August 28, 2015

A Prayer Just for You!

I’m excited to share with you a prayer I wrote last year. The first time I used this prayer was at a leadership event at which my dear friend, Lisa Allen, and I spoke in Albuquerque last August. We closed our event praying this prayer … 1,000 women standing together, locked hand in hand, cloaking our hearts, minds and bodies in the Armor of God.

And then last month, the Lord gave me the opportunity to share it again at our Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference. At the close of our session, Lisa Allen, Micca Campbell, and I had the honor and privilege of anointing over 200 women as they recommitted their hearts and their callings to God. Immediately after the anointing, we stood together, hearts aligned, and clothed ourselves in God’s Armor. As the words poured forth from our mouths, the Spirit felt so thick and full … I thought, surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place.

Sweet and faithful friends, my heart desires the same for you!! You are such a gift in my life. My prayer warriors. My encouragers. My true blessings from the Lord.

So, as this prayer goes out over my blog, I’m praying fervently for God to move in our midst. I don’t know when you will arrive to find the prayer and pray it, but God does. He knows who needs to be empowered and equipped with His Ephesians 6 Armor. Please know as I type these words, I am praying for every single women God draws here … and that includes YOU. Please leave your name in the comments below so that I can jump on and pray you by name.

Praying on the Armor

Heavenly Father, today we pray on Your Armor. Father, strengthen me with Your Helmet of Salvation. I am Your blood bought baby girl, a saved child of God. You have given me the Mind of Christ so that I can STAND against the culture and the lies of the evil one.

Father, cover my heart with the Breastplate of Righteousness. Thank You that Jesus defeated the power of sin and death at the cross, and it no longer has power over me. You have forgiven me of me of my sin and clothed me with Your righteousness. I STAND on that gift!

Father, gird me with the Belt of Truth. I believe with all my heart that Your Word is truth, and it is that truth and that truth alone that sets me free. I choose to believe Your truth and reject the lies of the evil one. I STAND centered and strong against his temptations, deception, schemes and accusations.

Father, I put on the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. Make me ready to march into any battle set before me. Fill me with Your peace. I choose to be an instrument of that peace, to always forgive and not harbor bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in my heart. I STAND ready to live out and give an account for the faith I have in You today.

Father, I hold up the Shield of Faith. I trust and believe You at Your Word that You are the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Great I AM. You alone are the Author and Perfecter of my faith. I trust You to meet all my needs. I reject a spirit of fear and STAND in the spirit of Your power, love and a sound mind.

Finally, I take up the Sword of the Spirit. I load my arsenal with Your rhema words given directly from Your heart to mine. I choose to hide Your Word in my heart. I choose to believe Your truth over Satan’s lies. Pour out Your Truth and Your Spirit over my life. Fill me with all wisdom and understanding. I choose this day to STAND on Your living and active Word.

Thank You, Father, for Your mighty weapons. Thank You that You have already won this battle. Thank You that I am a victor and that greater is You who lives in me than he who lives in this world. Thank You that I can do all things through Your Son, Jesus, who strengthens me. Today I surrender my battles to You and come under Your power and Your authority. Fill me with the fullness of Your Spirit. Use me to do Your Kingdom work. Father, show me Your Shekinah glory as I march onward as a child of the LIVING GOD. I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

If this prayer touched your heart and you would like a copy for yourself or to pray, you can get a FREE copy by clicking here.

And I would LOVE to pray for you by name. So if you prayed with prayer, please leave your name in the comments section.

And if you get a chance to see War Room, which releases today, GO SEE IT!! I saw a sneak preview last night. POWERFUL movie about Prayer and Spiritual Warfare!! Click here for a sneak peek of the movie.

**** The winner of Amy Lively’s”BIG Giveaway” is Randi who posted on 8/25 at 9:19 a.m.

Please e-mail me at deuteronomysix@aol.com with your full name and mailing address so that we can send you your amazing gift package. ****

Blessings,

159 Comments Filed Under: Heart of Prayer, Prayer, Spiritual Growth

January 10, 2014

A Marriage Prayer for You

(If you left comments in response to the last two giveaways ($50 gift certificates and “Living So That Gift Packages,” the winners are announced at the end of this post. Please respond by Monday Jan. 13).

A warm welcome to my Proverbs 31 friends visiting from my Encouragement for Today Devotion, Who Sits on the Throne of Your Heart? I’m so excited you stopped by to visit.

Since my devotional delved into a tender place in my marriage, a place that was very hard to share, I thought I would write a marriage prayer today. Monty and I have come so far since those early years of our marriage. We have traveled down smooth roads, tackled rough roads, survived deep valleys, and danced on mountain tops. But through it all, we have remained together. I couldn’t imagine sharing my life with anyone else in the entire world!! Every rough road and every valley, though hard to walk through at the time, has strengthened our marriage and drawn us closer together. This year we will celebrate 27 years of marriage!!

I pray God will use this prayer to bless and encourage you. If you visit my Free Resource Page, you will find a longer marriage prayer. To access that prayer directly, click here.

My Marriage Prayer

Heavenly Father, I come before You today praising You as the giver of every good and perfect gift. Your word tells me that all my days were ordained for me before I lived a single one. You knew before time began that we would be joined together as one. You gave me my husband as one of those good and perfect gifts. But marriage is hard, Lord. It’s messy. Sometimes I feel _________(alone, unappreciated, disconnected, jealous, neglected, angry, bitter, misunderstood, hurt, betrayed, etc). I don’t like these emotions. I know they are not healthy and not what You want for me as a wife. So I come before You today for direction and help. I know that I cannot change my husband, so I invite You to help me change the only thing I can and that is ME. Lord, please change me.

First, I want to confess my role in this mess in my marriage. Search me, Lord. Know my anxious thoughts. Test me. If there is any offensive way in me…if there is any part of this mess we are in that is my fault…reveal it to me. Open my eyes to see it. Humble my heart to confess it. Tender my heart to change it. Father, I ask You to forgive my ________ (anger, bitterness, jealousy, prideful attitude, self-pity, etc) Thank You that You forgive me…that though my sins are like scarlet, You make them white as snow. You remove them as far as the east is from the west.

Lord, help me to walk confidently in who I am in You. Thank You, Lord, that I am a display of Your splendor! My value and worth is found in You and You alone. My husband is a gift in my life, but my identity and worth is NOT in Him; my identity and worth is found in You. Heal any part of me that has forgotten that or doubted that. Restore to me the JOY of my salvation. I am Your child. I am filled with Your Spirit and Your glory. Help me to walk in the fullness of who I am in You.

I surrender my marriage and my husband to You, the giver of the gift of marriage, more specifically the gift of my marriage. I ask the following of You for my husband and me:

Heal our hurts.

Knit our hearts together as one.

Bring us into unity and agreement in all things.

Move our hearts to respond to each other with humility and unselfishness.

Equip us with the mind of Christ and enable us to acknowledge You daily as Lord of our lives and our marriage.

Help us not look to each other for affirmation, but look only to You.

Grow us daily in spiritual wisdom and discernment.

Humble our hearts to serve each other with a sacrificial love.

Develop in us praying hearts and unite us to pray as one.

Cover us daily in the armor of God and protect us from the guiles of the evil one.

Bless and establish the work of our hands and our hearts.

Bind our marriage with unbreakable chains and blanket us with Your great love.

Heavenly Father, I give our hearts, our minds, our marriage and our family to You and trust You to do a “new thing.” Help my husband and I forget the old, to forgive what has been in the past. I trust You to make a way in the desert. Flood our marriage with Ephesians 3:20 blessings, Lord…do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine. I ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I pray this prayer meets you in your tender place in your marriage. If you would like prayer for your marriage, or you would like to leave a prayer for your marriage or someone else’s marriage, please share it in a comment today. I promise to pray for each and every request over the next week. And I will choose one comment randomly to win an Inscribed necklace to celebrate the release of my new book coming out in March 2014, Living So That: Making Faith-Filled Choices in the Midst of a Messy Life. To see the necklace, click here.

I’m so thankful you stopped by today. As I close this post, I’m praying for the Lord to draw every woman here who needs this encouragement…this prayer. And if your marriage is GREAT right now, praise God and join me in praying for the comments left today. Let’s storm the gates of heaven on behalf of marriages today. No marriage is hopeless because NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!!

******Winners of $50 Proverbs 31 Gift Certificate

Angela B.who posted on 12/26 at 5:44 p.m.

LaKeisha who posted on 12/21 at 7:48 a.m.

******Winners of “Living So That Gift Package”

Karen Conner who posted on 1/1 at 8:19 a.m.

Carolyn who posted on 1/1 at 10:44 a.m.

If you are one of the four women listed above, please e-mail me at deuteronomysix@aol.com with your full name and mailing address so I can send you your gifts.

Blessings,

266 Comments Filed Under: Encouragement, Heart of Prayer, marriage, Relationships

February 27, 2011

Week Four Cultivating a Heart of Prayer – Invitation to Thirty Day Journey with Christ

Thank you for spending the last four weeks with me. What an amazing journey!! Watching God at work in our midst through your prayers and ministering to each other has truly blown me away.

I wish I could go back and list praises for each and every one of you for whom we have prayed. There have been so many, so please join me in giving all praise, glory, and honor to Almighty God, the One who is Faithful and True, the same yesterday, today, and forever!!!

Below please find our final lesson for Cultivating a Heart of Prayer

Although our “official” Cultivating a Heart of Prayer study is over, I would love to continue meeting together.

Consider this an open invitation to join me over the next 30 days to go even deeper still with Christ. I will take one week off and meet you here again on March 14th. At the end of the post, please find questions to guide your quiet time over the next fourteen days.

This journey will look different for each of us depending upon our age and stage of life. But the key to this journey is the word “intentional.” God calls us to be still before Him…to know that He is God. That requires an intentional decision to set aside time each day to spend time with Him. There is no set time and no set way to do this. Rather, it requires you examining your schedule and choosing a time and place each day to meet with Him….five minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Maybe it will change depending on the day of the week. The key is – stealing from Nike – “Just Do It!”

In deciding whether you want to join us, please consider the benefits of a deeper more intimate relationship with the Lord.

A deep, abiding relationship with Christ…

1. opens the door to God’s heart

2. draws us closer to Him

3. increases our knowledge of Him and of His Word

4. builds our trust in Him

5. transforms our hearts and minds

If you want more of these things in your life, join us for this journey. Invite your friends, Sunday School classes, small groups, your spouse, and even your children to join you. What a beautiful way to prepare our hearts for Easter!

I will post verses and questions to guide our journey. Some days I may have a video and some days just a short message. If you have something you would like to share on the blog, let me know. Perhaps we can even have a few guest posts during our journey!!

Here are a few hints to make the most of this journey:

1. Find a quiet place to meet with God (favorite chair, front porch, closet, curled up on your bed)

2. Bring your Bible and a journal or notebook

3. Divide up your prayer requests over the thirty days

(for example…Mondays pray for husband/children/family, Tuesdays pray for friends, Wednesdays pray for community and nation, Thursdays pray for missionaries and our world), Fridays pray for you church and Bible studies, Saturday pray for work/co-workers/career, Sundays spend time praising God and praying for yourself and your walk with Him)

4. Share in your journal what God teaches you and how you experience His Presence

Abiding in Christ: Days One through Fourteen (Feb. 28-March 13)

I will take one week off and meet you here again on Monday, March 14. Below please find some questions to guide your quiet time. We will focus on Jesus, the Son of God.

Christ is not valued at all – unless He is valued above all. aSt. Augustine

Philippians: 2:5-11 and Colossians 1:15-20 and John 1:1-5

1. Read the above -referenced passages and share what they say about Christ. Dig deeper beyond the passage with your own study (using study notes, commentaries, Internet resources) and share what the Lord teaches you in your journal.

2. Share what each passage says about the deity of Christ (for further study see 1 Corinthians 4:4, Hebrews 1:1-4).

3. Share what each says about the humanity of Christ (for further study, see John 1:14, Romans 8:3, Hebrews 2:17-18).

4. Share what these passages speak personally to you about God, about Jesus, and about you and your relationship with God.

5. Specifically, what difference does it make in your life that Jesus was and is fully human and fully divine? (the way you live your life, your attitude toward God/religion/Jesus, your attitude toward others, your daily walk with the Lord)

6. Is Christ valued above all in your life. If so, how does your life reflect that? If not, what changes will you make so that Christ is valued above all in your life?

Thank you for joining me on this journey. And if you are joining us for the first time, please read the information below.

Registration: To register for our Thirty Day Journey and for announcements of future on-line studies, please leave a comment on my blog with your first name and e-mail address or e-mail me at Deuteronomysix@aol.com.

Subscribing: I encourage you to subscribe to our Thirty Day Journey via my blog. When you do, you will receive each week’s lesson in your in-box. Receiving it in your inbox makes it easy to print the homework and transfer it to a notebook. If this link does not work, you may also subscribe by clicking on the “Subscribe via e-mail” link located at the top of my sidebar. However, you will not be able to see the videos, make a comment, or read comments. You must visit the blog directly to access the video and comments.

Please stop by and share how how God is speaking to you and what He is teaching you on this journey!

Blessings,

87 Comments Filed Under: Heart of Prayer, Uncategorized