Prayer Focus 4
SUBMIT YOUR BODY, HEART, AND MIND TO GOD
Your body—including your heart and mind—is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That’s why God wants you to take good care of it. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you, caring for your body, mind, and emotions is something you do as much for Him as for yourself. While you don’t have to be preoccupied with your body, you do have to take care of the temple God has given you. You can’t feed it poorly, not give it enough proper exercise, fill it with poison, seldom give it enough rest, and then be critical of it when it doesn’t look the way you want it to or do what you want it to do. You must be grateful for it and treat it well.
God says He wants you to present your body to Him as a living sacrifice. He desires that you be a good steward of the body He has given you. But you need His help in order to do that. Every day you make choices as to what you will do with your body—what you will eat, whether you will exercise, how you will rest, and if you will be obedient to His ways and laws regarding it. Ask God to guide you daily in the care of your health, and seek Him for healing when you need it.
Sometimes we violate God’s ways with regard to our body care because we don’t know the right things to do. That’s why we must ask God to show us what to do and help us to do it. Most of the time, however, we just want to do what we want. We make Jesus Lord over our life, but not over our body or our health care habits. Many of the diseases, injuries, and infirmities we suffer happen because we have violated some of the natural laws of God. We need to ask God to help us live His way with regard to our health habits. When we do, He will guide us (Isaiah 30:21). Our health is too important not to pray about it every day. Below are a number of ways to pray. Choose a few of them each time you pray so that you will become a good steward of your body.
Twenty Ways to Pray About Taking Care of My Body
“Lord, bless my body and help me to…”
eat right and be attracted to health-giving food
get some form of good exercise several times a week experience sound, rejuvenating sleep control my stress level
rid myself of all toxins
get proper checkups
not ignore warning signs in my body
take proper supplements as I need them avoid doing things that will make me sick take precautions to avoid illness or disease not overindulge when I eat
avoid foods I know are not good for me
find peace by spending time in prayer and Your Word simplify my life in every way I can find peace in simplicity
eat more fruits and vegetables avoid eating too much sugar avoid eating too much of anything avoid ingesting harmful chemicals
eat more natural foods than highly processed foods
When you are mentally and emotionally healthy, you will have peace about who you are and where you are headed in your future. Even if you don’t know exactly who you are or where you are going, you can still have peace in your mind and emotions about all of that when you know God is in charge. The way to be sure He is in charge of your mind and emotions—your thoughts and feelings—is to ask Him to be.
Twenty Ways to Pray About My Mind and Emotions
“Lord, I pray that You would enable me to…”
have a clear mind
have a sound mind
think positive thoughts
not allow negativity to rule my attitude
dwell on the truth
identify lies
have peace in my mind and heart better handle stress
have the ability to learn easily have a good memory not have worry or fear
refuse to entertain guilt
be rid of all unforgiveness
have a heart filled with love
resist entertaining bad or upsetting thoughts
be free of all anxiety
live without depression
be rid of all loneliness
be free of perfectionism
experience great joy
Too often we berate ourselves because we do the wrong things with regard to caring for our body, mind, and emotions. We let the guilt we feel—when we do what we know is not right—overcome us and affect our relationship with God. We don’t pray as much because we don’t feel we deserve to come before God. But God wants us to
depend on Him to help us with that too. So instead of feeling badly and criticizing yourself for not being perfect in the area of body care, ask God to enable you to do what you need to do. He will. Ask Him for patience in the process.
PRAYER POWER
Lord, I submit my body to You. Help me to be disciplined in the way I care for it. Help me to choose health-filled and life-giving foods and be able to resist eating what I should not have. Enable me to make the right choices with regard to what I eat. Give me the strength I need to avoid what is not good for me. Help me to always be attracted to food that is beneficial.
Give me the self-discipline I need to properly exercise in order to strengthen my body and rid it of all toxins. Help me to do what is necessary to have good and beneficial rest. Only You know what is best for me. Show me things I need to see. Teach me all I must learn. Lead me to the right people to help and advise me. Keep me from doing anything careless or indulgent. Thank You that I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Help me to value and take proper care of the body You have given me.
Thank You, Lord, that You are my Healer. If there is any
place in my body right now that is not well or whole, I pray You would heal me completely. Show me whatever I need to see or do. If I should see a doctor, help me to find the right one to go to. The ways I want to be healed today are
“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed” (Jeremiah 17:14).
Lord, take control of my mind and emotions. Help me to think clearly. Enable me to discern the truth from a lie and not allow wrong or negative thoughts into my mind. Help me to choose my thoughts carefully and fill my mind with only thoughts and images that are glorifying to You. Thank You that I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Help me to live every day with peace in my heart and mind. Take away all stress and teach me to live a simpler and more contented life. Enable me to see all the good in my life and not dwell on the negatives. Thank You for the sound mind You have given me (2 Timothy 1:7).
The thing I struggle with most in the area of my mind and emotions is _________________________
The greatest area of stress in my life is _
Create in me a clean heart that is free of all negativity and unforgiveness. Help me to have Your love and forgiveness in my heart. Enable me to live in peace, tranquility, simplicity, and good health.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
WORD POWER
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. PSALM 139:14
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ROMANS 12:1
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.
ECCLESIASTES 7:18 NIV
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save
me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.
JEREMIAH 17:14
“Who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:16
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 TIMOTHY 1:7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7
He will die for lack of discipline, led
astray by his own great folly.
PROVERBS 5:23 NIV
