The features of “Prayer for Intention” can vary depending on individual beliefs and religious traditions. However, some common elements include:
1. Intentional Focus: The prayer is centered around a specific intention, rather than a general or vague request. It requires a clear
Intention prayer is a powerful and deeply personal practice that allows individuals to communicate their desires, hopes, and wishes to a higher power or the universe. This form of prayer is not bound by any specific religious tradition and can be customized to suit the beliefs and needs of the person offering the prayer. An intention prayer is a way of setting a clear and focused intention for a specific outcome or aspect of your life. It is a way to bring your thoughts and desires into alignment with your spiritual beliefs and to ask for guidance and assistance in manifesting your intentions.
What is an example of intention prayer?
Example of an Intention Prayer:
“Dear [Higher Power/Universe/Deity],
I come before you with an open heart and a clear mind. I wish to set an intention for [state your intention, e.g., love, healing, success, abundance, or any specific desire].
I ask for your guidance, support, and assistance in manifesting this intention in my life. Please help me stay aligned with my purpose and keep me open to receiving the blessings and opportunities that will lead me towards my goal.
I trust that my intention is heard, and I am open to your divine wisdom and timing.
Thank you for your love, guidance, and support.
Amen/So be it.”
This example serves as a template for an intention prayer, and you can customize it to fit your specific needs and beliefs. The key to an intention prayer is to express your desires clearly, believe in the power of your intention, and have faith that the universe or your chosen higher power is working to help you achieve your goals.
How do you make an intention prayer?
Making an intention prayer is a deeply personal and spiritual process. It involves connecting with your inner self, expressing your desires and intentions, and seeking guidance and support from a higher power, the universe, or your own spiritual beliefs. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make an intention prayer:
1. Find a Quiet and Sacred Space:
Begin by finding a quiet and peaceful place where you can concentrate without distractions. You can light a candle, burn incense, or create a serene atmosphere that helps you connect with your spiritual self.
2. Center Yourself:
Take a few moments to center yourself through deep breaths or meditation. This helps you calm your mind and create a receptive state for your intention prayer.
3. Express Gratitude:
Start your prayer with expressions of gratitude. Thank your chosen higher power, the universe, or your spiritual beliefs for all the blessings and experiences in your life. Gratitude sets a positive tone for your intention.
4. Clearly State Your Intention:
Clearly and concisely state your intention. Be specific about what you wish to manifest or achieve. Whether it’s about love, health, success, or any other desire, articulate it in a way that leaves no room for ambiguity.
5. Ask for Guidance and Support:
Ask for guidance, support, and assistance in manifesting your intention. You can request help in staying on the right path or being open to opportunities that align with your intention.
6. Have Faith and Belief:
Believe in the power of your intention and have faith that your prayer is heard. Trust that the universe or your chosen higher power is working on your behalf.
7. Close with Gratitude:
End your intention prayer with more expressions of gratitude. Thank your higher power or the universe for listening to your prayer and for the guidance and support you believe you will receive.
8. End with “Amen” or a Personal Closing:
Conclude your prayer with “Amen” if it aligns with your beliefs, or use a closing statement that resonates with you. For example, “So be it” or any other phrase that holds personal significance.
What is the special intention prayer for family?
Family is one of the most cherished aspects of our lives, and it’s natural to want to offer special intention prayers for the well-being, unity, and happiness of our loved ones. A special intention prayer for family is a heartfelt and customized prayer that seeks blessings, protection, and positive energies for your family members. Here’s an example of a special intention prayer for family:
Special Intention Prayer for Family:
“Dear [Higher Power/Universe/Deity],
I come before you with a heart full of love and gratitude for my family. I wish to set a special intention for the well-being and happiness of my family members.
Please bless my family with health, love, and unity. Help us to support and cherish each other, even in times of difficulty. Guide us in our relationships and strengthen the bonds that connect us.
I ask for protection and safety for each member of my family, both near and far. Shield us from harm and keep us in your loving care.
Grant us the wisdom to navigate life’s challenges and the grace to celebrate life’s joys together. Help us to communicate openly and honestly, and may forgiveness and understanding be the pillars of our family dynamics.
I trust that my intention is heard, and I am open to your divine wisdom and timing.
Thank you for your love, guidance, and support.
Amen/So be it.”
This special intention prayer for family focuses on the well-being, unity, and happiness of family members. You can customize this prayer to address specific concerns or desires you have for your family, and you can use it as a template to express your love and intention for your loved ones.
How do you pray for purpose?
Praying for purpose is a profound and meaningful practice, as it involves seeking clarity, direction, and a deeper understanding of one’s life path and calling. When you pray for purpose, you’re essentially asking for guidance, insight, and the alignment of your actions with your true calling. Here’s how to pray for purpose:
1. Set Your Intention:
Begin by setting a clear intention for your prayer. Take a moment to reflect on what you seek in terms of your life’s purpose. It could be related to your career, relationships, personal growth, or any other aspect of your life.
2. Find a Quiet Space:
Find a quiet and peaceful space where you can pray without distractions. You can light a candle or use other elements that help you create a sacred atmosphere.
3. Center Yourself:
Take a few deep breaths and practice mindfulness or meditation to center yourself. This will help you focus and open your heart and mind to receive guidance.
4. Express Gratitude:
Begin your prayer by expressing gratitude for the experiences, opportunities, and blessings that have led you to this moment. Gratitude helps set a positive tone for your prayer.
5. Seek Clarity and Guidance:
Pray for clarity and guidance in discovering your life’s purpose. You can ask for insight, signs, or opportunities that will lead you toward your true calling. Be open to the answers that may come through your thoughts, feelings, or external signs.
6. Surrender and Trust:
Surrender your need for control and trust that the universe, a higher power, or your inner wisdom will guide you in the right direction. Trust that you are on a journey of self-discovery.
7. Listen and Reflect:
After your prayer, take time to listen to your inner self and reflect on any insights or feelings that arise. Pay attention to your intuition and any signs or synchronicities that may occur in your daily life.
8. Take Inspired Action:
Purpose often reveals itself through action. As you receive guidance and insights, be ready to take inspired action. This might involve making changes in your life, pursuing new opportunities, or deepening your skills and passions.
9. Continual Prayer:
Praying for purpose is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing process of self-discovery and alignment with your calling. Continue to pray, reflect, and take action as you journey toward a more purposeful life.
Praying for purpose is a deeply personal and spiritual journey. Trust that with patience, intention, and faith, you will find the guidance and clarity you seek to live a purposeful life.
Morning Worries?
Relearning How to Open Our Eyes through “Prayers of Intention”
John Coe and Kyle Strobel
It became clear to me several years ago that every time I would wake up, morning after morning, my heart would automatically take me in one direction or another. My heart was like a compass needle, immediately seeking North to my true desires, worries and fears. My mind would immediately go to things that weighed on me, and these thoughts revealed something true of me. I am a worrier. Instead of getting up and putting on a robe, my heart would awake and put on worry. I often worried before I went to bed and, like a close traveling companion, worry would revisit me upon waking. Perhaps you relate with this, particularly as the pandemic Covid-19 greets us every morning on the news. Worry is when our fears move us into our autonomy and away from faith so that we believe that we cannot take our eyes off the problem for fear that no one, including God, will attend to it. The essence of worry is distrust in God, which is the intention of the heart trained in worry.
But I didn’t worry on purpose. That is, I did not consciously intend to worry; I didn’t say to myself, “John, today you want to worry.” In fact, it was the opposite — on the surface I didn’t want to worry! But most mornings, there it was; it was so automatic that it went on unnoticed. Worry was the first movement of my heart, revealing the “deep intentions” in my character. But it wasn’t only worry. Whatever was bothering me in the day, whatever tasks I had to do, as soon as I would wake up, my mind would immediately go there. When Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also,” he was giving us a way to attend to where our hearts naturally turn us. Why was the true North of my soul worry, and what could I do about it?
There came a moment several years ago where I thought to myself, John, I’m tired of doing this. I want to open to the Lord the first thing in the morning. I was tired of the sin habits of my soul setting the agenda for my day and immediately going to its troubles. I was fed up with the broken intentions of my heart. That is when I told the Lord that I wanted to “intend” my day differently. Behind this was Dallas Willard’s notion that whenever the Scriptures command or give you a task to do, one can translate that command into a “spiritual discipline” or training. In this case, I took the command in Romans to present myself to God as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1–2) and translated this into a “prayer of intention.” This was a way to intentionally direct, or better, redirect the heart at the very dawn of my day. I wanted to re-learn how to walk with the Spirit rather than walk in the old habits of the flesh.
What drives the prayers of intention is what Paul tells us in Romans 6:13, “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” Likewise, and similarly, Paul goes on to tell them, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Notice the focus on our need to intend to present oneself to God. In prayers of intention we make an explicit effort to bring ourselves to God. Thus, prayers of intention are various ways of presenting ourselves to God and, in that presenting, making an intention to live life with him throughout the day. In that sense, a prayer of intention is a kind of “prayer of presenting” ourselves to God each day. As Christians we have an intention deep in our hearts, but, at times, it is commandeered by contrary habits and intentions of life, heart and body that lead us elsewhere. Thus, it is important to be explicit about this intending.
So what I began doing several years ago is shutting down what my heart grabs onto when I wake, and instead intentionally prayed a “prayer of intention” to God, a prayer of presenting myself to the Lord: “Lord, I am here, I present myself to you. Here I am. Before I do anything else, I first want to be with you.” My first move is not finding a solution to my worries. Rather, the first thing I need to do is intend to be with God. That means I am intending to actually show up in his presence, and not just try to use God to get life on my terms. I want to be with God regardless of what he has for me. There is nothing more simple and possible than this, and this has been such a gift and relief to me.
Of course, the next morning my worries emerged again, unsurprisingly, and so I once again refused to continue down that road, and came back to the prayer of intention: “Here I am Lord, I present myself to you!” Admittedly, I may not be able to sustain this intention long through the day. Because my character has been trained in fleshly ways of intending over decades, when I am confronted with the troubles of the day my heart moves to the old habits of worry and fleshly control. I can’t just make this go away. But what I can do, throughout my day, is present myself to the Lord with another new intention — “Stop, John, this is not the way. Lord, I again present myself to you. Here I am. Let’s talk about this.” Again and again the Christian can find joy in being with the Lord in the midst of brokenness and rebellion, amidst confusion and pandemic, knowing the Lord’s shepherding heart in those places of our weakness.
In being present to God I am not ignoring what my heart wants from me, but I am recalling my heart to a deeper and more profound reality than my own desires and my own strategies for navigating life. But I can bring those desires before God only if I am honest about them. When I am confronted with my worry, I know that a part of that worry is the desire for control. I want to have the ability to will the life I want into existence. I want to have life on my terms. I want to control how things turn out. So as I present myself in truth to God, to be with God, I present the truth of what is going on in the heart: Father, look at these desires. In my flesh I want to have life on my own terms, in my own way, for my own ends. I am tempted to try to use you to fix all of this, and to try to get the life I want. But O God, I present myself to you. God, above all, I want you, and I want to be faithful to you, whatever you have for me, wherever you lead me.
Practicing Four Prayers of Intention Upon Awakening: 3–4 minutes total
For these four prayers of intention specifically, give yourself about three to four minutes total right when you wake up, as soon as your eyes open. If possible, do these before you to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water and before you begin your coffee regiment.
- Prayer of HonestyFirst, briefly, as soon as you open your eyes, attend for a minute or less to where your soul wants to go. Where does your heart want to lead you? What bubbles up from your heart? What worries, anxieties, fears, joys and loves reveal themselves? Be with God in this. But do not attend to this too long here, possibly a minute or less, lest you get caught up in this. Nevertheless, notice what you are feeling and thinking with God, and pay attention to the treasures of your heart. This is honesty and good to know about your heart before him.
- Prayer of Presenting OneselfSecond, and more importantly, move on and spend a minute intentionally presenting yourself to the Lord: “Lord, I am here, I present myself to you. Before I present myself to my concerns or worries, I present myself to you: Here I am. I want, first, to be with you this day before all the other treasures of my soul.” Allow yourself to sit with him, to let him be first to you, and just enjoy this. Sometimes you will, and this is wonderful. Other times your soul may betray you with its old conditioning: You don’t want to present yourself to the Lord, you feel “out of it,” or you want to go back to the first movement of your heart upon waking? If that is what is going on, don’t hide it, tell it to God. Tell the Lord, “Yes, Lord, I don’t feel like doing this. I feel like … [tell him what you feel]. This is true of me Lord, but I am here, and I present myself to you. Oh God, have mercy; here I am.”
- Prayer of IdentityThird, remind your soul for one minute in the presence of God of who you really are in Christ before you take on the cares of the day. “Lord, at the core of my soul, I am not just a worrier or one who wants to control or be successful this day. At the core, I have been crucified with Christ, Christ is my life. In Christ, I am fully forgiven, fully accepted in his love. Whatever I do today I want to do it with and in him. That is my true identity. And when I fail in this, remind me again, oh God, that I am ever your beloved.” This reminder helps guard my heart from temptation to do life apart from my true identity in God.
- Prayer of ConcernsFourth, now consider, just for another minute or two, what you believe this day holds for you, what meetings you have, plans you’ve laid out, or troubles you think are coming your way. Pray them in as straightforward a manner as possible concerning what is on your heart: Lord, here is what is on my soul … take them, they are yours. Lord, I am yours. Help me to be with you in these things. Help me abide in you here, and all that this day holds. I want to be faithful to you in all that you call me into. Here I am. And here are my concerns. Amen.
You may find over time a new joy emerge in this, a brief relief or retrieve from our knee-jerk reactions upon awakening. Try it. Over the past 10 years they have been used by God to change my life. It is within your and my power to open our eyes each day first to the Lord.
