Day Twelve: Plant Me so I Will Bear the Fruit of Your Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

.

Lord, search my heart and try me and see if there is any wickedness in me. Replace all that is wrong in my character with the goodness in Yours. Plant the fruit of Your Spirit in me and cause it to flourish. Help me to abide in You, Jesus, so that I will bear fruit in my life. I invite You, Holy Spirit, to fill me afresh with Your love today so that it will flow out of me and into the lives of others.

.

You said in Your Word do "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15). I pray that Your peace would rule my heart and mind to such a degree that people would sense it when they are around me. Help me to "pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another" (Romans 14:19).

.

Give me the joy that knowing You produces. Make me patient with others so that I reflect Your character to them. Help me to be kind whenever there is opportunity for it, and may Your goodness flow through me so that I will do good to everyone. Make me to be a faithful person so that I can be trusted in all things. Help me to have the "meekness and gentleness of Christ" so that I will reflect Your gentle spirit (II Corinthians 10:1). Enable me to be self-controlled in my thoughts, words, and habits.

.

Where I need to be pruned in order to bear more fruit, I submit myself to You. I know that without You I can do nothing. You are the vine and I am the branch. I must abide in You in order to bear fruit. Help me to do that. Thank You for Your promise that if I abide in You and Your Word abides in me, I can ask what I desire and it will be done for me (John 15:7). Thank You for Your promise that says if I ask I will receive (John 16:24). May I be like a tree planted by the rivers of Your living water so that I will bring forth fruit in season that won't wither (Psalm 1:3). In Jesus' name, I ask that the fruit of Your Spirit will grow in me and be recognized clearly by all who see me so that it glorifies You.*

.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,

showing yourselves to be my disciples.

- John 15:1-8

.

*Make this prayer your own! From the book, The Power of a Praying Woman. Ordering information is at the bottom of this page.
.
Today's prayer for your husband: His Protection

Today's prayer for your children: Enjoying a Life of Health and Healing

Day Six: Show Me How to Take Control of My Mind

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,

because he trusts in you.

- Isaiah 26:3

Lord, help me to never exchange Your truth for a lie. Where I have accepted a lie as truth, reveal that to me. Help me to clearly discern when it is the enemy who is speaking. I don't want to think futile and foolish thoughts or give place to thoughts that are not glorifying to You (Romans 1:21). I don't want to walk according to my own thinking (Isaiah 65:2). I want to bring every thought captive and control my mind.

Your Word is "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). As I read Your Word, may it reveal any wrong thinking in me. May Your Word be so etched in my mind that I will be able to identify a lie of the enemy the minute I hear it. Spirit of Truth, keep me undeceived. I know You have given me authority "over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19), and so I command the enemy to get away from my mind. I refuse to listen to lies.

Thank you, Lord, that I "have the mind of Christ" (I Corinthians 2:16). I want Your thoughts to be my thoughts. Show me where I have filled my mind with anything that is ungodly. Help me to resist doing that and instead fill my mind with thoughts, words, music and images that are glorifying to You. Help me to think upon what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). I lay claim to the "sound mind" that You have given me (II Timothy 1:7).* In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

- Romans 12:2

.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

- II Corinthians 10:3-5

.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,

to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
and to put on the new self, created to be like God

in true righteousness and holiness.

- Ephesians 4:22-24

.

*Make this prayer your own! From the book, The Power of a Praying Woman. Ordering information is at the bottom of this page. I strongly encourage you to read this book as the chapter content is so powerful!

.

Today's prayer for your husband: His Temptations

Today's prayer for your children: Honoring Parents and Resisting Rebellion

Day Fourteen: His Integrity

The righteous man walks in his integrity;

his children are blessed after him.

- Proverbs 20:7

.
Lord, I pray that You would make my husband a man of integrity, according to Your standards. Give him strength to say "Yes" when he should say "Yes," and courage to say "No" when he should say "No." Enable him to stand for what he knows is right and not waver under pressure from the world. Don't let him be a man who is "always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth" (II Timothy 3:7). Give him, instead, a teachable spirit that is willing to listen to the voice of wisdom and grow in Your ways.
.
Make him a man who lives by truth. Help him to walk with Your Spirit of truth at all times (John 16:13). Be with him to bear witness to the truth so that in times of pressure he will act on it with confidence. Where he has erred in this and other matters, give him a heart that is quick to confess his mistakes. For You have said in Your Word, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:8-9). Don't let him be deceived. Don't let him live a lie in any way. Bind mercy and truth around his neck and write them on the tablet of his heart so he will find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man (Proverbs 3:3-4).* In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
.

Better is the poor

who walks in his integrity

than one perverse in his ways,

though he be rich.

- Proverbs 28:6

.
*Make this prayer your own! From the book, The Power of a Praying Wife. Ordering information is at the bottom of this page.
.
Today's prayer for your children: Instilling the Desire to Learn

Day Eleven: Following Truth, Rejecting Lies

I have no greater joy than to hear

that my children walk in the truth.

- III John 1:4

.
Lord, I pray that You will fill David and Elizabeth with Your Spirit of truth. Give them hearts that love truth and follow after it, rejecting all lies as a manifestation of the enemy. Flush out anything in them that would entertain a lying spirit and cleanse them from any death that has crept in as a result of lies they may have spoken or thought. Help them to understand that every lie gives the devil a piece of their heart, and into the hole that's left comes confusion, death, and separation from Your presence. Deliver them from any lying spirit. I pray that they not be blinded or deceived, but always be able to clearly understand Your truth.
.
I pray that David and Elizabeth will never be able to get away with lying - that all lies will come into light and be exposed. If they lie, may they be so miserable that confession and its consequences will seem like relief. Help me to teach them what it means to lie, and effectively discipline them when they test that principle. Your Word says that "when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). I pray that Your Spirit of truth will guide them into all truth. May they never be a person who gives place to lies, but rather a person of integrity who follows hard after the Spirit of truth.*
.
May their Dad and I always be examples of truth to them. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

but those who deal truthfully

are His delight.

- Proverbs 12:22

.

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And I will pray to the Father,

and He will give you another Helper,

that He may abide with you forever -

the Spirit of truth,

whom the world cannot receive,

because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;

but you know Him,

for He dwells with you and will be in you.

- John 14:15-17

.
*Make this prayer your own! From the book, The Power of a Praying Parent. Ordering information can be found at the bottom of this page.