Prayer

As the song says, ”Are you prayin’ hard or hardly prayin'”?

Just curious. How much do you pray? How often? Daily? Whenever you get around to it, or maybe when someone you know, including perhaps yourself, is facing a crisis, such as impending surgery or a bad diagnosis of cancer? Someone might even ask you to pray for them—and you promise—only to be interrupted by the next task on your daily to-do list or maybe even a wave from a friend.  I have found that the best time to pray when someone asks is right then, right in front of them, if possible. This way, Satan cannot distract you. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing.”  The word prayer is mentioned no less than 128 times in the Bible. The word worship 188 times and the word praise 259 times, just for comparison.  Along with praise and worship, prayer is key to how we experience God and incorporate Him into our daily lives.  

So, how is your life going these days? Did you get through Covid-19 without getting sick? Did you take the jab? Did you get sick anyway? I thought it was a vaccine. When I was growing up, vaccines prevented disease. In the case of small pox for instance, you were injected with dead form of pox virus—a close cousin to small pox—and you thus became immune to small pox. The Center for Disease Control  changed the definition of a vaccine to reflect the fact that one could still get sick with Covid-19 even after getting the initial shot and boosters. Almost everyone whom I know who got the shot or shots later came down with Covid. Some more than once. So much for protection.

How’s your job? Is it challenging? Rewarding? Do you think you have a safe position? Love your boss? How about those co-workers? Do they respect you? Treat you well? In line for a raise? You could be stuck in a dead-end job without the possibility of promotion.   The handwriting is on the wall….Or maybe you just lost your job. Fired. Phased out. Kicked upstairs.

How is your car or truck? Is it brand spanking new, or a over five or 10 years old, in need of paint parts or body work? In the county where I live, it’s not uncommon to see a lot of older cars and trucks that need work. I know people who have a few vehicles in various states of dilapidation. The struggle is always to get one of them running to go to work. Recently, I bought some tires for a friend. He was driving on tires that were less than safe. I was taught that at any one time you had approximately 20 square inches of tire between you and the road, and they had better be the best 20 inches of tire out there, because your life depends upon it.

How about your house, if you have one? Are you keeping up with your mortgage payments? Keeping up with repairs? If you rent, is rent easy or is it a struggle for you? Do you find yourself playing a form of musical chairs with the bills to make sure that you are never behind on your rent. Sometimes, you go without in one area of your life just to make ends meet. Maybe you spurge on something you know you cannot afford, just because you figure, “What the heck! I am so far behind anyway.

For you, whether it’s your health, your job, your car, your house or apartment, you feel like you’re always running behind. You never catch up, let alone get ahead. You look back on your life and often wonder:  How did I get here? Why do I have to work so hard, just to see it all vanish in a never-ending cycle of bills and debts. The term debt slavery is one new to me. You might feel like a debt slave.

Let’s get back to your prayer life. Time to give it a booster shot. When you start your day—when you first get out of bed—what’s the first thing you do. Do you read scripture? Do you pray? I do. I try to pray and decree scripture for at least 15 minutes, sometimes at least a half an hour. I have my favorite scriptures, but also some suggested by Holy Spirit., even events from the day before. I start my day by saying, “Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you for the blessings of today, the blessings of the days gone by and the blessings of the days yet to come.” (Thank you, Johnathan Cahn.) Then I say the Lord’s Prayer. After that, I As forgiveness for my sins, repent of my sins, and even ask the Lord Jesus to forgive me for actions on my part that I don’t necessarily recognize as sin. I start with a clean slate which I immediately fill with prayers for friends and family—decreeing the blood of Jesus over them and their families. You should try this if you’re not doing it already. Then I move to scriptures, beginning with Psalm 91.

Praying Psalm 91 daily confers divine protection over you.  It is known as The Soldiers Psalm. It was made famous in World War I when an entire brigade, the 91st Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Expeditionary Army was advised by their commander to pray Psalm 91 daily. Miraculously suffering no casualties, they fought battles some of the toughest engagements of WWI: Chateau Thierry, Belle Wood, and the Argonne. Chalk one up for the Lord!   

Praying Ephesians 6:10-20 is another form of divine protection. This scriptural passage is known as The Armor of God.  Praying and decreeing this scripture over yourself every day suits you up for battle against the slings and arrows of The Enemy. You have both defensive and offensive weaponry: “the shield of faith,” “the breastplate of righteousness” and “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”   Within this scriptural passage, God has equipped you will everything you need to go into spiritual battle against the devil and to come out victorious.

I have given you my prayers and my list of scriptures I pray each day. Since the Covid-19 lockdowns, I have suffered no colds, no flu, no Covid-19. The only vaccines I have had have been the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) flu shots, but not this year, and I am never going to get another vaccine in my life.  After the Covid fiasco, I don’t trust big Pharma. I have traded my man-made assurance for divine protection. Divine protection.

Romans 8:2 is another gem, so short that you can memorize it and repeat it at will: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” When I am rushed, I will often just decree this verse over myself until I have the chance to pray or decree the others two.

We all should be praying 2 Chronicles 7:14 everyday. It’s a way of humbling ourselves before the Lord and asking him to forgive us and to heal our nation. I pray it every day. In fact, I consider myself part of the remnant of believers that have helped maintain America as a Christian nation during these turbulent times. I take this responsibility seriously.

It reads: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” I think Johnathan Cahn first introduced me to it during one of his gatherings in Washington, D. C.

Last but not least, I like to pray John 14:6:. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Indeed, it is the one verse I have placed on the back of my business card, which I always hand to people backwards, explaining to them that the back is more important than the front will ever be. It is my way of leaving them with Jesus. I may never see that person again, but they, if they keep my card will have one of the essential messages Jesus came to deliver. It is my way of planting a seed which may lead that person to explore the Bible and to give his or her life to Christ.

I could go on. I have so many scriptures that I like to pray and to decree. Find your own. Go through the Bible. See which scriptures resonate with you. There may be one in particular that defines your life. For me that scripture is Ezekiel 37. When I read Ezekiel 37, God for me became three dimensional. Look for another blog on just that subject.

Rev. Sandy