A Daily Prayer? Are You Kidding?

By Michael Griego on May 13, 2016 • ( 1 )

Everybody prays. Certainly in different ways, habit and form. What matters is the devotion of the heart, mind, soul, and will. What I’m suggesting here may change your life. It changed mine. ♦

“And then I do the daily prayer,” my friend said to me. “So, you then pray or have a quiet time?” I asked in seeking clarification. “Yeah, I pray before I get breakfast. I’ll do the daily prayer,” he replied.

I still didn’t understand.

“You mean you do this daily. You have a prayer time before breakfast, right?” I tried to confirm. “Yes, I do the daily prayer,” he said.

“What’s with this ‘the’ daily prayer you keep saying? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Oh, haven’t you seen The Daily Prayer? Let me show you,” he replied.

That was over 8 years ago. And so began the beginning of the rest of my life and a massive shift in my spiritual awakening.

You Gotta Be Kidding
My friend went to his computer in his office and printed out The Daily Prayer from the Ransomed Heart Ministries website. It was two pages of single-spaced text printed out before me.

I had 2 immediate reactions, actually 3:

You gotta be kidding me.
Oh no, my friend is a religious heretic.
Oh no, my friend is a religious nut job.

I could not fathom that my respectable businessman Christian friend would fall for some rote, printed out, religious prayer. Probably full of mumble-jumble, pop new-age blather or some ritualistic Catholic liturgy with a modern twist. Or even worse, some trite but trendy have-a-nice-positive-day Word of Faith drivel.

It was none of that.

It was so much more. I could not have been more wrong in my fears and hesitation.

Passing the Sniff Test
After just a cursory reading of the document, I could see that this Daily Prayer was actually very well steeped in Biblical references, wording, and even outright Scriptural text. In fact, it was like praying the Scriptures.

It definitely passed my initial sniff test.

I actually decided to take it home and take for a spin drive that very next morning. For such a formal looking prayer, I actually thought it warranted getting on my knees out of reverence.

Rethinking My Prayer Habits
In 40 years of being a Christian, I had really never done that before. In fact, it struck me that a lot of my praying was at the dinner table, or sitting on a chair at a weekly home group Bible study, or alone at my office desk, or in my car driving up and down highway 280 or 101 here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In fact, my prayer life was well-intentioned and serious yet often oriented around quick-hit petitions for this and that: Lord, help me with this deal, help us with the kids, help us with our finances, help this or that child with their big test, or big sporting event, or getting into this or that college, etc., etc. Amen.

As a long-time Christian, I was pretty good at going through the Christian prayer motions and feeling pretty good about it. It seemed sufficient to me.

This Daily Prayer rocked my happy little Christian world.

God is Deep and This is Serious
The Daily Prayer takes about 10-12 minutes to pray aloud. I prayed it on my knees as often as possible for the next 3 weeks – averaging 4-5 times per week. Over the next 6 months it had an uncanny impact on me.

Here’s a summary of what happened:

I was praying now probably 10 times longer per day than before.
Beyond the normal Christian platitudes, I began to more fully realize and appreciate the depth of God’s love, holiness, sacrifice, authority, and power in this world and in my life.
Prayer to me became very deep and serious business.
With my children now maneuvering through relationships that would lead to marriages and an expanded family, I now saw my enhanced role in praying for the next generation of my family.
I began to experience a palpable manifestation of God’s Holy Spirit in my prayer times, like a physical confirmation of God’s presence, love, peace, and assurance.
The more I prayed, the more assured I became that God wanted more of me and my heart, mind, soul, and will.
I slowly, in fits and starts, ebbs and flows, began to give it all up to Him in total surrender.

It’s been years now and my children are all married and we have numerous (8!) grandchildren. My business has multiplied in growth and is thriving. The only correlation I would make here is simply that God has taken over my life and business. Also in and through prayer, I have experienced God’s guidance in church and ministry work, including the production of these Biblical Viewpoints. Albeit late in life, I am learning to act as but a pass-through vessel.

Prayer is a Mindset, Not a Format
I have since retyped The Daily Prayer and put in the following headlines for each of the paragraphs:

Opening
On Behalf of My Family (I name my wife, kids, their spouses, and each of the grandchildren)
Worship God
Thankfulness for Life
Identity with Christ’s Death
Identity with Christ’s Resurrection
Authority over Satan
Invite the Holy Spirit
Spiritual Protection
Closing

I still average praying the Daily Prayer, as is, about 3 times per week. I’ve developed other variations and give myself complete freedom in my daily prayer time. I’ve also since then met the team at Ransomed Heart and they are as legit as they come in their deep and abiding walk with the Living God.

But I am very cautious in explaining the Daily Prayer to others as many react the same way I initially reacted. But it’s very clear to me now that one actually cannot sincerely pray this prayer without getting a notch or two deeper in your sense of who God is and what we’re dealing with in this world.

Yes, for me prayer is a mindset, not a rote program. And it’s never too late for any of us to fairly reevaluate and reconsider that mindset. It could change your life.

Are you really praying daily?
_______________________________
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. – Jude 1:20-21