POW 1: Rooted & Established in Love

First POW (Prayer of the Week) and I am SO excited!

First off, God just wants you to come to Him. He is waiting to meet with you, arms and heart open. No prayer needs a formula. It’s less about the words you say and more about your heart behind them.

You can pray anywhere at anytime. Simply, you are talking to God.

Spoken out loud or quiet in your heart, He hears it all.

Praying with the Sword (the Word of God) is like using a power tool. If you’ve ever used a (manual) screwdriver and then a power tool, you might understand the difference.

All scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17), alive and active.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

No prayer is wrong. I can’t say this enough. Some jobs, however, require more. It’s the difference between building an iKea bookshelf and building an actual house. One requires simple tools while the other requires multiple power tools and community.

Or if you’re anything like me, I want to use the power tools for anything and everything I can! Let the tool do the hard work and operate off it’s strength.

You can read more about it here under How Do We Fight? & Strategy.

Battle Plan

Each POW will have the following Battle Plan: Prepare, Sword, Fight, Rest.

Prepare

Prepare is where you prepare our heart for battle. This can look like a variety of things but the goal is to get our hearts ready for connection and battle.

Sword

Sword is where you read the scripture of the week. This is also a time to interact with the text, journal, etc.

Fight

Fight is where you pray. This is also where you get intimate with God. Did you know intimacy with God is the most powerful weapon? This is where you’ll insert yourself (or whoever) in scripture and freely pray whatever He lays on your heart and mind.

Rest

Rest is where you trust in Him. Faith being the main ingredient. Once you have given everything to Him rest in Him and walk confidently knowing He has this. He has you. If you struggle with Rest, ask Him to show you how. Ask Him for His peace that surpasses understanding. I’ve asked God many times if He would just hold me on my worst days. He is faithful.

Tools

Grab your Bible (if you have one. If not, don’t worry! I’ll have the scripture here for you under Sword) and journal to jot down anything and everything! If you’re playing worship music, you’ll want your phone or whatever device handy.

Are you ready? Let’s gooooo!

Prepare

Quiet your heart. Play a worship song or two and surrender your heart fully to Him. When you are finished pray a simple prayer asking God to silence all voices that are not His. You want this to be a time for just the two of you. Here’s an example:

Dear God,

I come to You today fully seeking You. Silence all distractions around me. Quiet all voices that are not of You. I desire connection. Protect our time in Jesus’ name,

Amen

Sword

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:16-21

Read this a few times. Listen. Write down anything that comes to mind or heart as you read. Underline any words that stand out to you. Write down any questions.

Fight

Taking the scripture, pray and insert yourself or whoever in the blanks.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen ___________ with power through his Spirit in __his/her__ inner being(s), so that Christ may dwell in __his/her__ heart(s) through faith. And I pray that _________ , being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that _________ may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Example:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen __Mark__ with power through his Spirit in __his__ inner being, so that Christ may dwell in __his__ heart through faith. And I pray that __Mark__ , being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that __Mark__ may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Pray with emphasis where He lays emphasis on your heart. Insert whoever He brings to mind… and keep praying. Don’t stop! Whatever and whoever He lays on your heart, go after it!

Ask questions. Wait, listen. Pray. Pray for wisdom, discernment… just pray and lean into Him.

He may lead you to other scriptures or boldly highlight a person to lift up. He may allow you to feel what someone else is feeling. There is no limit to what God will do when you give Him your heart and time.

Rest

Rest in hope and walk confidently knowing God is with you, He is for you and you have given the fight to Him.

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you… No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame… Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long… My eyes are ever on the Lord… Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish… for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.

Taken from Psalm 25

As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 10:11

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1