Day 2: Praying Through {31 Devotions in 31 Days}

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

Psalm 5:3

Yesterday, we spoke about the power of the Word of God and how it can deliver us from unhealthy emotional bondage. I hope you felt as empowered as I did!

While the Word shows us who the Lord Jesus Christ is (which we will dive deeper into in the coming weeks), our God and Saviour, prayer goes hand in hand as a form of communication with Him. We cannot experience a full deliverance from impure emotional patterns without prayer. When we are in a compromising situation where we feel unhealthy emotions rise, a simple prayer can calm the inward storm.

Ephesians 6:18 says:

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

An analogy I use in my book The Palace Keepers is one that involves a ballerina. To avoid dizziness, they are taught to keep their eyes on a single, unmoving target as they spin. When they turn, their heads snap back to the same spot, their gaze falling on the same area. Usually it's a pole or a corner of the room. This helps them focus and not become lost or dazed. 

Prayer is like that. It helps keep our focus on the Lord, our attention always snapping back to Him as our world and our emotions keep us spinning. 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, it says that we must "pray without ceasing."

Prayer is not bound by time. While praying early in the morning prepares us to face the day, the Bible often talks about praying without ceasing, or without intermission. What does this mean?

Pray through the pain!

Pray through the clouds of doubt!

Pray through an anxious heart!

Pray through all hours of the day!

Pray through your transformation!

If you wait until everything was perfect to pray, you'll be waiting for all eternity. This means we must deny ourselves (1 Corinthians 15:31) and pray even when we don't feel like it. Because we cannot go by what we feel (Jeremiah 17:9)...that's how we got into emotional bondage in the first place! When the walls of depression are pressing on your chest, a prayer should be on your breath.

God adores you. He wants a relationship with you. This cannot happen without open communication, much like any earthly relationship. Your desire for healthy pure emotions lies in a healthy pure relationship with the Lord. It's not about giving Him a to-do list; He is not a vending machine, spitting out blessings at the touch of a button. We can pray for certain things (Matthew 6:8 and Matthew 7:7) but it must go deeper than that. It should mean more to us than that. 

Reflection:

Keeping that line of communication open between Creator and creation, is what will bring about profound change. As we pray through, we must believe that He will meet our needs while we take time to meet with Him. We don't pray to change God's mind. We pray to change ours. For He does not change but we are commanded to. (Malachi 3:6 and Philippians 3:21)

Action:

Yesterday, we took a look at our daily routine with honest eyes. Along with making sure we are in His Word daily, we need to incorporate prayer. Talking to the Lord needs to be a state of mind, whether through tragedy or victory, we are able to communication to the One who knows all things. If you are struggling, set a specific time each day to pray. This will help keep a commitment and make you accountable for this divine appointment.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we thank You the opportunity we are given to seek Your face on a daily basis. How privileged we are that You are so loving and merciful, that we are allowed to come unto You with our requests and sinful hearts. We ask, Lord God, for a revelation of who You are so that we will better understand how to communicate through prayer. Change our thoughts to Your thoughts, so that we are pleasing to You. We believe in Your delivering power and ask that You cover us and protect us from unhealthy emotions. Show us how to discern our feelings and how to behave within our relationships. We give You all honor and praise. In Jesus' name Amen. 

Do you have something on your heart today?

Leave a prayer request in the comments so that we may pray for you!

Simple state "unspoken" if you'd like to keep details private.

God already knows the details :)

Tomorrow's Devotion Topic: Real Faith
For a full list of daily devotional topics & more information about 31 Devotion in 31 Days: Breaking The Chains, go here to read the original post.

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