Jan 9, 2016

Best Christian Apps - for Prayer, Bible Memory, and Missions

Below, I've described my favorite apps relating to prayer, missions and Scripture. The best part is—all these apps are absolutely free! Use them alongside the other apps on your phone, or use them to temporarily replace Instagram/Twitter/FaceBook as you take a social media fast. These are great options for using technology for the glory of God!



Pray Today - Voice of the Martyrs

One of my favorites! Everyday there's a new one sentence prayer request, focused on Christians are being persecuted and countries in need of religious freedom. Simple layout. Concise text. This app accessible and easy to use on a daily basis—no matter how busy you are. Prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters should be a priority, so get this app and set up the daily reminders so you remember to regularly pray for the persecuted Church.


IMB - Pray

Daily being updated with prayer needs, the IMP prayer app can be used to guide your missions focused prayers in multiple ways: First, you can check the daily feed for strategic prayer requests. The PrayerLine option offers a thematic prayer guide for three days a week. Or, you can check out the Pray Weekly section that provides four shortened prayer requests for quick reference. Finally, there are also video features, as well as unreached/unengaged people group focuses. You will never run out of ways to pray for the gospel work around the world with this app!


JP Unreached - Joshua Project

This is similar to the Operation World book, but in app form! And rather than a new country each day, this app provides information on an unreached people group—including demographic information, Bible translation status, ministry obstacles, outreach ideas, and more. I have found this to be the most comprehensive and detailed prayer app for missions while still presenting the information in a way that is quick and easy to reference. There's also an option to be daily notified to pray for the people group of the day.


Echo Prayer

As a customizable prayer app, you add your own personal prayer requests so they can be easily and quickly accessed at any time. This is the best way I've found to see a list of all my current prayer requests at once, and you can tap on each one to expand more details about a specific request. My favorite feature is the ability to set reminders for specific times about any request (so there's no more forgetting to pray for surgeries, tests, interviews, etc. at the time they're happening)! It's also a great way to keep track of all of your answered prayers—a wonderful reminder of God's goodness and faithfulness.


BibleMinded

A Bible verse memorization app that allows you to create Bible flash cards from 12 different versions and translations. Once you add a verse or passage to your list, you can use various study modes to commit it to memory. Study options include flash cards, audio recordings, fill-in-the-blank activities, and verse-by-verse tests. Instead of using your down time (waiting in line, riding in the car, eating) to scroll endlessly through Twitter or Instagram, use that time to memorize God's Word!


The ESV Bible App

I love this Bible app so much better than the YouVersion app I used to use. It's prettier and simpler—just a more user-friendly and elegant design overall. And yes, there is an audio recording available for you to play anywhere and anytime. If ESV is the translation you use, I highly recommend this app for all your portable Bible needs!


Honorable mentions:
  • NAME People — Stories, prayer needs and videos all focused on the North Africa & Middle East people groups
  • OM - Operation Mobilization — news stories from OM missions to help guide your prayers for those who need Jesus
  • Voice Recorder — Not necessarily a Christian app; but recently I've been using it to record Scripture passages I'm memorizing. I play it in the car anytime I go anywhere (put it on repeat), and I'm memorizing whole chapters in no time!