A Warriors Prayer

I found this on the net and it was just so beautiful and just overwhelmed me.
This is the site I found it on:
www.savedbyhisblood.com/thewarriorsprayer.htm

The Warrior's Prayer

Based upon the Holy Bible verses found at Ephesians 6:11-17, this prayer is for spiritual warriors.

The Warrior's Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Your warrior prepares for battle.

Today I claim victory over Satan by putting on the whole armor of God!

I put on the Girdle of Truth!

May I stand firm in the truth of Your Word

so I will not be a victum of Satan's

and his demons' lies.

I put on the breastplate of Righteousness!

May it guard my heart from evil

so I will remain pure and holy,

protected under the blood of Jesus Christ.

I put on the Shoes of Peace!

May I stand firm in the Good News of the Gospel

so Your peace will shine through me

and be a light to all I encounter.

I take the Shield of Faith!

May I be ready for Satan's fiery darts of

doubt, denial and deceit

so I will not be vulnerable to spiritual defeat.

I put on the Helmet of Salvation!

May I keep my mind focused on You

so Satan will not have a stronghold on my

thoughts.

I take the Sword of the Spirit!

May the two edged sword of Your Word

be ready in my hands

so I can expose the tempting words of Satan.

By faith your warrior has put on

the whole armor of God!

I am prepared to live this day, in spiritual victory!

In His most Holy Name!!!

Amen

Praying for our Children Intro

This is the house that God built. We all love the scripture from the book of Joshua that says " As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord." We needed a verse that said something along the lines of As for me and my house God will bless us extra for having many many teenagers at one time. This is the house of 4 only enter if you can cry, roll your eyes, slam things, talk back or get sick when asked to do chores. I think God made the tween phase to make the parents pray more. LOL! At least that's what I think.


It all started when I was a little girl and the only thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a mommy. ( ha....ha...ha...) Yeah, that joke was on me! Man, I love my young ones, and I literally watch them change everyday. The feeling of love so strong that I could only describe as I would die the most horrible death if it meant that my children would live forever. Of course when you try to explain that to them they look at me like I am insane, but not as bad as the look I get when I try to tell them they should be thankful and respectful to me for birthing them. Yeah it's a Kodak moment with a gag and snort. The catchphrase is " TMI mom! TMI!!!"

What? I am just being honest! 36 hours of labor with one 19 with the second and the list is long and distinguished with lots of poop involved. I do sit back and realize that the children are only acting ordinary and they really are sweet! Behind closed doors is another story. LOL! We have our moments, but the sugar is the best in the land!!! The loving times are becoming less now and they come to love you if they want something. OK..... I'll take that. I really hate that I didn't savor the younger times with them as much as I do now. When they would say " You are the best mommy in the whole world!" Wow! Taking that for granted was a HUGE mistake.

I think there is a rule that says OK, now I'm 12 and I'm grown and I don't need mom anymore. Man, that hurts. OK enough with the sarcasm. I am writing this blog for all of you who swear that you kid is the only one who does certain things! I am here to burst your bubble and tell you that you ARE wrong! With 4 munchkins of my own there is never a dull moment and not alot passes us by. Good or Bad.

Now days children are doing things at a much younger age than when we were young and I am tell you this from my own experience. Let me share my background with you so you can understand where I am coming from.


My name is Josie and I am a proud 31 year old mother of 4 beautiful, wonderful children! (when they are not grounded!) I have 2 boys and 2 girls. Jamie is 13, Jessica is 12, Jennifer is 10 and Joshua is 5. No I didn't waste anytime having the first three. Yes, my parents had to embark upon a journey that I purchased the tickets for and what a roller coaster ride it was for them. I was the girl that your daughter brought home that you really liked and had a great family and that you totally trusted..... Then I found my wild side. I am a God fearing Southern Baptist Christian Ultra Conservative Woman just waiting on God's finger to point out the way. It took alot to get here. If it is there, I have dabbled and practiced. Just name it, I have done it. I have always had a very large interest in all the BAD THINGS! My favorite author is C.S Lewis and he wrote a book called The Screwtape Letters. Very interesting book. This is a quote from the book and I REALLY THOUGHT IT WAS WRITTEN JUST FOR ME!!!


" There are two equal and opposite errors about which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight."



Can you guess which one had me pegged? Of course, I was all about unhealthy interest. Dad always said that from the time I was small that satan always wanted me bad, because of my interest. Well.......... He almost had me.....





NOT!! Jesus had a plan for me and even though it was not unveiled until last year. It was there from the beginning of time. He planned my life from the moment the earth was created. He knew he would save me by the skin of my teeth. How amazing is that. It is so amazing that He took someone that was so unworthy like me and sent His Holy Spirit upon me and now I DON'T know how I ever survived without Him!! I didn't... He was with me. I stepped out from under the umbrella, but He was waiting with it open. He knew I would need shelter from the rain. Baski and I were not attending church for awhile. We had visited several places, but I was looking for "THE CHURCH" so I could get "THAT FEELING". That feeling doesn't come from the church. It comes from the Father, but you need that church as the right environment to grow the seed God planted. That church for me is Mountainview Baptist Church. It took a year for Trish and Grady to get us there. God had a plan. It all started with a trip to the emergency room where Trish is a nurse. She saw we were from Chelsea and told that her husband was a pastor at a new church there and would we come visit. I said sure! AND never went. Then a few months later I was at work at my parents restaurant and a man came in to eat. Country , kind and soft spoken. He told me he was the pastor of a new church in Chelsea and he would like us to visit. I said SURE!!! AND??? Never went! He came to eat several more times and I made excuses and told him we would try. So, about 9 months later we think my 5 year old may have appendicitis. Off to the emergency room we go. We get into triage and this nurse there looked at our chart and said Oh! You are from Chelsea! I go to church there! Would you like to come? Instead of succumbing to God's push I cringed. Finally, I was at work one day and in came the pastor and his wife and I knew I couldn't hide!! They were so kind again! Even though I had never stepped foot into his church we were all on a first name basis. After all they had been coming around for a year! The following Sunday was Easter and Trish asked us to come! I said SURE! AND ..........

We DID!!! Boy am I glad too! She was standing outside waiting on us. Then it broke my heart to think of all the multiple times she may have stood out there expectantly waiting. One year later and I have seen God work in so many ways you could never imagine. They say Dynamite comes in small packages so here we are! We are a small church, but we are prayer warriors! God definitely had His hand in us attending this church. They have been a true blessing. Mountainview Baptist has God's love and approval and you can feel it and see it! Last summer the children got baptized. It was amazing to watch my own children accept the Lord as their Savior! I also chose to get baptized again (I was 8 the first time)I wanted to give my life to God as a willing adult. It was amazing feeling from the moment I rose out of the water. I even lost the fear that Brother Grady was going to drop me in the water because I am bigger than him!! LOL! Spiritually it only took me up from the pit some. I still had a long ways to go in my walk. I walked right out of that baptism, got back in my car and turned on my secular music and continued to live my life the way I was before.


About a month later it hit me like A TON OF BRICKS! CONVICTION! That was the feeling that I had been missing. I know you are thinking - she missed conviction??? What's wrong with this lady? All those kids have made her crazy! No, No, No. God convicts out of love. He wants you to love Him enough to feel bad about what you are doing and change it because YOU love HIM! Not because it the right thing to do. Just like he sent Jesus to the cross to die for us because He loves us. Trust me when you feel your heart is so cold that God has turned His back that is pretty scary. I had that. A hardened heart. I asked God to make me love Him. I asked Him to make me care for Him. Make Me??? I was still lost. No! God was working inside me! The seed was planted and it just had to grow inside of me!

Wow! I had it bad. I thought I was unlovable. Untouchable. Unworthy. UNFORGIVABLE!

I have news for you! I was not! God Loves Me! OK, back to the secular music. I know you want to know. This is about a month or so after my baptism. So, I get in the car one day and turn on the radio and my faithful secular music was not working so I flipped to a CD and ....... it didn't work. Plugged in the ipod..... No it didn't work either. For those of you who know me well you know that music is a big thing for me. It's my mind and voice. NOW, it's how I minister, love and worship. So I am flipping through the channels on the radio and all I could get was country (YUCK!!!) Then as I was seeking it came! I heard something normal to the type of music I listen to and it came in clear. It was the song I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin ---a must have!


So I listened half heartily, got home and didn't give anything another thought. The next day yielded the same ALONG with the same song. Still the cold heart queen here didn't take the hint from GOD. UNTIL........


I chose to drive my husbands truck. (because my radio was broke) hehehehehehe! Got in and turned on the radio and it happened again even the same song. I was seriously thinking Nissan had a conspiracy going on! Instead of hearing angels sing I was hearing the theme from the Twilight Zone. Creeped me out! I stopped the truck and shouted to God. "WHAT????!!! " Big mistake. I felt this sudden rush of anxiety, depression, sadness, guilt, and the most overwhelming fear that something was wrong somewhere, BUT MOST OF ALL I felt so so SORRY for my life and my actions and my sins! It was conviction from the Father. Hallelujah!! Finally! Right there instead of asking Him to please make me love Him. I TOLD Him that I loved Him and that he was amazing and loving and I begged Him to never leave me again. He said He'd never left. He was always standing there holding the umbrella in the pouring rain and the bright sunlight. I was the one who chose to step out from under it. So, I took the hint and never went back to my secular music. In fact He blessed me by taking away the desire to hear such as that. What we pour into our hearts is what eventually comes flowing back out. I want people to see a Christlike example in me. The music changed everything! It was like I was riding the fence and that flipped me over to God's side. I still have a ways to go and God has revealed that He has much to show me! He has restored my relationship with my family better than it ever was before and He has answered prayers and worked miracles in this house! I have been blessed to answer God's calling to lead our youth in music worship on Sunday nights and we have an amazing Women's group that feeds our souls on Wednesdays. My best friend of 15 years (Beth) and I have been having our own bible study everyday.My mother bought the book my Stormie Omartian - The Power of a Praying Parent - Beth and I have had our noses in it And how He loves it. He blesses it. He slows the time down and makes it last so we can get the fullness from it! Brings an understanding to the words my cup runneth over! We created this group on facebook because we had the overwhelming feeling that it needed to be shared! And through facebook we can not only share it with our close friends, but we can reach out!!!

I am very long winded. I try not to be, but I tend to be very compassionate about subjects that I am about! And I am all about JESUS!!! Everyday He shows me something different and holds my hand to guide me down this rough path that lead to His Mercy and Unfailing love.

God's Word is like a magnet it draws you in. Fear Not for your children as you will be able to tell through my blog it all works out for the best! God knows what is happening.



Our Children are the most precious in our lives and I won't lie I was bad. I was looking for results. These bad practices got me the result I wanted quickly, but the extra reward from God was gone, because I had walked off the path of righteousness I became disconnected from God. Eventually, I thought because I had tried so many different things looking for an answer, God had thrown me away and that I was unlovable and unworthy of His salvation. Boy was I wrong. It was at this time he was there the most. What it took so long for me to realize is once you promise yourself to God, He puts you in the palm of his hand. But He will NEVER stop you if you want to step out because He knows you WILL be back! As you can see I may have a small form of ADD. LOL! I jump subjects on a daily basis! Now on to the reason that we are truly here.





My mother bought me a book called The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian.


My best friend Beth and I thought we would try a new tactic with our children. You can have the most well behaved child, but who protects them while you are not around and what does politeness do without Jesus Christ? You want a child that the light of God shines through them and influences others around them. God should be their role model, but before they understand God fully it is our responsibility to be the role model for them and we should live a pleasing life to God. The most profound part of this book that got me going was this:


The battle for our children's lives should be waged on our knees. If we send them out without prayer it is like sending them out into battle and and they are being shot at and we are on the sidelines watching. If we hit our knees and pray for our children we are in the battle beside them protecting them.

I don't know about you, but I want to be right next to mine!!! I started off in this book slowly and I couldn't seem to get past the first 3 chapters. Over and over again I read and found new things. It really changed when Beth got involved and we started over with the book again and have had to make so many notes of things that we want to remember. God says


"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven." Matthew 18:19





This is the truth! He has shown and is showing us so much! Their are changes taking place in our children's lives and our own that there is no other explanation, but CHRIST! So the reason for this group is to share ALL of this with you! I want to tell you how much God Loves US and how much He loves for us to pray to Him and ask Him for things. When we do it on a consistent basis our children see it then they do it! It means so much to me for my 5 year old to put christian music on his computer and hear him singing to it while he plays. Or to hear my girls hum it while they do their homework. Even my 13 year old singing in the shower praises that we have an Awesome God. I am for sure not a perfect parent, nor have I mastered it. What I am saying is God wants me to invite you to grow with us and learn with us! We can all learn from each other. Soon we will also get involved in intercessory prayer for our children. You don't have to be a parent to be involved in this. It can be any child that you are interceding for.Now is the time to change your child's life! Put their past raising behind you and start fresh. I cannot tell you what
an amazing journey this will be! Come and join us! God loves prayer!