Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior--Days 2 & 3

To go back to Day 1 of Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior, click here.

To read the 1st post of my prayer series, Into A Life of Prayer--A Journey, click here.


Days 2 & 3 chronicled below:

My husband and I worked out three days a week for husband/wife prayer. This will occur on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday--days he is home by 10:00 PM.  On the remaining days I will pray on my own, after the kids have gone to bed, and husband is at work.

I also decided to give the boys three days a week to pray on their own, saving four days for corporate family prayer in the mornings.  The earlier they develop this pray-alone discipline, the more impact it will have in their lives, making them mighty warriors for Jesus.  They already read the Bible on their own seven days a week--from Psalms or Proverbs, or rereading what we've read together.

On Day Two of my prayer warrior journey, then, I prayed with my husband.  We used the ACTS acronym and prayed for twenty minutes.  It would have been longer, but he had a sneezing allergy attack halfway through our prayer.  He is so ready to move to Arizona.  The allergy shot series he had in California left him feeling good for several years, but now he is miserable again, and showing signs of mild asthma on exertion.  We had a lot of health issues to pray about!  Paul has had a few incidents of wheezing, but nothing like I've heard from husband.  This has turned out to be a severe allergy season for our family, for whatever reason.  Excessive rain--record breaking rain--is the only environmental change I've noticed this year. Rain itself is not supposed to aggravate allergies, but maybe it leads to more tree pollen over a season?

Anyway, we appreciated the time to pray together, uninterrupted by children, and we were happy to set regular dates for our prayer.  Being intentional is so important!  Marking a calendar or creating a prayer schedule helps the whole family draw closer to God.

I didn't have to convince my husband of anything to make this happen. While I wouldn't describe him as a prayer warrior, he definitely does value prayer.  We started our marriage being very consistent about husband/wife prayer, but when our first colicky baby came along, joint prayer suffered.  It has been good at times since then, and spotty other times.

If your husband is less receptive to husband/wife prayer, just pray about it consistently, letting God do the work in your husband's heart.

On Day Three of my prayer warrior journey, I was alone in the house, after putting the kids to bed.  I was exhausted, but thankfully I had done the dishes and shuffled the laundry earlier in the evening.  I drank some water and then sat right down to begin praying, using my new prayer blog.  I considered how nice it was that I didn't have to look for anything--pen, pencil, pad of paper, etc.  I just had to sit down and start typing.

As an aside:  I had done about an hour of research the night before on The Lord's Prayer, using sermons given by John Calvin (1507-1564),  John Wesley (1703 - 1791), and Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892).  I wanted to know why the ACTS acronym has us praying confession second, but the Lord's Prayer (not meant to be recited, but to model prayer after) has confession further down.  It makes more sense to me to ask for forgiveness up front, but I wanted to model my prayer along the line of the Lord's Prayer.

I will do a post on structuring prayer as soon as I'm done with my research.  Husband pointed out that the Bible, when taken as a whole, seems to point to the importance of confession up front, after admiration--though he agreed The Lord's Prayer clearly isn't structured that way. Interesting subject that I will look into more--although as I said before, I think the Lord is happy with any discourse, and his Holy Spirit will help us structure our prayer in a way that pleases God.

Anyhow, for Day Three, I continued to pray using the ACTS acronym.  The typing definitely kept me very focused and disciplined.

I had about thirteen minutes of prayer time before Beth woke up.  After nursing her for fifteen minutes, I came back out and resumed my prayer, going for another fifteen minutes.  I really think I've found what works for me!  It was so easy to sit right down and get started, despite my exhaustion.

So tell me....how is it going for you?

Art for Kids--Making an Investment

Do you know what makes me very happy during the day?  

Watching my kids create.  

If we want minimal use of screen time, we have to provide alternatives.  Art is a wonderful option.  We found a $34 Usborne Art Skills book for around $4.80 used, labeled very good condition, from the Amazon site.  I've found that the used book companies who advertise on Amazon actually have better service than Amazon itself.  And the books labeled very good condition always come looking like new!

At seven and nine years old, the boys were able to open this book (open in front of Paul above) and do the suggested techniques independently.  With a two year old running around, it would have been hard for me to direct them.  I was thanking my Lord for this book, and for the boys' enthusiasm! My Paul, especially, needs to create.  Art is inside that boy--waiting to be expressed!

If you start searching now, in a few months you'll have quite a nice library of art books on hand.  You will be very pleased with your investment.  The Usborne company is outstanding, and you can start with their inexpensive paperback drawing books shown above (I Can Draw Animals; I Can Draw People)

I am learning to distinguish between arts and crafts.  Ideally, kids should experience both.  The points listed below, found here, are good general distinctions between art and craft:

Art is a form of work that expresses emotions and expressions.  

Craft is a form of work, which has a physical form just like in moulding and carving. 

While Craft is quantified, Art seldom is.   

One can create duplicate craft forms, which is not possible with art.  

Art forms move people emotionally, whereas crafts attract people.  

Unlike craft, art is known to come out of the heart and soul.  

Crafts are a product of the mind.   

In art, it is the emotions that flow out whereas in craft no emotion is involved.  

Art comes out from a person’s innate talents whereas craft is the result of experience.

Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior

My prayer profile thus far:
My custom has been to pray throughout the day for people who come to mind, for my family's immediate needs, for peace to return on difficult days, for my headaches or for my husband's and children's health issues to be healed or lessened.  In addition to this random, unorganized prayer life (it is far better than nothing), I also pray in an organized, disciplined fashion with my children, and my husband (less often with husband since he works nights and I have to keep a close eye on my Beth all the time--any daytime prayer is very broken and frustrating, between husband and wife here.)

My wrong thinking:
I was wrong to think that my disorganized, random prayers, and my corporate prayers, are enough.  Being a busy mom was just an excuse to avoid doing something that has always been hard for me--disciplined, sit-down, private prayer.  Keeping myself focused is the issue; my mind wanders the most when I'm at rest. While staying prayer-focused in the midst of husband and children is very easy, there are some issues that seem too personal, or perhaps too hurtful, to pray about in front of my family.  This is another reason we need to pray by ourselves--though a deeper relationship with God is the primary reason.

And consider this: Our family members could die in a sudden car accident. Where would we be then, if we didn't have intimacy with our Lord?  All things can and will pass away, except for our relationship with God.  It must be nurtured.....through prayer.

Writing out my prayers works to keep me focused, but I get fatigued from the handwriting. On a whim, I decided to start a private blog, not found by search engines, for my prayer time.

Day One
Nighttime is the best for me.  After putting the boys to bed, I headed to the kitchen to do dishes, wipe down counters and table, and shuffle laundry one last time.  My two-year-old woke in the midst of the cleaning, and I nursed her back to sleep.  Coming back out, I finished the kitchen and started my new blog, which just took a few minutes, since I already have a Blogger account.

I got through about ten minutes of prayer, which went very well.  The typing kept me focused, and I felt close to God.  I reread everything I wrote, speaking the words again to my Lord--this time without any typing, of course.

My time was not complete yet, when Beth woke again.  She has some issue lately--teething, or post-nasal drip from allergies...I don't really know for sure, but she is fine during the day.

I nursed her back to sleep and I ended up falling asleep in there for about an hour.  Coming back out, I prayed for another twenty-five minutes.  She woke again before I did my closing, so I closed my prayers while in bed.

As I fell asleep, I did feel closer to God.  I am excited and I look forward to a deeper intimacy with Him!  It's not that I've felt terribly distant from Him, but I have a desire to experience all that He has for us, in union with Him.  I know there's more!

Decide what your own stumbling block is, and brainstorm ways to get around it.  Might your solution be a prayer journal, a quieter place, or a different time? Experiment until something begins to work.

I am copying and pasting my prayers--just this once--in case someone needs a model for structuring prayer time.  Any structure is fine.  There is no right or wrong way to converse with God.  It probably seems ridiculous for me to do this, but I am mindful that some people are just beginning their relationships with God, and having some idea for how to proceed might be helpful.

I will post more about structuring prayer later this week.

I fixed the punctuation and such for your easier reading, but when I pray, I don't go back and fix errors.  I used the ACTS acronym, because I find my prayers are more complete this way.  I kept praying and writing until I couldn't think of anything more for each category.

Admiration:

You are glorious, magnificent, wonderful, all-knowing, all-powerful, faithful, loving, omniscient, trustworthy, you are mine to love, to honor, to please.  You gave it all so I could have peace in my soul, now and forever.  I love you.

Confession:

Search my heart, Lord.  Show me the ways I was far from you today--far from your spirit and your Word.  I am sorry I didn't always respond peaceably and with grace toward my troubled one today.  Help me tame my tongue.  Help me love him with your patience and grace.  Help me to understand his ways, his shortcomings, remind me that he can't help the most annoying things.  Show me how he is weak and help me to make him strong, with my love and devotion and belief in him.

Thanksgiving:

Thank you with my whole heart Lord.  Thank you for space to raise my children, and appliances to make my days easier.  Thank you for used books to delight my homeschoolers.  Thank you for creativity and love and laughter and birds and trees and husband's hugs.  Thank you for salvation, for forgiveness, for your presence here on Earth.  Thank you for the opportunity to be with you in prayer.

Supplication:

Salvation:  I ask for salvation for my mother, father, step-father, sister, nephews, niece, brother.  May we be with them in  Paradise, Father.  I ask for salvation for the neighbors on all four sides of us, and down both sides of the street, and in the stores we frequent.  May we be a light for you in this community.  I ask for salvation for all those on both sides of my extended family--many of whom I don't even know, Father.

Leaders:  Give our leaders godly wisdom, give them saving faith, protect our country and its citizens from ugly attacks.  Provide your divine grace and blessing and protection to those who have fought and are fighting for our freedom, and for their families, some of whom are grieving their loss.  Urge hearts to help them in every way, in their daily lives.

Disasters: Provide divine grace and earthly help to those who lost their loved ones and their homes through disaster.  Show them love through their surrounding neighbors and communities.  Urge hearts to give, to love, to listen.  Give them peace and salvation.  May they seek your face.

Husband and children: I pray for daily peace and for a new full-time job for my husband.  Give him confidence, wisdom, stamina.  Fill him with your love, your divine comfort.  Erase the affects of  the ADHD, if it be your will.  Help him in his leadeship roles--his father role, his husband role.  May he seek your face daily, may he rely on your mercies.  Help me to honor him with all my deeds and my words.  Help me to provide for him what he most needs from me.  I pray for a long, saving relationship with you, for all my children, grandchildren, future in-laws.  May my children develop deep prayer lives, may they always seek your face in their daily lives and in their trials.  May they especially seek your face in choosing spouses.  May we have strong, trusting relationships with them always and with their future families.  Help us to be healthy enough to help them with their own children, to provide physical and emotional support, despite our old ages.  Help us to take care of ourselves a good long time, to avoid being a burden on their young families.  Provide grace to them in any situation brought about by our advanced ages.  I pray for strong support for them from each other.  Bless their friendships with each other always--may they be lasting and full of grace and love.  May they somehow stay in the same cities or towns, to provide for each other all that is needed from a loving extended family.  I pray for their studies, that they will be hard-working and pursue knowledge with joy and eagerness.  Help me to be a loving, patient, kind, attentive teacher--all that they need on a daily basis.  Help the younger three with grace toward their brother and his ADHD.  If it be your will, may the disorders pass away.  May my son learn self-monitoring and self-soothing, so that fits begin to disappear.

I closed these prayers in bed.  And then I stayed still, trying to listen for whatever wisdom or love words the Holy Spirit had for me.  You can stay still and quiet before your prayers, or after them, as a way to listen.  We must listen to, as well as speak to God, so that it's truly a discourse.  That's what He wants....discourse with us...true fellowship!

Into a Life of Prayer - A Journey, Part 1

Dear Friends, we are embarking on a journey.  Today is day one of our journey.  Into a life of prayer.

I have some homework for you:  

1. Add up all the minutes you've spent in prayer in the last week (you and God alone).  If you are satisfied with that amount, stop reading now and move on to another blog.

2.  Next, list the reasons you haven't prayed more. (company over, sick child, etc.) After you've made your list, consider this:  Do we fail to pray because we don't have time, or because we aren't close enough to God to want to pray?  I submit to you that it's the latter.  We have to pray to get close to God, so that we will want to pray--so that our hearts will urgently need to pray.

"We learn prayer's deepest depths in prayer, not from books.  We reach prayer's highest heights in prayer, not from sermons.  The only place to learn prayer, is in prayer, bent and broken on our knees." Dick Eastman

3.  Plan for a ten minute prayer time--just you and God in a room.  Commit to just ten minutes.  Today.

4.  Why should you commit to prayer?  First of all, God commands us to pray.  Read the six verses below.

5.  Next, read the quotes below from people who have contemplated what prayer is, and what prayer does.

That's all for today.  I'll meet you back here in a few days, to embark on day two.   

Matthew 26:41  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Colossians 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Luke 18:1

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart

1 Timothy 2:1

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men

Ephesians 6:18

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints

Romans 12:12

rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,

You'll find more prayer quotes here.


"I would rather train twenty men to pray, than a thousand to preach; A minister's highest mission ought to be to teach his people to pray." -H. MacGregor


Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work. --Oswald Chambers


There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. --Brother Lawrence


Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means for getting something for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. --Oswald Chambers


Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell God your troubles, that God may comfort you; tell God your joys, that God may sober them; tell God your longings, that God may purify them; tell God your dislikes, that God may help you conquer them; talk to God of your temptations, that God may shield you from them: show God the wounds of your heart, that God may heal them. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. Talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration say just what you think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God. --Francois Fenelon


Why is it so important that you are with God and God alone on the mountain top? It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved. To pray is to listen to the One who calls you "my beloved daughter," "my beloved son," "my beloved child." To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being. --Henri Nouwen


We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life is he does not pray; I question it. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God within him, which is nourished not by food but by prayer...Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. --Oswald Chambers


The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer. --John R. Mott


The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men…Men of prayer." --E. M. Bounds


We lean to our own understanding, or we bank on service and do away with prayer, and consequently by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer. --Oswald Chambers


When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. --Corrie Ten Boom


Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to Him?....Prayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God. If the Son of God is formed in us by regeneration, He will press forward in front of our common sense and change our attitude to the things about which we pray. --Oswald Chambers


Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?-- Corrie Ten Boom


I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. -- Abraham Lincoln


Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. --Andrew Murray

My Gratitude List - Tuesday

- siblings building cozy blanket tents in the playroom on a rainy, 52-degree day

- baby squirrels running around, finally allowed out of the nest

- cinnamon toast at midnight

- oatmeal with raisins and blueberries on a cold morning

- Scripture filling hearts, minds with life-giving truth and hope

- seven-year-old Paul writing a story about horses that surprisingly become parents to two foals--after a two-day gestation period :)

- the return of cold nights.....to enjoy hot chocolate a few more times, before it becomes unappealing altogether

- my two year old waking in the night, just long enough to cuddle against me and stroke my cheek a few times

- my two year old waking in the night, just long enough to draw close and throw her leg around me

Matthew 18:1-3  At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

John 16:21  When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

- the Book of James, so full of wisdom

- four precious ones, coming sleepy from their beds in the morning with cuddling on their minds....I think how blessed I am to give and receive this way.

Matthew 18:10  See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Psalm 127: 3-5  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 139:13-16  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

- an e-mail from my mom reminding me I will be sixty-one when Beth is twenty-one (actually I'll be sixty-two)....and are there any job prospects.....and I can't help laying awake at night and worrying about you.

Without my faith such an e-mail might send me into tears.  I think about the blessing of my faith......about the hope I receive through Christ.....about the willingness of my heart and mind to let go of details like this.  The reality is that, no, there are no job prospects.  Yes, I will be old when she is young but God designed a woman's womb to give life into the forties and who am I to say He made a mistake?  Does He only give life to older woman with fat retirement accounts?  Is He who owns it all....who gives it all....confined by the limits of bank accounts?

What does faith give?  Life, abundant.  Life, unending.  As opposed to life confined by the four walls of a bank.  By the four walls of the coffin.  As I think about the difference between my reality and her reality, I am saddened as much as blessed.  Why choose me and not her too, God?  Why separate families this way?  I admit it is so painful to live the reality of this separation, year after year--from my mom, my dad, my step-dad, my sister, my brother.  But He doesn't make mistakes.  He is just.  I can count on that, as much as I count on my daily bread.  My manna.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Numbers 6: 24-26  The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

James 1:7  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.