INTRODUCTION
This collection of prayers showcases my journey with the Lord and I pray that it will guide and direct you toward Him on your journey with Him. God gave me the answers I needed and He made my life wonderful. I'm living proof that the way to happiness is through Jesus Christ God Almighty—by His Holy Spirit. I lived a terrible life in my younger years with all kinds of tribulations, but even though I had rough times, I continued to write to my Lord Jesus and because of the Son of God I can now confidently say, “Look at me now! I am blessed, I am loved, and I have everything I need!” I will forever seek God's guidance, protection, love, and power and I'm so thankful that He's given me Jesus to answer all of my prayers. He's my world and my inspiration!
As you read along, it's important to note that this collection of prayers documents some of my most intimate times with God between the years of 1995 and 2016. You will notice that, from 1995 to 2001, my prayers were more like requests than praises. As I grew more mature in faith, and as God continued to mold me into His image more and more, I learned to pray differently and my prayers began taking on a different tone altogether. You'll notice two large gaps between the years of 1997 and 2000 and 2001 and 2015. During this time I did not stop writing the Lord, I just chose not to put those particular prayers in the book. This entire collection of prayers is intended to showcase the difference between my early years with the Lord and my later years with the Lord. I wanted readers to clearly see the drastic distinction between the two. God really changed my life between the time of my very first prayers and the time of my more recent prayers. As God answered and as I learned more about Him, I learned to trust in Him more and more. My prayers went from prayers of little faith to prayers of great faith.
It is also important to note that the prayers are ordered chronologically, but I did not include a writing for every single day of the year. As you read through these prayers, you may also notice how I address God by several different names. God is the Creator of names and has many special meanings behind them. God's names go on forever, from generation to generation, and even to Heaven. God's names represent who He is and His personal character. For example, in Hebrew, Jesus' name is pronounced Yeshua, which means salvation. Therefore, salvation was not only His name but also His purpose. God's love for mankind is most certainly revealed in His names, and when we call Him by these great names it praises Him and reminds us of whom He is and how much He loves us. Another example would be calling God by the name Great Protector. When using this particular name to address God, it reminds us of His promise to always keep His children safe. Using this specific title also gives God permission to fulfill this promise in your life. Calling God by specific names is an expression of faith and it is a reflection of our belief in Him.
These are all original prayers that you will be reading; the only thing is that I went back to the prayers between 1995 and 2001 and added to the bottom of each one. I added the answers I had been seeking as declarations that God gave me. I also added how He changed me. I realized that it was God all along who empowered me to change. My prayers allowed Him to work in my life and I realized that the changes never came from me and that He is the One who deserves all the credit. I believe that this is something that the Lord wanted me to do. He pressed it upon my heart as something like, “You know Me better than that. We've been together all these years. Go back and add more about Me. Tell them of all the things that I've taught you.” I also went back and made the prayers a little more positive. During my early life, my style of writing was very negative. I didn’t want to pass that on to the reader and I want them to know about the goodness of God and His power to change.
You will observe how I was expressing many of my problems in the prayers between 1995 and 2001 and how the ending declarations are basically the answers to those problems. Now that my relationship with God has grown tremendously, I am able to express what I feel and what I know about Him more deeply. I've seen and tasted of the Lord's blessings over and over again and I can tell you that the more we know about Him, the more we have to be happy about. The ending declarations that were added to these prayers are intended to enrich and remind readers of God's powerful and living truth, promises, power, and personal character. God heard every single one of my prayers, He most certainly answered them, and my life proves that He truly is who He says He is. These ending declarations are also intended to remind readers about God's knowledge, understanding, wisdom, grace, mercy, favor, love, compassion, and peace. This book also teaches readers about who God is, that they would believe and trust in Him. The reason I fell so in love with my Lord, Jesus Christ God Almighty, is because I began learning about who He truly is. I have learned about His character more and about His unconditional love for me. How could I give that up? I now know that He only wants the best for me and I have realized that I will hold onto God forever.
I have marked the ending declarations for clarity and they can also be read aloud daily. At first, these daily declarations may seem like quite a stretch from the person you are today and you may even feel uncomfortable declaring such things. As you read these daily declarations aloud over yourself, trusting and believing in God’s ability to change You, the things you are saying will become real in your life. We serve a God who calls things that are not as though they were, “…even God, who quickened the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were,” (Romans 4:17, KJV). As His children, we are called to possess that very same character. Although these declarations may seem incredibly ambitious they are, most certainly, achievable in Christ!
It is such an honor and privilege to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. His powerful and living Word of truth teaches us that we have no life without Him. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,” (1 John 5:12, KJV). God holds the world in His hands and He is worthy of every wonderful, strong, and great name we call Him. It pleases Him to know that we truly believe that He is the Most High God; the God above all gods. He is our covering of protection and has promised to cover us with all good things through the blood of Jesus. He has given me an amazing life, He has brought me through every trial and tribulation with blessings, and I love Him greatly because of who He is. That's why I bless Him and praise Him with everything that I have and I know that I am nothing without Him. When we praise God it blesses Him, and He is then able to set His blessings before us. When we praise God, it also encourages us in Him. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,” (Isaiah 55:9, KJV). Therefore, He deserves our everything!
These prayers begin shortly after my conversion when I opened up my home as a place of praise, acceptance, worship, and love out of the goodness God gave me. I opened up my home because I wanted to learn more about God. After doing this, He blessed me with peace, love, consideration, compassion, and understanding for others. All the while, after twenty-seven years my husband I decided to get a divorce. There was negligence in our relationship on both sides and we grew apart. I became very broken and depressed due to this divorce, and began leaning on God for healing more than I ever had in my past. Now that I've matured in faith, and as I reflect on this time in my life, I've realized that I was believing many negative lies about myself that the enemy was using against me. I believed that I was no good and that all the trauma, turmoil, and anger my family experienced was all my fault. I was totally overwhelmed with the lies of the enemy. It is here, in my brokenness, where our journey begins...
This collection of prayers showcases my journey with the Lord and I pray that it will guide and direct you toward Him on your journey with Him. God gave me the answers I needed and He made my life wonderful. I'm living proof that the way to happiness is through Jesus Christ God Almighty—by His Holy Spirit. I lived a terrible life in my younger years with all kinds of tribulations, but even though I had rough times, I continued to write to my Lord Jesus and because of the Son of God I can now confidently say, “Look at me now! I am blessed, I am loved, and I have everything I need!” I will forever seek God's guidance, protection, love, and power and I'm so thankful that He's given me Jesus to answer all of my prayers. He's my world and my inspiration!
As you read along, it's important to note that this collection of prayers documents some of my most intimate times with God between the years of 1995 and 2016. You will notice that, from 1995 to 2001, my prayers were more like requests than praises. As I grew more mature in faith, and as God continued to mold me into His image more and more, I learned to pray differently and my prayers began taking on a different tone altogether. You'll notice two large gaps between the years of 1997 and 2000 and 2001 and 2015. During this time I did not stop writing the Lord, I just chose not to put those particular prayers in the book. This entire collection of prayers is intended to showcase the difference between my early years with the Lord and my later years with the Lord. I wanted readers to clearly see the drastic distinction between the two. God really changed my life between the time of my very first prayers and the time of my more recent prayers. As God answered and as I learned more about Him, I learned to trust in Him more and more. My prayers went from prayers of little faith to prayers of great faith.
It is also important to note that the prayers are ordered chronologically, but I did not include a writing for every single day of the year. As you read through these prayers, you may also notice how I address God by several different names. God is the Creator of names and has many special meanings behind them. God's names go on forever, from generation to generation, and even to Heaven. God's names represent who He is and His personal character. For example, in Hebrew, Jesus' name is pronounced Yeshua, which means salvation. Therefore, salvation was not only His name but also His purpose. God's love for mankind is most certainly revealed in His names, and when we call Him by these great names it praises Him and reminds us of whom He is and how much He loves us. Another example would be calling God by the name Great Protector. When using this particular name to address God, it reminds us of His promise to always keep His children safe. Using this specific title also gives God permission to fulfill this promise in your life. Calling God by specific names is an expression of faith and it is a reflection of our belief in Him.
These are all original prayers that you will be reading; the only thing is that I went back to the prayers between 1995 and 2001 and added to the bottom of each one. I added the answers I had been seeking as declarations that God gave me. I also added how He changed me. I realized that it was God all along who empowered me to change. My prayers allowed Him to work in my life and I realized that the changes never came from me and that He is the One who deserves all the credit. I believe that this is something that the Lord wanted me to do. He pressed it upon my heart as something like, “You know Me better than that. We've been together all these years. Go back and add more about Me. Tell them of all the things that I've taught you.” I also went back and made the prayers a little more positive. During my early life, my style of writing was very negative. I didn’t want to pass that on to the reader and I want them to know about the goodness of God and His power to change.
You will observe how I was expressing many of my problems in the prayers between 1995 and 2001 and how the ending declarations are basically the answers to those problems. Now that my relationship with God has grown tremendously, I am able to express what I feel and what I know about Him more deeply. I've seen and tasted of the Lord's blessings over and over again and I can tell you that the more we know about Him, the more we have to be happy about. The ending declarations that were added to these prayers are intended to enrich and remind readers of God's powerful and living truth, promises, power, and personal character. God heard every single one of my prayers, He most certainly answered them, and my life proves that He truly is who He says He is. These ending declarations are also intended to remind readers about God's knowledge, understanding, wisdom, grace, mercy, favor, love, compassion, and peace. This book also teaches readers about who God is, that they would believe and trust in Him. The reason I fell so in love with my Lord, Jesus Christ God Almighty, is because I began learning about who He truly is. I have learned about His character more and about His unconditional love for me. How could I give that up? I now know that He only wants the best for me and I have realized that I will hold onto God forever.
I have marked the ending declarations for clarity and they can also be read aloud daily. At first, these daily declarations may seem like quite a stretch from the person you are today and you may even feel uncomfortable declaring such things. As you read these daily declarations aloud over yourself, trusting and believing in God’s ability to change You, the things you are saying will become real in your life. We serve a God who calls things that are not as though they were, “…even God, who quickened the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were,” (Romans 4:17, KJV). As His children, we are called to possess that very same character. Although these declarations may seem incredibly ambitious they are, most certainly, achievable in Christ!
It is such an honor and privilege to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. His powerful and living Word of truth teaches us that we have no life without Him. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,” (1 John 5:12, KJV). God holds the world in His hands and He is worthy of every wonderful, strong, and great name we call Him. It pleases Him to know that we truly believe that He is the Most High God; the God above all gods. He is our covering of protection and has promised to cover us with all good things through the blood of Jesus. He has given me an amazing life, He has brought me through every trial and tribulation with blessings, and I love Him greatly because of who He is. That's why I bless Him and praise Him with everything that I have and I know that I am nothing without Him. When we praise God it blesses Him, and He is then able to set His blessings before us. When we praise God, it also encourages us in Him. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,” (Isaiah 55:9, KJV). Therefore, He deserves our everything!
These prayers begin shortly after my conversion when I opened up my home as a place of praise, acceptance, worship, and love out of the goodness God gave me. I opened up my home because I wanted to learn more about God. After doing this, He blessed me with peace, love, consideration, compassion, and understanding for others. All the while, after twenty-seven years my husband I decided to get a divorce. There was negligence in our relationship on both sides and we grew apart. I became very broken and depressed due to this divorce, and began leaning on God for healing more than I ever had in my past. Now that I've matured in faith, and as I reflect on this time in my life, I've realized that I was believing many negative lies about myself that the enemy was using against me. I believed that I was no good and that all the trauma, turmoil, and anger my family experienced was all my fault. I was totally overwhelmed with the lies of the enemy. It is here, in my brokenness, where our journey begins...
