prayer

40 Day Devotional: Day 8: Praying in color

| Ester

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Today I feel especially creative and colorful and I googled ‘praying and drawing’.

Then I found this AWESOME website I want to share with you today!

God made us in all colors and shapes and therefore we can pray in all colors and shapes and forms and manners too. God has a sense of humour too!

Here goes:

Praying in Color = prayer + d o o d l i n g

When multiple friends and family members received ugly and scary diagnoses, Sybil MacBeth found herself exhausted by the words of her prayers and stymied by a lack of focus. One summer day, she retreated to her back porch for a session of mindless doodling with a basket of her favorite colored markers. She drew a shape, put the name of a friend inside, and added lines and color. She drew another shape with another name and added detail and color. When the page was covered with designs and names, Sybil realized she had prayed. The action of drawing was a wordless offering of friends and family into the care of God. The page of drawings became a visual reminder to pray. This was the beginning of Praying in Color.

Here are some reasons to Pray in Color:

1) You want to pray but words escape you. 2) Sitting still and staying focused in prayer are a challenge.

3) Your body wants to be part of your prayer.

4) You want to just hang out with God but don’t know how.

5) Listening to God feels like an impossible task .

6) Your mind wanders and your body complains.

7) You want a visual, concrete way to pray.

8) You Need a new way to pray.

Here’s what you need to get started:
1) Paper
2)  Pen
3) Colored markers or colored pencils or colored gel pens
4) A table or clipboard or book to put your paper on.

If you want to read more on how to get started:

go to the website:

prayingincolor.com

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelations 4:11)

Continue reading →

40 Day Devotional: Day 16: my favorite prayers

| Ester

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Although I often pray by heart, I love praying words of others too!

Prayer to Do Good (F.B. Meyer England, 1847-1929)

Forgive me, most gracious Lord and Father, if this day I have done or said anything to increase the pain of the world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where I had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable me so to live that I may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness.

Prayer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(Germany, 1906-1945)

O God, early in the morning I cry to you. Help me to pray; and to concentrate my thoughts on you; I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness, but with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me; I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. . . .
Restore me to liberty, and enable me to live now that I may answer before you and before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised.
Amen.

And this one is one of my favs as well:

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace!
That where there is hatred, I may bring love.That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.
That where there is error, I may bring truth.That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.That where there is despair, I may bring hope.That where there are shadows, I may bring light.
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted.
To understand, than to be understood.
To love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

—Saint Francis of Assisi—  

Be inspired!

Tell me, what are your favorite prayers?

Continue reading →

40 Day Devotional: Day 18: Prayer Day

| Ester

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Philippians 4:6 NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Tomorrow is Prayer Day in the protestant church in Holland. We pray for the coming season of work, especially for agriculture. Later in the year we come to church to thank God for the harvest and the fruits of our work.

Prayer is admitting you cannot do it alone and you need God. To me, prayer is about having a relationship with my maker.

Do you pray? Do you think it really works?

Peace.

the Benedict Project 2: Going to bed on time

| Ester

After two weeks of attempting to get up early, I learned three things:

  1. I am powerless over snoozing and getting up late in general and I can only ask God to take it away from me
  2. it helps if I go to bed 9 hours before I have to get up
  3. it is about progress, not perfection (it does NOT help to beat myself up over it)

It humbled me to experience, that not everything I put my mind to is happening the way I want it too. I have to follow God’s guidance .

Hearken continually within thine heart, O son, giving attentive ear to the precepts of thy master [God]*

I will accept myself, but I will strive for more anyway. Gretchen Rubin puts it like this:

Although I have not yet succeeded in getting up early in the morning, I gained some valuable insights and I will continue to press on, adding a second goal: going to bed on time in the evening.

I’ve been having a great conversation with a reader the past weeks, who made some clever suggestions to make going to bed easier:

  • a 20-30 minute walk before sleep/ shut down the computer at 8:30 pm
  • no more snacks/cookies in the evening
  • drinking a decaffeinated cup of tea

I’d recommend herbal tea with chamomile, lavender or valerian, like Pukka’s Night time blend… Coffee is definitely a no-go for me!

My idea is to make the time before I go to bed an unwinding, closing ritual, inspired by the Benedictine Monks.

5 pm**: the monks have their sunset evening prayer service called Vespers

6 pm: dinner in silence while one monk reads something from Scripture or other literature

7-8 pm: Benedict prescribes the silent reading of ‘edifying literature’ in the evening by the monks in their cells (rooms).

8 pm: End of the day-prayers are said: Compline.
Afterwards Great Silence is observed: everybody goes to their rooms and is completely silent.

What speaks to me about the monks’ ritual is that they stick to a fixed bedtime, which is part of their daily ‘order’ or schedule. What also appeals to me is the strict application of silence in the Benedictine routine.
I’d love to experience in my own life the kind of freedom those ‘restrictions’ must give in the mind and the body.

Keeping all this wisdom in mind, I’ve come to a proposition for myself for this week, which I hope to develop into an evening ritual.

  • EAT 6:15 pm dinner. Note: after dinner: no computer!!
  • READ 6:45 pm Bible reading and prayer with my husband (my ‘Vespers‘)
  • CLEAN 7:00 pm cleaning up: 15 minutes kitchen and 15 minutes tidying the living room
  • FREE 7:30 – 8:30 pm free time to: hang out with husband and animals, read, take a luxury bath, call a friend, write a letter, drink herbal tea, listen to classical music…
  • PREPARE 8:30 pm prepare lunch and backpack for next day, pick clothes for next day, look at my appointments, feed the rabbits / tidy their cages
  • WALK 9:00 pm walk the dog (unhurried and in gratitude of the day)
  • CLEAN ME 9:30 pm wash, put on pj’s, write in 1-sentence journal
  • PRAY 9:50 pm short prayer and 5 minutes of silent meditation in my ‘meditation room’: my ‘Compline‘. I hope to expand the prayer and meditation in the future, but I want to start small to create a habit.
  • SLEEP 10 pm: in bed and eyes closed ;-). The Great Silence has begun!

I need 9 hours sleep nowadays, so this means I will be able to get up at 7am if I’ll stick to my bedtime routine.

For inspiration, I have composed a ‘Morning Moodboard‘ and a ‘Time To Go To bed-Moodboard’  at Pinterest.

Let me know your proposed evening ritual and let’s encourage each other for 1,5 week to stick to it and share our experience in the comments.

Please take a minute to leave a comment now, I’d really appreciate it!
And if you like what you’ve read, go ahead and sign up for the e-mail list or via rss!! Thanks for supporting me, it means a lot…
love and peace,
Ester
You can also find me on: Facebook, Google + or Twitter.

p.s.: If you want to read more about this topic: Gretchen Rubin just happened to write the post: ‘I can never go to bed on time!’, featuring an awesome video.

* Rule of Benedict: Prologue

** the times of the day vary a little in each monastery but are the same each day.

Spiritual toolbox part 6: Silence and rest

| Ester
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/39084783_ca157f65c9.jpg

Far from home is a perfect place to start – Switchfoot (song: Golden)

Part I: Struggle to be silent

Silence, peace, rest, prayer, all states I cannot seem to be able to be in at the moment.

There’s always the urge to do stuff, be productive, be active.

There’s always fear of failing, of praying and it not being good enough or simply not enough, so I choose not to pray at all…

There’s guilt, confusion, procrastination, distraction.

The truth is: it is never enough. Jesus died for us on a pole and there isn’t anything we can do to pay Him back. That is called grace.

We may rest in His love and be with Him, broken and flawed as we are. Like the cat in the picture above, just lay back and enjoy the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Here’s my prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus,

I love you so much, and I want to be with you so! Please teach me anew how to pray and be silent and restful without measuring and condemning its amount or quality, please take me out of my inertia and dryness, my guilt and my fear of failing in simply being your child, of drowning in things to pray for and then not making a start at all….

Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit. I also pray for my friends and family to fill them too and touch us with your love and grace.

Let me rest in your approval and love for me everyday more. Give me patience to be still and listen to your voice.

In your mighty and victorious name

AMEN

Part II: practicing silence

Wikipedia gives this definition of silence:

Silence is the relative or total lack of audible sound. By analogy, the word silence may also refer to any absence of communication, even in media other than speech.[1] Silence is also used as total communication, in reference to non verbal communication and spiritual connection.

A silent mind, freed from the onslaught of thoughts and thought patterns, is both a goal and an important step in spiritual development. Such “inner silence” is not about the absence of sound; instead, it is understood to bring one in contact with the divine, the ultimate reality, or one’s own true self.[2] Many religious traditions imply the importance of being quiet and still in mind and spirit for transformative and integral spiritual growth to occur. In Christianity, there is the silence of contemplative prayer such as Centering prayer and Christian meditation.

Basil Pennington, one of the best known proponents of the centering prayer technique, has delineated the guidelines for centering prayer:[5]

  1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed, relax, and quiet yourself. Be in love and faith to God.
  2. Choose a sacred word that best supports your sincere intention to be in the Lord’s presence and open to His divine action within you (i.e. “Jesus“, “Lord,” “God,” “Savior,” “Abba,” “Divine,” “Shalom,” “Spirit,” “Love,” etc.).
  3. Let that word be gently present as your symbol of your sincere intention to be in the Lord’s presence and open to His divine action within you.
  4. Whenever you become aware of anything (thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, associations, etc.), simply return to your sacred word, your anchor.

Enjoy the age-old silence prayer techniques, but be careful not to judge yourself on whether you use a technique or not. Remember to just be. That’s enough. You’re good enough. Be a cat, cats don’t fret over being good enough…;-)

Spiritual toolbox part 3: The Examen Prayer

| Ester

http://grtu.net/data/images/Article_images/sofa.jpg

First of all, I hope you had a fabulous Easter. Jesus is truly risen!!!

Today I want to continue my 10-part series with the Examen Prayer of St. Ignatius de Loyola.

In the beginning of Lent my  Twitter-friend Tara told me she was doing the daily Examen Prayer for Lent, as I was giving up luxury foods and goods.

She made me very curious and I looked up what it was. The Examen was constructed by Ignatius de Loyola, who was the founder of the Roman Catholic Jesuits.

The Examen of Consciousness is a simple prayer directed toward developing a spiritual sensitivity to the special ways God approaches, invites, and calls. Ignatius recommends that the examen be done at least twice per day, and suggests five points of prayer:

  1. Recalling that one is in the holy presence of God
  2. Thanking God for all the blessings one has received
  3. Examining how one has lived his or her day
  4. Asking God for forgiveness
  5. Resolution and offering a prayer of hopeful recommitment
  6. the Examen is usually concluded with the Lord’s prayer

It is important, however, that the person feels free to structure the Examen in a way that is most helpful to him. There is no right way to do it; nor is there a need to go through all of the five points each time.
The basic rule is: Go wherever God draws you.

And this touches upon an important point: the Examen of Consciousness is primarily a time of prayer; it is a “being with God.”

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.

  • If you want to have a neat overview of the process you have a look at this handout I found on ignatianspirituality.com that you could print on as a handy leaflet.
  • Lastly I’d like to recommend a very nice resource: an mp3-file of the Examen where you are lead through the whole Examen via audio. You can listen to it if you click on this link:

The Examen prayer audio

Just sit back and pray along. I really love it, although I don’t pray it everyday. And I really appreciate the thanksgiving part of it. It makes me count my blessings. I’d love to get deeper though and really connect with God, lying on the sofa with the Father.

I’d love to hear your experiences with the Examen. Please drop me a comment below or find me on Twitter.

Spiritual toolbox part 2: Book of Common Prayer

| Ester
wikipedia.org

What is it?

The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches.

A major revision was published in 1662 (Church of England 1662). That edition has remained the official prayer book of the Church of England, although in the 21st century, an alternative book called Common Worship has largely displaced the Book of Common Prayer at the main Sunday worship service of most English parish churches.

Where to find it?

Thanks to the era of internet and electronics it is no longer necessary to feverishly browse through and old dusty book to get to the right pages — although dusty can have its charm too — but you can easily find it on the web neatly arranged per day, divided between morning, evening and night-prayer. Just click on the link and you’re ready to go!

http://cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer/morning/

http://cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer/evening/

http://cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer/night/

On the site mentioned above you can choose between the old The Book of Common Prayer (1662)-text that has a literary beauty of its own and the Common Worship: Daily Prayer-version that is more accessible to our postmodern race.

What are its contents?

For example today is the fourth Sunday of Lent. The prayers for today consist of:

Preparation:

  1. introduction
  2. prayer of thanksgiving
  3. a suitable hymn
  4. opening prayer
  5. silence

Word of God:

  1. Psalmody (psalms)
  2. Canticle
  3. Scripture reading of the day
  4. Responsory
  5. Gospel Canticle e.g. the Benedictus

Prayers:

  1. intercession: for the day and its tasks; the world and its needs; the Church and her life.
  2. silence
  3. the Collect of the day
  4. the Lord’s prayer

Conclusion

The evening prayer rite is quite similar in length and composition but consists of some different elements.

The night rite is quite short in comparison. It is also called the ancient office of the Compline. It is above all a service of quietness before rest at the end of the day.

Here are a few beautiful excerpts from today’s Night prayer as an example:

An Order for Night Prayer (Compline)
Sunday, 14 March 2010
The Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
Amen.

A period of silence for reflection on the past day may follow.

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Alleluia.

The following or other suitable hymn may be sung.

Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep.

From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread underfoot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.

O Father, that we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death.

Intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered here.

The Collect

Silence may be kept.

The Conclusion

In peace we will lie down and sleep;
for you alone, Lord, make us dwell in safety.

Abide with us, Lord Jesus,
for the night is at hand and the day is now past.

As the night watch looks for the morning,
so do we look for you, O Christ.

[Come with the dawning of the day
and make yourself known in the breaking of the bread.]

May God bless us,
that in us may be found love and humility,
obedience and thanksgiving,
discipline, gentleness and peace.

© The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, 2000-2005
All of the official Common Worship publications are being published by Church House Publishing.

How do I use the Daily Prayers in my devotional time?

Since I already listen to the Bible every day for 20 minutes @ Daily Audio Bible, I skip most of the Scripture readings and Psalms and stick to the beautiful prayers as mentioned above.

I don’t pray from the Book of Common Prayer every day but I alternate with the prayers I described in Spiritual Toolbox part 1: the Daily prayer. In addition I also pray ‘freestyle’ to God as well 😉

But if you haven’t yet established a daily Bible reading routine then the Book of Common prayer can be just perfect for you to immerse yourself in Scripture and pray the prayers of the ages daily.

I encourage you all to give it a go!

Feel free to ask me any questions or comment on this post below, or follow me on Twitter.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Church of England

Spiritual Toolbox part 1: the Daily Prayer

| Ester

Rublev's Christ

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how to improve my prayer life. I’ve been feeling uninspired, dull and unfocused to pray. Still I think prayer is the most important part of our spiritual life. That’s why I decided to dedicate a 10-part series to the matter: The Spiritual Toolbox, exploring different types of prayer and other spiritual practices with wisdom from Christian spiritual teachers and Christian denominations like: John Eldredge, Neil Anderson, the Anglican Church, the Benedictines, Brian Hardin, Ignatius de Loyola and Henri Nouwen.

My goal is to inspire myself to pray more regularly and in a more engaged fashion to strenghten my relationship with the Lord and to inspire you along the way!

After all in the New Testament Jesus withdrew very often from the crowd to pray. To spend time with the Most High is key to your faith!

Have a great journey!

Here’s the outline of the contents of the series:
Spiritual toolbox part 1: the Daily Prayer

Spiritual toolbox part 2: Book of Common Prayer

Spiritual toolbox part 3: The Examen Prayer

Spiritual toolbox part 4: Journaling

Spiritual toolbox part 5: Lectio Divina

Spiritual toolbox part 6: Practicing Silence

Spiritual toolbox part 7: The Daily Audio Bible

Spiritual toolbox part 8: Praying with the names of God

Spiritual toolbox part 9: Setting up a morning devotion

Spiritual toolbox part 10: Setting up an evening devotion

In this first post I want to share with you two of my favorite prayers, which are especially helpful if you feel uninspired to pray or are at a loss for words.

I encourage you to experiment with them. Here they are:

1. Daily Prayer

by John Eldredge of Ransomed Heart Ministries, presented by Windfarm: The Prayer Initiative of the Daily Audio Bible Community

My dear Lord Jesus I come to you now to be restored in you, to be renewed in you, to receive
your love and your life, and all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honor you
as my Sovereign, and I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to you. I give
you my spirit, soul and body, my heart, mind, and will. I cover myself with your blood—my spirit,
soul, and body, my heart, mind and will. I ask your Holy Spirit to restore me in you, renew me in
you, and to lead me in this time of prayer. In all that I now pray, I stand in total agreement with
your Spirit, and with my intercessors and allies, by your Spirit alone.

[Now, if you are a husband, you’ll want to include your wife in this time of prayer. If you are a
parent, you’ll want to include your children. If this doesn’t apply to you, jump to the paragraph
after this one.]
In all that I now pray, I include (my wife and/or children, by name). Acting as their head, I bring
them under your authority and covering, as I come under your authority and covering. I cover
(wife and/or children, by name) with your blood – their spirit, soul and body, their heart, mind
and will. I ask your Spirit to restore them in you, renew them in you, and apply to them all that I
now pray on their behalf, acting as their head.

Dear God, holy and victorious Trinity, you alone are worthy of all my worship, my heart’s
devotion, all my praise, all my trust and all the glory of my life. I love you, I worship you, I trust
you. I give myself over to you in my heart’s search for life. You alone are Life, and you have
become my life. I renounce all other gods, all idols, and I give you the place in my heart and in
my life that you truly deserve. I confess here and now that this is all about you, God, and not
about me. You are the Hero of this story, and I belong to you. Forgive me for my every sin.
Search me and know me and reveal to me where you are working in my life, and grant to me
the grace of your healing and deliverance, and a deep and true repentance.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and choosing me before you made the world. You are
my true Father—my Creator, my Redeemer, my Sustainer, and the true end of all things,
including my life. I love you, I trust you, I worship you. I give myself over to you to be one with
you in all things, as Jesus is one with you. Thank you for proving your love by sending Jesus. I
receive him and all his life and all his work, which you ordained for me. Thank you for including
me in Christ, for forgiving me my sins, for granting me his righteousness, for making me
complete in him. Thank you for making me alive with Christ, raising me with him, seating me
with him at your right hand, establishing me in his authority, and anointing me with your Holy
Spirit, your love and your favor. I receive it all with thanks and give it total claim to my life—my
spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind and will. I bring the life and the work of Jesus over (wife
and/or children, by name) and over my home, my household, my vehicles, finances, all my
kingdom and domain.

Jesus, thank you for coming to ransom me with your own life. I love you, I worship you, I trust
you. I give myself over to you, to be one with you in all things. And I receive all the work and all
of the triumph of your cross, death, blood and sacrifice for me, through which I am atoned for, I
am ransomed and transferred to your kingdom, my sin nature is removed, my heart is
circumcised unto God, and every claim made against me is disarmed this day. I now take my
place in your cross and death, through which I have died with you to sin, to my flesh, to the
world, and to the evil one. I take up the cross and crucify my flesh with all its pride, arrogance,
unbelief, and idolatry (and anything else you are currently struggling with). I put off the old man.
I ask you to apply to me the fullness of your cross, death, blood and sacrifice. I receive it with
thanks and give it total claim to my spirit, soul and body, my heart, mind and will.

Jesus, I also sincerely receive you as my life, my holiness and strength, and I receive all the
work and triumph of your resurrection, through which you have conquered sin and death and
judgment. Death has no mastery over you, nor does any foul thing. And I have been raised with
you to a new life, to live your life – dead to sin and alive to God. I now take my place in your
resurrection and in your life, through which I am saved by your life. I reign in life through your
life. I receive your life – your humility, love and forgiveness, your integrity in all things, your
wisdom, discernment and cunning, your strength, your joy, your union with the Father. Apply to
me the fullness of your resurrection. I receive it with thanks and give it total claim to my spirit,
soul and body, my heart, mind and will.

Jesus, I also sincerely receive you as my authority, rule, and dominion, my everlasting victory
against Satan and his kingdom, and my ability to bring your Kingdom at all times and in every
way. I receive all the work and triumph of your ascension, through which you have judged Satan
and cast him down, you have disarmed his kingdom. All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to you, Jesus. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to you, and you
are worthy to receive all glory and honor, power and dominion, now and forevermore. And I
have been given fullness in you, in your authority. I now take my place in your ascension, and in
your throne, through which I have been raised with you to the right hand of the Father and
established in your authority. I now bring the kingdom of God, and the authority, rule and
dominion of Jesus Christ over my life today, over my home, my household, my vehicles and
finances, over all my kingdom and domain.

I now bring the authority, rule and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fullness of the
work of Christ, against Satan, against his kingdom, against every foul and unclean spirit come
against me. (At this point you might want to name the spirits that you know have been attacking
you). I bring the full work of Jesus Christ against every foul power and black art, against every
human being and their warfare. I bind it all from me in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and
in his Name.

Holy Spirit, thank you for coming. I love you, I worship you, I trust you. I sincerely receive you
and all the work and victory in Pentecost, through which you have come, you have clothed me
with power from on high, sealed me in Christ. You have become my union with the Father and
the Son, become the Spirit of truth in me, the life of God in me, my Counselor, Comforter,
Strength, and Guide. I honor you as my Sovereign, and I yield every dimension of my spirit, soul
and body, my heart, mind and will to you and you alone, to be filled with you, to walk in step with
you in all things. Fill me afresh. Restore my union with the Father and the Son. Lead me in all
truth, anoint me for all of my life and walk and calling, and lead me deeper into Jesus today. I
receive you with thanks, and I give you total claim to my life.

Heavenly Father, thank you for granting to me every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ
Jesus. I claim the riches in Christ Jesus over my life today, my home, my kingdom and domain.
I bring the blood of Christ over my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind and will. I put on the full
armor of God – the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, helmet of
salvation. I take up the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit, and I choose to wield these
weapons at all times in the power of God. I choose to pray at all times in the Spirit.

Thank you for your angels. I summon them in the authority of Jesus Christ and command them
to destroy the kingdom of darkness throughout my kingdom and domain, destroy all that is
raised against me, and to establish your Kingdom throughout my kingdom and domain. I ask
you to send forth your Spirit to raise up prayer and intercession for me this day. I now call forth
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout my home, my family, my kingdom and my
domain, in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all glory and honor and thanks to him.

This prayer was developed over many years and from many sources but is in its current form directly from the ministry of
ransomedheart.com . For additional resources, books and events please visit the ransomed heart website. The Daily Audio Bible
fully endorses the teachings and writings of John Eldredge and the ministry of the Ransomed Heart team.

2. Daily Prayer

by Dr. Neil T. Anderson from Freedom in Christ Ministries taken from the e-book Restored

Daily Prayer and Declaration

Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You and honor
You as my Lord and Savior. You are in control of
all things. I thank You that You are always with
me and will never leave me nor forsake me. You are
the only all-powerful and only wise God. You are
kind and loving in all Your ways. I love You and
thank You that I am united with Christ and spiritually
alive in Him. I choose not to love the world or
the things in the world, and I crucify the flesh and
all its passions.
Thank You for the life I now have in Christ.
I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit so I can be
guided by You and not carry out the desires of the
flesh. I declare my total dependence upon You, and
I take my stand against Satan and all his lying
ways. I choose to believe the truth of God’s Word
despite what my feelings may say. I refuse to be
discouraged; You are the God of all hope. Nothing
is too difficult for You. I am confident that You
will supply all my needs as I seek to live according
to Your Word. I thank You that I can be content
and live a responsible life through Christ who
strengthens me.
I now take my stand against Satan and
command him and all his evil spirits to depart
from me. I choose to put on the full armor of God
so I may be able to stand firm against all the devil’s
schemes. I submit my body as a living and holy
sacrifice to You, and I choose to renew my mind by
Your living Word. By so doing I will be able to prove
that Your will is good, acceptable, and perfect for
me. In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, I pray. Amen.

Bedtime Prayer

Thank You, Lord, that You have brought me into Your
family and have blessed me with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Thank You
for this time of renewal and refreshment through sleep.
I accept it as one of Your blessings for Your children
and I trust You to guard my mind and my body during
my sleep.
As I have thought about You and Your truth during
the day, I choose to let those good thoughts continue in
my mind while I am asleep. I commit myself to You for
Your protection against every attempt of Satan and his
demons to attack me during sleep. Guard my mind
from nightmares. I renounce all fear and cast every
anxiety upon You, Lord. I commit myself to You as my
rock, my fortress, and my strong tower. May Your peace
be upon this place of rest. In the strong name of the
Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen

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