095 - 3 Prayers to Take With You
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Sometimes when I'm going about my life, I want to pray, and I just don't have the words to say. Does that ever happen to you? Like, you know it's a really important day, or you know that you want to pray for your children, but you kind of run out of what to say. Or you just can't put words to how you're feeling. Or you want to connect with God personally, but life is busy and you don't know what to say. You don't know what to say or how to pray.
Today, I'm going to share three extremely simple prayers that I pray. You have my full permission to take them with you and use them for the rest of your life, and I hope that they bless you.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through it below!
The three prayers I want to share with you are, like I said, just so simple, so simple.
They're short. They're sweet. And I think it just makes me happy to share almost elementary prayers, because I think you're going to remember them. I think after you listen to me share them with you today, you'll only have to listen to this podcast once and you'll be able to literally take them with you for the rest of your life.
Now, the first prayer is for big, important days in your life, like the most important days. Another prayer is for loved ones. I especially use them for my children. And the last is a prayer just for your own heart, for your own individual heart when you just don't know what to pray.
The First Prayer
So, first let's talk about the prayer for the big, important days in your life. You know what I'm talking about, the wedding days, maybe funerals. Maybe you have a really big job interview or a really big performance, or presentation of some kind, or it's graduation or something, and you just are feeling the heaviness or the importance of the day, and you don't know what to pray. I want to share a quick story before I share the prayer, because this actually came out of an experience when I was a wedding photographer, and I was photographing a precious couple. And I was in the elevator with the bride that day. And she just looked at me. We were actually going down the elevator in this country club, and she looked at me and said, "Nancy, do you have any kind of prayer, like anything that you would suggest that I could pray today?"
She was about to do her first look, which if you don't know what a first look as is, it's when the bride and groom see each other before the wedding, so they can have a moment together, and yeah, just take some pictures ahead of time. It's a really, really precious moment—feels very sacred. And we were in the elevator together, going down, and she just asked me this question. It feels like a loaded question. I mean, I'm sitting here with my camera and she just says, "What's a prayer I can pray right now?"
I just know she's feeling the heaviness and the tenseness and the busy-ness and just how important the day is. I'm so thankful in that moment. I just paused. And I feel like the Holy Spirit just kind of gave me this prayer and I just fumbled out of my mouth, but I simply said, ‘You know, I would just pray like,
“Lord, help me to be fully present in the moment and help me to be really aware of your presence. Let me be fully present and let me be aware of your presence."‘
And that was it. And she goes, "Wow, like that was good." And I was like, "Wow, thanks, Lord," because it just kind of came to me. But really, you don't have a lot of words to say on days like that, but you feel the importance of it, and you can get so distracted on those days. There are so many nerves you're dealing with, so many emotions, usually a lot of details to manage and think of. And that's why it's just so important to be fully present and to ask God, "Hey, help me. Help me to feel this day. Help me to be fully present right here in this moment. And not only that, but help me to be aware of your presence.” Help me to know that it's not just about me being fully present in this moment, without the Lord, but what makes those moments so rich and special is the actual truth that His presence is with you. God almighty is with you in those important moments. So, if you can just remember two words: it's present and presence.
"Help me be fully present and make me aware of your presence."
And this is something you can pray on your wedding day, yes, but at graduation, even when a child graduates or has a birthday party, any anything with an event, performance, whatever the day is. You just know it's a significant day and you want to be present. "Lord help me to be present and help me to be aware of your presence."
The Second Prayer
The second prayer is for loved ones, especially your children, if you have them. My old pastor's wife shared this with me several years ago and it stuck with me. I pray it over my kids almost every night before they go to bed. And it's so simple. And it's simply this,
"I pray that he would walk with you all the days of his life," or "I pray that she would walk with you all the days of her life."
And I usually use their names and just pray it over them. And that's it. Just pray that they would walk with the Lord all the days of their lives. And what I love about this, it's really my heart's cry as a mama. It assumes, of course, I desire their salvation.
Of course, we desire them to know the Lord and to choose the Lord and follow Him. But I want so much more than that. I want them to actually know the person of God, to love Him, to know Jesus, to know the Holy Spirit, to walk with Him in His power. And not just for a season of life and then walk away from him. No, I want this child to walk with God all the days of his or her life. And like I said, I love that prayer for children. I think it's a wonderful prayer for your children. You can pray that for any loved one, anyone who's straying from the Lord, a brother, a sister, a father or mother, anyone who's walking with the Lord. It doesn't matter. It's just a great prayer to pray for those who are close to you, just asking that God would reveal Himself to them and that they would walk with Him.
The Third Prayer
Okay, the last prayer is for you. It's just for your heart. And it comes directly from scripture. So, this was not an experience I had or any advice I had. It's simply Psalm 19:14, because sometimes I just don't know what to say or pray about me, about my own heart and actions and life and choices. And Psalm 19:14 is really the perfect answer for that. And it simply says,
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
It acknowledges my simple desire to come into alignment with what the Lord asks of me and it acknowledges who He is. So, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Help me to not be a hypocrite. Help me to say the things that align with my heart. Help the things that are inside of me and the things that come out of me be pleasing to you, Lord." And it acknowledges who He is, "Oh Lord, my Rock, my Redeemer, the one who holds me together." So, that's it, Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
So, just to recap, the three prayers that you can take with you for the rest of your life. On really big days, you can pray, "Lord, let me be fully present and let me be aware of your presence." And for loved ones, you can pray, "That they would walk with you all the days of their life." And for your own heart, you can pray, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
I'm going to close with words from Josh McDowell, who said,
"Prayer is talking with God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as he is with the attitude of your heart."
And that quote just encouraged me, because I fumble a lot with my words, and if you're anything like me, you might too. And prayer is more so about the attitude of your heart than anything else. I hope this is encouraging to you.
Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time.
