I’m often asked about my own prayer life. It’s always embarrassing to answer because I don’t feel like a great man of prayer. But the opposite is true also. I hate to answer because it looks like I’ve got it all together. So can I just say that I’ve learned a lot through the years and am praying better than I used to, but still feel like I’m on a journey with a long way to go?

With that as an understanding, I’d like to share some prayers that I pray every day, or almost every day. The purpose for sharing them is to encourage others in their prayer lives. Sometimes it seems that we just get overwhelmed with life and our prayer life shuts down. There are, though, some simple ways to pray that allow us to keep going even when things are tough. Having a good biblical pattern for prayer keeps us on the path to intimacy with the Lord and prevents a crash and burn lifestyle.

The following ways to pray do not keep us from sin. I wish they did! But they do keep us closer to the Lord and cause us to turn from sin and back toward Him. These prayers also keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us regardless of what is going on around us. Prayer ultimately keeps us connected to God and that is the place of growth, protection, and provision.

Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

I rarely begin my prayer time without spending time in worship. Acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus over not just my life, but over every part of the universe is critical to keeping everything in perspective. The typical prayer that opens and leads to worship is based on the command of God’s Word to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2).  As I pray, “Lord Jesus, today I choose to fix my eyes on you,” it almost invariably leads into a time of worship as I begin to recognize the awesomeness of who Jesus is.

Cultivating Gratefulness

I begin every day with a “Thank You” prayer. Gratitude is huge for us spiritually. When we realize that everything we have and are comes from the Lord, it should create a continual flow of gratitude. Simply thinking through the many blessings we have been given can spark a torrent of thankfulness within us! Sometimes it’s just standing in the shower and thanking Him for hot, clean, water. There have been times when, overwhelmed by gratitude, I find myself simply repeating “thank You”, over and over. What better way to place ourselves before the Lord than in bowing before Him with gratefulness welling up within us? Some good Scriptures for cultivating gratefulness are found in: Psalm 136:1-3, Lamentations 3:22-24, Psalm 118:28-29 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Dwelling with the Lord

Every day I pray Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on his beauty, seeking him in his temple.” Dwelling in the house of the Lord is a place of intimacy, provision, and protection. David’s great prayer is a simple way for us to keep before us the simplicity of dwelling with the Lord.

Drawing Near

Closely tied to this is my prayer of drawing near to the Lord. It is based on James 4:8, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” How simple, yet how powerful to simply draw near in prayer, knowing that the Lord has promised that He then, would draw near to us in response.

Putting on Your Armor

An important part of every morning prayer for me is putting on the armor of God. In obedience to Eph.6:10, I include this as a part of my prayers each day. It can be as simple as saying, “Lord, today I put on your armor by faith.” Of course some days I expand on that and go over every part of the armor in prayer.  The important thing is that we do this. It helps us walk in awareness of the battle going on around us and of the Lord’s provision for our victory.

These are my normal, daily prayers. I offer them to you as a way to begin a life of prayer that honors the Lord and invites Him into your life in power and according to His purpose. There is, of course, much more for us to pray about, but this is my “Good morning, Lord Jesus” sort of praying that awakens my soul to the day and prepares my heart for the Lord to have His way.

“What can you ask God that will help you be more complete?” This was the question posed to me in a friend’s blog recently. As I considered my everyday life, it occurred to me that I already have everything I need in Jesus for a complete life…and, on a theological level that is true. However, in reality, there is still much that is incomplete in me. I have unmet goals and aspirations. I have things that go undone each day. There are relationships that go unattended and projects that have to stay on the back-burner.

The aforementioned blog lovingly revealed to me that perhaps the reason so much of who I am and what I do is incomplete, is because I am not living a “rhythmed life.” A rhythmed life is one that brings spiritual disciplines into our daily activities in such a way that God is noticeably present in all of our moments. It is life that is embedded continually in the Presence of the Living God…the One who brings completion to the life of every believer. The completeness we seek cannot be found in one compartmentalized moment of our day when we focus on God and then go about the other activities of life unaware that He is active around, in and through us. Relegating the Lord of the Universe to one corner of our daily journey can be equated to living out of balance…and therefore, in a state of incompleteness.

If we engage the original question at an even deeper level, perhaps it changes a bit. It isn’t just that I need God to help me become more complete in my life…the real question should focus on how I can obediently live in such a way that I become more complete in Jesus. I believe King David recognized the need for completeness in God at the very core of his being. He shared the heartcry of his life with us in Psalm 27:4:

One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.

This prayer is not a request to make of God without a great deal of thought and intentionality. ONE THING! It seems I have so many things to ask God. Is this truly the “one thing” that I seek the most from Him? Is this lip service to what should be, or is this really the cry of my heart to become more complete in Him for the sake of His kingdom rather than my own? Am I ready to make the commitment that this prayer implies? What does it mean to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life? How, when I am so busy can I make space in my life and in my heart to simply gaze upon His beauty? His temple is…me! How do I seek Him within myself persistently?  This is what prayer as everyday life is! It is a continual awareness of the Christ, living within me. The answer to the question is deeper than many of us may wish to go…but to be whole in Christ Jesus is to seek after the one thing in order to become all He has designed us to be – fully complete – nothing missing.

Here is my prayer…the question I most wish to ask God so that He will complete the good work He has begun in me: Father, as Your heart beats within me, may I dwell in Your house all the days of my life, gaze upon Your beauty and seek You continually within the moments of my everyday life?

This is a journey with the Holy Spirit that will be different for each of us. Perhaps your question is different; however, Psalm 27:4 has become the major question I have begun to ask of God in order to live a life of completeness in Him.

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

I used to struggle uncomfortably with the command of God to be holy as He is holy…not because I didn’t believe it or think I could become more holy, but because I couldn’t imagine being holy in the same way that God is holy. I equated holiness with perfection, which only God is. Until I understood fully that the Christian life is a process of becoming holy through emulating the life of Jesus Christ, I fought the despair of never being able to attain what the command seemed to imply.

A few years ago, a friend of ours gave us a copy of a book he had written, and in it I discovered what for me, was an incredible treasure about the holiness of God compared to the holiness of His people. In his book, God Focus, Walter Price shared a fascinating insight. He stated that when comparing degrees or levels of holiness in English, we use the terms holy, holier and holiest. In Hebrew, there are no such words to describe different degrees of holiness; therefore, the word holy is repeated in order to give it higher levels of importance. For example,  “holy, holy, holy” equates to “holiest”. We, God’s children, can be holy, but only God is “holy, holy, holy.” Only God is “holiest.”

I recall a sermon my husband, Dave, preached where he pointed out that holiness is a process that requires something of us, even as the Lord “makes” us holy: “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy” (Leviticus 20:-8). To be consecrated means that we are set apart for a purpose…God’s kingdom purpose! If the Lord, who makes us holy, is to do so, we must first set ourselves apart from the standards of behavior that the world says is acceptable. We must keep His decrees and follow them, even if they are unpopular with the world. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “…let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. We are to set ourselves apart because of our reverence for our Father.

Therefore, my prayer for holiness must come from a heart of deeply felt worship, awe and desire. It is a realization that I will not be “zapped” with holiness simply because I ask my Father for it. With the life of Jesus as my model and the Holy Spirit as my teacher, I must pray for the strength to set myself apart and do what He has commanded. My prayer includes gratefulness that I am able to be in the process of holiness only because my Abba Father is holy, holy, holy!

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries