Try to insert in that dialogue to yourself: "This Week I will Wage War on the enemy."
If you are a meal planner, or teacher, or anything where you have to make or turn in something "Weekly" that is the perfect time to pray about Waging War on the enemy. The enemy is already defeated - he's just trying to cause as much trouble as he can before Jesus takes him out for good. When we join with God and say "I'm on your side, Lord, let's fight this battle!" I truly believe there are bigger results than we can see. The movie "War Room" is a great example of this concept, although slightly more idealistic/cliche than real life.
The Bible clearly tells us that our battle is with the enemy, and why.
This Week: Wage War on the Enemy
Heavenly Father,
Help my family and I to wage war on the enemy by choosing Christ. Help my kids to choose to love instead of hate. Help my husband to choose faith over fear. Help us to choose holiness instead of sin. Help us to fight on your side, against satan and the powers of darkness. Help us this week to wage war on the thief of our hearts by turning to you more than we turn anywhere else. Help us to honor you by remembering we are not fighting each other, but fighting the one who seeks to destroy our family. Give us your words to say and think at just the moment when the devil would rather have us believe his lies. Use these prayers to demolish strongholds. Help my family to turn to you in prayer before we turn against each other. In the powerful name of Jesus,
Amen.
The chart below is my favorite/most used way to pray specifically for my family. I posted this on Instagram several months ago, and since then, I have really seen a huge difference in my family life when I stick with this plan as opposed to days/weeks I neglect specific prayer. This has SERIOUSLY impacted my prayer life for my family as well as others. Once you write this down once or twice and stick it in a high traffic place in your home or office, it becomes so easy to memorize and pray specifically even on your most tired and forgetful days!
* I think it would be appropriate to replace the title I have on the diagram below with "This Week - Wage War on the Enemy by Praying for My Family"
(Direct quote from my instagram post: I got this idea from @elizabethbricknell on Instagram back in December, and I modified it a little to fit my family. By the grace of God, it has blown the roof off my prayer life for my husband and kids. I felt redundant saying things like "God please keep my kids healthy, let them know you at an early age, keep them safe from evil, help me love them better. Help my husband with his health and his job...." Not that those are bad, I just felt like I needed to be more purposeful and specific. I have this on my fridge and my phone and I really do focus on these things several times a day. While they apply both to my husband and kids, it may sound very different. I'm not saying this is perfect, or all encompassing. I am saying that this has helped me immensely in the last few months to pray for my family, and I can't keep it to myself anymore!)Each day this week I will be exploring and giving an example for the above listed days/prayers. I hope you continue to join us and pray for your family! If having two key words for each day feels overwhelming - pick one! You could pick one key word per day (Monday - Mates, Tuesday - Truth, etc) to post at home and the other to post at work or in your car if that helps. Today, wrap your mind around whether you'd like to pray for one or two items per day, and then MAKE A CHART like the above one. Mine is written on construction paper and taped to the side of the fridge. It does not need to be fancy! The practice of writing it down will help to commit it to memory, and then having it visible to see often will make you read/remember to pray more.
This is the third post in a series on Praying for Your Family: a 31 Day Challenge. You can go to the main 'landing page' for a list of all the days by clicking here:
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