The Most Powerful Prayer I’ve Prayed

Whew….I thought this prayer series would take 4 weeks…and it’s been a lot longer. Summertime has been kicking my blog’s booty. Seriously. Tiny humans, vacations, Vacation Bible School, pool days, play dates, all of it has thrown my schedule upside down. I’m savoring this season of coordinated chaos. My kids are home, they’re big enough now to be fun and not just needy, and they spend so much of their time in school during the school year that I want to treasure the time I have with them over the summer.

God knew I would need prayer to be the focus of my life for much longer than just a couple of weeks. The last couple months have been challenging in several areas, and prayer has become my constant companion rather than my last resort.

As I’ve been praying about how to wrap up this series of blog posts on prayer, (cause we could really talk about praying in a different area of life each week!) God reminded me of my most powerful prayers. And walked me through some humbling conviction about my role in becoming a prayer warrior.

It’s simple. Powerful. Yet terribly difficult. Because once you do it, see it, experience it, your life isn’t the same.

Change can be unnerving.

Faith takes risk.

Trust is challenging.

Surrender scary.

The most powerful prayers I’ve prayed have been ones rooted in the very words of God.

When I come to the end of myself. When my words to heaven cease, and I’ve got nothing left. When I’m empty and I turn to The Word for His Word and speak them back to Heaven…..well my friends, that’s when my prayers start to get dangerous.

When I step into the throne room of Grace, and lay myself before the Father, and speak back to Him the Words He Himself spoke to me, when I remind Him of His promises, proclaim His principles, and request His desires over my life, friends, it’s game time!

The enemy of this world has no authority in my life when I proclaim the Word of God.

I speak against lies when I’m busy speaking Truth.

I bypass my will, when I proclaim His will.

I surrender myself when I am seeking His salvation.

You see, for me to pray the Word of God means I must be entrenched inside the Word of God. I must read it, know it, savor it, speak it and preach it to myself daily if my soul is to soak it up and speak it back to God in holy prayer. My life becomes transformed in time when I saturate my soul in His writing and words. When I pray it back to Him, I’m simply aligning my spirit with His. It’s here. In this union of heaven and earth, His spirit and mine, agreeing in one accord, where power flows. Where heaven has to respond.

When hard moments of this life become holy memories with God.

If I’m honest, I don’t do it enough. It’s terrifying. Because when I live like this, when I pray like this, when I believe like this….well God shows up, and He shows off. But, when God shows up, there’s no room for me on the stage of life. I’m simply the vessel; He’s the main attraction. It requires me to die to self. And friends, some days that is just plain H.A.R.D.

Cause really, myself wants to be center stage. My pride doesn’t want to become humility. My tongue doesn’t want to be silenced. My mind doesn’t want to be submissive. My heart doesn’t want to be obedient.

It’s a struggle to win the war against the flesh. It’s tough to get it right. So I sulk back, allowing  mediocrity in my prayer life.

I walk the line of faith vs. self-reliance.

It’s not that I can’t be a prayer warrior….it’s really that I choose not to. And that my friends, is the saddest line I’ve ever written.

We have a choice. We can choose to be women of victory, or victimized women. We can defeat the enemy, or be defeated by him. We can wage war with our words, or win wars with His Word.

I’ve spent a lot of years riding the waves of other people’s prayers. I’ve reaped the harvest of fields they have planted. But if I want my children to reap a harvest one day it requires I start planting seeds of prayer today.

So, the devil’s been given notice. I’m not backing down. He won’t find a weak willed woman in me. Because I’ve got Words that win wars, if only I’ll learn them, love them and live them daily.

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