a Bon Fire
  19. Read a Scary Story
  20. Try a New Fall Recipe
  21. Explore a Corn Maze
  22. Roast Pumpkin Seeds
  23. Light a Fall Candle
  24. Look at the Fall Foliage
  25. Plant Fall Vegetables
  26. Go On a Hayride
  27. Start a Gratitude List
  28. Make a Fall Floral Arrangement
  29. Decorate Your Mantle for Fall
  30. Visit a Farmers Market
  31. Roast Marshmallows in the Fire
  32. Read by the Fireplace
  33. Play Touch Football
  34. Make Carmel Apples
  35. Bake Fall Themed Sugar Cookies
  36. Plan a Fall Family Photo Shoot
  37. Bake a Pumpkin Pie
  38. Play In the Leaves
  39. Attend a Fall Festival
  40. Make S’mores
  41. Attend a Halloween Party
  42. Go Trick or Treating
  43. Have Fun Apple Bobbing
  44. Bake an Apple Pie
  45. Visit a cemetery
  46. Learn the Thriller Dance
  47. Listen to Halloween Themed Music (playlist here)
  48. Build a Scarecrow
  49. Make Caramel Corn
  50. Try a New Fall Craft

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to PIN this post for later and share it on your Facebook wall. Also, before you leave please subscribe to my blog for future posts, giveaways and FREE printable every month.

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