In Sunday’s message at church, we learned about The Commitment Choice: choosing to commit all of my life to Christ’s care and control.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

What keeps us from committing ourselves completely to Christ’s care and control?

There are 5 barriers we face when trying to make the commitment to let go and let God. These are the things we need to bring to mind when we pray, asking for God’s help in putting these things aside and allowing Him to take complete control of our lives.

Pride

Pride creates the illusion that we can make it on our own. It leads us to believe that we can maintain control of our life. Pride keeps us from admitting our weaknesses and isolates us from healing.

¹²  “Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor”.

Proverbs 18:12 NIV

Guilt

Guilt makes us feel like we can’t run to God because we’ve messed up too many times. Psalm 40:12 God knows our worst moments, He was there with us through every mistake. There’s no sin He can’t or won’t forgive.

^{18 “}I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,”

Isaiah 57:18 NIV

Fear

Fear is the opposite of faith and it always creeps up when we don’t surrender to God. The fear of shifting from our earthly securities to trusting God to sustain us is one of the largest barriers for any of us to overcome. We fear losing control but at some point we must choose who or what will control us.

Worry

Worry does not allow you to make the right decisions. It clouds your judgment and influences you towards doing for yourself instead of trusting in God’s plan.

^{6 “}being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.

Phil. 1:6 NIV

Doubt

Doubt cancels faith, period.

^{31 “}Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”

Matthew 14:31 NIV

How do we commit all our life to Christ’s care and control?

Accept God’s Son as your Savior.

It all begins with surrender to Jesus. Most of us have already done this however, it is always good to recommit our lives and remember it’s all about Him.

^{31 “}They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.’”

Acts 16:31 NLT

Accept God’s Word as your standard.

Jesus followers make God’s word their final authority. They identify specific needs in their life and then apply God’s truth to it over and over.

^{16 “}All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

Accept God’s will as your strategy for living.

You’ll find joy in doing it.

^{8 “}I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”

Psalms 40:8 NLT

Accept God’s power as your strength.

God enables us to do it His way by equipping us for the journey ahead and giving us His strength to persevere.

^{13 “}For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Phil. 4:13 NLT

Each day this week, we are going to focus on praying for specific areas of our lives that we need to commit to God. As always, start the week with personal prayer for the surrender of our control to God. Pray for your family, friends, co-workers, and release them to God’s care. Continue to pray this week interceding for all those who you know need salvation.

The message in church this week was about The Hope Choice – Getting Help in making life’s healing choices. It is the choice to earnestly believe that God exists, that you matter to him, and that he has the power to help you change.

So where do you find the power to change?

“Have you never heard or understood? Don’t you know? That the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youth will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and they will not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

To have hope, you have to realize that the power to change is a gift from God. He gives you the power to change by giving you His power to change. It’s not that you will change for God. It’s that God will change you through his power. It’s about hoping in him. Each day this week, we will focus on praying for specific areas of our lives that we want God to change.

As always, start the week with personal prayer for change and God will help you recover. Pray that God help your family, friends, and co-workers to recognize the need for His help and His power to change. Pray for all those you know who need salvation. Take the challenge of inviting them to Church this week and allow God’s power to change them.

This week at Church, we learned about the Reality Choice — Admitting the Need in making life’s healing choices. It turns out, the root cause of our problems is how hard we try to play God. We try to control our image, other people, our problems and even our pain but how do we overcome it?

First, we need to realize and accept the fact that we are not God and that we need help from someone much greater than ourselves. Trying to play God will only lead to fear, frustration, fatigue, and failure. We need to battle against denial and admit the need and the fact that will power is not enough. We need to humble ourselves so that we can obtain grace in our time of need.

For this week, take time to think about specific areas in your life that you haven’t relinquished control over to God yet. Focus on those areas in your prayers.

MONDAY

Personal

Set aside a time in prayer to surrender control of your thoughts, your emotions, and your decisions to God. Align your thoughts with His and keep your mind set on Him throughout your entire day.

TUESDAY

Finances

Surrender your finances to God. Keep in mind giving to God first of all that you receive and He will take care of the rest.

WEDNESDAY

Family

Pray for family members especially those that are not saved. Present them to God and stop trying to control them, but let God take care of them.

THURSDAY

Church

Continue to pray for our Church, more specifically for the new building and the construction. Pray it will be completed this year.

FRIDAY

Leaders

Pray for our nation, there continues to be divisiveness in our country. Pray for unity and that God uses our President to be the catalyst to bring us together as one nation under God.

SATURDAY

Co-workers/Classmates

Surrender your co-worker/classmates to the Lord. Pray for salvation of their souls and that God would use us as a testimony to bring them to Christ.

SUNDAY

Lost Souls

Pray for salvation of the lost souls that are around us. Pray that God would give you grace to be able to speak to these persons, and He would open doors of opportunity to bring the greatest healing a soul can receive: the salvation of their soul.

“ ⁷ Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

Today we want to focus on intentional prayer for specific areas of your life. It’s important to share the details when seeking God and asking of Him to better direct your prayer. Use the names of persons, their needs, situations and specific petitions. Separate some time every day this week, to focus your prayers in these areas:

MONDAY

Personal

Dear Heavenly Father, I give you my discontent, my restlessness, my doubt, I give you my despair, I give you all my longings I hold inside. Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth; to listen seriously and follow wherever they lead through your open door.

TUESDAY

Finances

Dear Heavenly Father, as I begin this day, allow me turn my thoughts to you and ask for your help in guiding me in everything I say and do. Give me the patience that I need to keep my peace of mind with life’s cares. May I trust in you to live for today not worrying about what’s ahead.

WEDNESDAY

Family

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for my family, especially those that are not saved. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit guides me to be a vessel and a witness of your greatness and Your salvation.

THURSDAY

Church

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for our Church congregants that they may grow in an abiding relationship with you. I pray for a greater unity and love for one another that will make us more Christ-like.

FRIDAY

Leaders

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for my Pastors and leaders within the Church that you may impart wisdom and understanding to guide our Church. We pray that you continue to use them in a mighty way to feed us and care for us. Watch over their families and keep them from evil as they do the works of ministry.

SATURDAY

Co-workers/Classmates/Friends

Dear Heavenly Father, God bless all my co-worker/classmates/friends in whatever way it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their lives be full of Your peace, prosperity, and power as they seek a closer relationship with You,

SUNDAY

Lost Souls

Dear Heavenly Father, we continue to pray for the lost souls, especially those in the City of Doral. May our Church continue to be a light in our city that will attract the souls that so desperately need a relationship with you.

Biblically speaking, we know Jesus came to bring healing and freedom, starting with the salvation of our souls. Our prayer focus this week is going to be on healing. Everybody needs healing from God and there are different types of healing: that of the soul (emotional and psychological), that of the body, and that of the spirit.

Before getting started, separate a time of day that you can use to direct your prayer to God without distractions. Each day of the week, we are going to focus on a specific area of our lives. Here are the themes for us this week:

MONDAY

Personal Healing

Matthew 5:23-24: ^“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Prayer

The need for forgiveness is essential to healing. Many of us are burdened by carrying bitterness against others. It is important to ask God to forgive and heal you. Your prayer today should focus on God bringing healing to your emotions, your body, and your spirit.

TUESDAY

Finances

Philippians 4:19-20: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Prayer

Take time to pray that God would provide financially. Ask Him to give you the wisdom to make wise decisions regarding money so you can become a good steward of your finances.

WEDNESDAY

Family

Acts 16:31: ^“And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Prayer

Pray for your family members, starting with your immediate family, and especially for those that are not saved. Ask Him to heal family that is sick.

THURSDAY

Church

James 5:14-15: ^“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

Prayer

Pray for healing for your Church, especially for those who are suffering from emotional and physical illness.

FRIDAY

Leaders

I Timothy 2:1-2: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Prayer

Pray that God will continue to impart wisdom to your Church and Government leaders. Pray specifically for your pastor and all those in positions of leadership. Also, pray for the different ministries and their respective leaders.

SATURDAY

Co-workers/Classmates

Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Prayer

Pray for your co-workers and/or classmates, asking that God would save and heal them. Ask God to use you to be a light unto them.

SUNDAY

Lost Souls

Colossians 4:6: ^“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Prayer

Pray for salvation of the lost souls that are around us. Ask God to give you grace to be able to speak to lost souls. Pray that He would open doors of opportunity to bring others the greatest healing a person can receive; the salvation of their soul.

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:13 (ESV)

As we begin this new year, our focus now more than ever, is on winning souls for Christ. He has called us to be fishers of men, seekers of truth and prayer warriors for those who haven’t met him yet. To be a good fisherman requires wisdom. Proverbs 11:30 tells us that “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures (wins) souls is wise.” The word “capture” here in Hebrew means to catch or to win. There is great wisdom in winning souls for Christ and at the same time, we as fishermen need wisdom to be able to do so. So how do we get wise? The Bible says “if any man lacks wisdom let him ask” ; when we ask God for anything, that’s prayer.

Prayer is the way we communicate with our God, a beautiful, overwhelming God of love and grace. God is calling our church to grow deeper in prayer which ultimately helps us grow in our intimacy with Him. Our mission is to lead others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ but how can we effectively lead if we aren’t taking the steps to follow Him? As we pray, we get closer to God and as we get closer to Him we lead others in the same direction. This includes praying for those “lost souls” that haven’t developed a relationship with Jesus yet.

We are starting this prayer blog for you, to help you in many ways and encourage your prayer life with Jesus. Through this platform, we will provide teachings on prayer, invitations to prayer events, a section for prayer requests, and much more. Each week we will give you a different theme with related scriptures for each day that you can pray for as individuals and as families. The Bible calls us not only to pray on our own but also as a Church, as the bride and body of Christ. This week our focus will be developing a deeper, more fulfilling prayer life. Here are some foundations to get us started.

MONDAY

Scriptural Prayer

One of the best ways to pray is according to the Scriptures. If God’s Word is in our hearts, then his desires become our desires and we can have assurance that He will answer our prayers. Make sure your prayers are in line with Scripture.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Today we ask for your guidance as we read the Scriptures and seek your Word. We ask that you may give us wisdom to pray in line with your Word and your will for us. Amen.

TUESDAY

Pray According to God’s Will

God doesn’t just give us whatever we ask for. In 1 John 5:14 it says, “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” This means that when we pray in line with His will for our lives, we can expect an answer.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Today we come before you asking that our prayers be aligned to your will for our lives. Let us not stray from your divine purpose and help us to keep our eyes on you. Amen.

WEDNESDAY

Pray in Jesus’ Name

Real prayer is focused on Jesus Christ. There are tons of Bible references that talk about the importance of praying in His name. Jesus Himself said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you” (John 16:23). When we pray in the Name of Jesus, God the Father hears us. He responds to the prayer offered in the name of his Son because our relationship with God is through his Son.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, We bring before you our families, especially those of us who are not saved. We claim them today for Your kingdom and seal this prayer in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

THURSDAY

Believe

God wants us to have faith that He hears us when we pray to Him. Jesus said, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). The Lord promises to respond to our prayer of faith. 

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Faith is the key to unlocking access into your throne of grace. Today we pray to you believing you will give us what we ask so long as it is aligned to Your will, so let your will be done in our lives Lord. In the Name of Jesus, amen.

FRIDAY

Pray in the Spirit

Paul tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit. Romans 8:26 reads, “Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered.” We don’t always know what to say to God. Sometimes we just can’t find the words to express our hearts or the desire to come before Him. We need the Spirit’s power to help us pray.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, We come before you today praying in the Spirit. You know our hearts Lord and You hear our petitions and intercessions. Thank you for the gift of the Spirit, that speaks for us when we don’t have the words to express ourselves to you. In the Name of Jesus, amen.

SATURDAY

Persistence

Don’t give up if you haven’t received an answer to your prayers yet. Throughout the Bible there are stories of men and women who persevered in prayer. In Luke 18:1-8 there was a little old widow who did not lose heart. James tells us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Today we bring before you our church: our pastors, leaders and members of the congregation. Lord we pray to you in full faith and without losing heart that you hear us and provide for us beyond all understanding. In the Name of Jesus, amen.

SUNDAY

Pray with Humility

Lastly, we are to humble ourselves in prayer. James 4:10 tells us to “humble ourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt us.” We are told that God hears the prayer of the humble. If we humble ourselves in the sight of God, He will lift us up.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Help us to humble ourselves before you today so you may receive all the glory in our lives. Thank you for loving us enough to exalt us daily as we worship you in all we do. In the Name of Jesus, amen.