My Three Best Prayer Hacks: #3

08 Mar My Three Best Prayer Hacks: #3

MY THIRD PRAYER HACK IS TO PRAY AFFIRMATIONS BACK TO THE LORD

These affirmations are not typical prayers. They do not contain requests from God, they do not contain adoration or confession or thanksgiving to God. But I consider them to be prayers nevertheless. I am telling the Lord that these things are true in my life to the current level of my maturity, and that I am looking to Him to make them even more true as I affirm them and continue to grow.

I consider that these prayer affirmations do two things:

1. They express my heart to God, and form prayers that, I believe, He is pleased to answer
2. They affect me powerfully and help change me as a result of having prayed them over and over again for many years.

They contain deep theological truth that strengthens, balances, and encourages me. I have difficulty imagining my current spiritual condition if I had not started praying these affirmations every day years ago.

Based on the list of the 7 Marks of a Complete Christian, I use these affirmations to pursue the first mark, which is to Worship God Individually, and they follow the acronym M.A.R.K.:

1. M. stands for “Move toward God”
2. A. stands for “Accept His benevolent intentions toward me”
3. R. stands for “Relinquish myself to His will”
4. K. stands for “Keep company with God”

Here are the four prayer affirmations.

Move Toward God:

I move toward You in faith, because I do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with my weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as I am, and yet without sin. Therefore, I draw near with confidence, to the throne of grace that I might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:15-16) and if I draw near to You, You will draw near to me.  (James 4:8 )

Accept God’s benevolent intentions toward you:

I accept Your benevolent intentions toward me, even during times of great trial (Deuteronomy 8:16). Because You hung the stars in space (Isaiah 40:26), You do not lack the power to grant my requests (Job 42:2), and because You hung on the cross for my sin (Romans 5:8), You do not lack the love to grant my requests (John 3:16). Therefore, when my requests are not granted, I accept that a higher good is being served (Isaiah 55:9), and that my faith will be eternally rewarded (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Relinquish yourself to God’s will:

I relinquish myself to your will (Romans 12:1), standing down from the throne of my life, abdicating it to You, and abandoning myself to holiness (1 Peter 1:16), not only because that is my avenue of greatest joy (Galatians 5:22-23), but also because as I witness your holiness in Scripture (Revelation 1:12ff), I see you are not to be trifled with (Hebrews 12:4-11), which shatters my false sense of entitlement and mutes my whining.

Keep company with God:

I keep company with You, sitting before you in the Tabernacle of my heart (2 Samuel 7:18)

• letting my requests be made known to You (Philippians 4:6), (Now pray your normal prayers)
• letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within me (Colossians 3:16), (now review SuperVerses, etc.)
• maintaining an internal dialogue with You as I go through my day (Galatians 5:25).

Now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

I encourage you to consider the potential of these affirmations in your own prayer life. Revise and amend them if you think it would be more meaningful to you. I hope you find them as valuable in your life as I do in mine.

Mind you, if you are like me, these affirmation may, from time to time, take you beyond your actual experience. That is, while one affirmation says, “I relinquish myself to your will…” you may actually be struggling with doing so at the time. The Lord knows that. That is why it is a prayer as well as an affirmation. The implication is, “Lord, help me grow so that this affirmation will be fully true of me.”

I have heard that described as telling the Lord what you want, even if you are not there yet, like a child putting on his father’s overcoat, hoping someday to grow into it.

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