Janessa Shyda

Tag: Quiet Time

  • New Favorite Verse to Pray Over my Toddlers Daily

    New Favorite Verse to Pray Over my Toddlers Daily

    In my most recent posts I have explained when I started praying for my children and how we incorporate prayer into our daily life.

    While I would say I’ve developed a good habit of praying for my children, my prayers sometimes feel repetitive. Though they are still powerful and God hears them, I strive to know Scripture well so I can more consistently pray Scripture over my children, because I know those are the truest words I can bless them with—and that pleases the Lord.

    I was reading Psalm 5 today and was FLOORED about how I can pray it over my boys.

    But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
        will enter your house.
    I will bow down toward your holy temple
        in the fear of you.
    8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
        because of my enemies;
        make your way straight before me.

    9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
        their inmost self is destruction;
    their throat is an open grave;
        they flatter with their tongue.
    10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
        let them fall by their own counsels;
    because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
        for they have rebelled against you.

    11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
        let them ever sing for joy,
    and spread your protection over them,
        that those who love your name may exult in you.
    12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
        you cover him with favor as with a shield.     – Psalm 5:7-12 (ESV)

    This verse contains so many phrases that left me in awe—they are perfect and so beautiful to pray over children. I feel like any believing mother or father would naturally want to use this passage to pray over their son or daughter—it’s a no-brainer.

    How to Pray This Verse Over Children

    Obviously my children don’t have enemies like David is referencing in the passage above so my prayer wouldn’t necessarily feature how David declares the fate of his enemies. Here is what my prayer is for my boys. This is an example of praying Scripture over your children:

    Lord, I just pray the sons you blessed me with recognize the abundance of your steadfast love — that they will be led in your righteousness, and that your path is made straight before them. May they not stray from the way you have laid out for them.

    May they take refuge in you and rejoice. May they sing for joy and worship you daily, through all the years of their lives.

    Lord, please spread your protection over them. Please cover them with the shield that is your favor.

    I will continue to share and update you all on some of my favorite verses that I lean on when praying over my boys, but this one moved me so much today that I had to share it. I wrote the verse down in my prayer journal, read it with my oldest, and now I’m writing to reflect on how the Lord granted me the privilege of coming across this Psalm today.

  • The Armor of God: How Women Can Apply This Verse to Their Life

    The Armor of God: How Women Can Apply This Verse to Their Life

    Armor. Swords. Helmets. Warfare. All things not typically associated with being a young woman, wife, and/or a mother. But the fact of the matter is, spiritual warfare is happening and we need the armor of God to remain strong and righteous. So, what is the armor of God exactly?

    10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV

    This verse is the foundation for the mission of this space: Using the Sword of the Spirit to Steward Daily Life Well.

    I chose the Sword specifically because the Word of God, the Bible, is literally the basis to my household’s values, the foundation to my faith and is quite literally God-breathed. Without the Word, I would simply be standing on sifting sand. How I find joy would be dependent on the day’s circumstances.

    Without God’s Word I am vulnerable to all kinds of temptation from the Enemy as Ephesians 6 clearly says, but I know for me specifically I am at risk of giving in to anger and frustration if I don’t have the Word of God on my heart to tame my tongue and actions. Whether a child is misbehaving, ‘my plan’ for the day is unexpectedly altered, or something doesn’t go right at work, I have no excuse to act on anger and frustration. Here’s an example of how I use the Sword of the Spirit to combat anger. If the Sword is the Word of God then I need a verse that is God’s Truth, the only Truth, to engrain into my heart and mind when I am tempted to act on anger.

    I cling to this verse:

    26 “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. “ – Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV

    It’s important to note that being angry isn’t a sin. It’s acting on it: yelling, using harsh words, being impatient, lacking self-control, being aggressive instead of gentle – basically anything that contradicts the Fruits of the Spirit is a sin. We will talk about the Fruits of the Spirit in next week’s post.

    Not being in the Word would leave me making decisions based on the “knowledge” of man and that is simply not knowledge at all.

    “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 NIV

    I hope this post encourages you to study God’s Word more in order to better steward the gifts of speech, time, your household, your community, and more.

  • Part 2: Praying for (and with) Littles

    Part 2: Praying for (and with) Littles

    If you’re new here, you can read the mission of this blog, Part I of this blog series on praying for littles, and the resources we use for prayer  in the previous blog posts.

    Let’s take a look at my average ‘Day in the (Prayer) Life’ as a mom of two.

    Morning

    6:00 AM – 6:30 AM: My boys typically wake up this early. My oldest especially has always been an early riser. I have learned to find joy in this. I try to get up at 5:30 AM because I do like to have some Bible reading done in quiet. But when the boys get up, we break out their Bible and read from there. Typically my oldest always likes to read about David and Goliath and then we usually go over to the Psalms and Proverbs. I have found that these books are great to start out with for younger kids because they are easier verses to memorize.

    7:30 AM – Breakfast Time: We either have kids worship music on like Listener Kids, The Wonder Kids or we have Bible Stories for Kids on. Sometimes we don’t. But we do pray for each other and bless the food we are about to eat at each meal. Breakfast time is the meal time that I feel like my kids are the sharpest and most attentive so this is a good scripture memory time. One of my favorite memories was when my oldest learned Psalm 31:

    “Be strong and take heart, all who hope in the Lord.”  (NIV)

    I loved his little flexing move he did with that verse. 💪

    9:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Prayer is scattered through this chunk of the day; same between 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Prayer is usually done through correction as a mother. Here are a few examples of what that looks like: 

    “No no, please don’t hit your brother. That is not practicing self-control with our hands. Let’s pray for self-control! That is one of the fruits of the Spirit that Jesus wants us to practice.”

    “Oh buddy, I know you’re upset with your brother. I know it may take some time but let’s pray for forgiveness. Your brother is a gift from God just like you!”

    Afternoon

    12:00 PM – Lunch Time: Lunch is a very similar prayer format to breakfast time; we pray for each other, the meal, and any parts of the day that has already happened that we are grateful for. We also will pray for whatever fruits of the Spirit we realized that we needed to work on between the hours of 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. 

    12:30 PM – Nap Time: After lunch we head to bed and pray for good rest, the day we’ve had so far, and to have a good rest of the day when we wake up. We also pray a prayer of gratitude for the child that is about to get some rest and for God’s protection over them for all the days of their life. 

    3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: This is a chunk of the day where we are praying through correction, if there are any boo-boos, etc. I will also be praying in my head throughout the day.

    Here’s what that can sound like internally:

    “Lord, please give me direction in mothering these boys. Please help me steward the fruits of Spirit well to be a good wife and mom. Help me to not show anger and lack of self-control; I strive to be a witness to your sacrifice, love, grace, and mercy through all the seconds of the day. I know I can’t be perfect but help me to try with my whole heart and the power of your Holy Spirit! Amen.”

    Obviously when stress is high or I am emotionally burnt out, or exhausted more than usual, prayers tend to sometimes be on the short and concise side:

    “Help me Lord.”

    “Strip me of the negative actions and mindset Lord,”

    “Please please please make my heart posture towards my kids be that of viewing them as blessings NOT burdens.” 

    Evening

    5:30 PM – Dinner: This prayer structure is very similar to the first two meal prayers. Thanking the Lord for each other, the meal, the things that went well in the day, the people who need our prayers, and His guidance and forgiveness for things that may not have gone well. 

    7:30 PM – Bedtime: All the chunks of the day and the prayers that come with it mean so much to Him. The bedtime prayer routine is one I just treasure so much because we’ve been most consistent with this prayer time the longest, since my oldest was a newborn. This prayer structure is very much thanking the Lord for the child I am putting to bed, the personality traits, the spiritual gifts, and the strengths each child possesses. We also pray for their salvation and that they surrender their lives to Jesus. This is then followed by a prayer of gratitude for what Jesus did for us on the cross and for the love, grace, and mercy He extends to us so that if we may believe in Him and we may have Eternity with Him. Basically John 3:16: 

    “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

    None of this is perfect and sometimes prayers are condensed or shorter.

    I have some goals on how I want to grow my prayer life with my kids, husband, and personally:

    • Praying in the morning when we’re heading out the door needs to improve. We don’t do a very good job at this before the kids head out before we go to work. We could definitely improve here. 
    • Praying as husband and wife together out loud. It’s easy to get comfortable with praying individually in your head on behalf of your spouse and children. Therefore, praying out loud together as husband and wife is definitely not the first thing we gravitate towards in our prayer life but it is such a unifying way to lift each other up and the family up in prayer and reiterate to the Lord that you and your spouse are united as husband and wife. 
    • I would love to pray in a closed off space more consistently like my closet — free from distractions and technology and not worried about the time passing or keeping to a schedule. Sometimes praying can feel like it’s just on the to-do list. Having a segment of the day where you’re not bound by time or something after like eating, sleep, getting out the door, etc is really freeing! I am going to start doing this more.
    • Writing down my prayers more consistently – I have a prayer journal and I have found that writing down prayers helps me recognize when God answers them.

    I hope this is helpful and demonstrates how your prayer life can be a consistent thread throughout the day. Sometimes it’s done out loud and sometimes it is in your head to the Lord. Either way, no matter how it looks and sounds like, what matters is that prayer is done because the Lord does hear you!

    “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” – James 5:16 NIV

  • Daily Bible Time Reflection Meets DITL Content as a Wife, Mother, and Marketer

    Daily Bible Time Reflection Meets DITL Content as a Wife, Mother, and Marketer

    With this first post, I truly seek to communicate the current ‘why’ behind this space.

    Reflection, specifically reflecting on Scripture, is a part of my daily life. So, I decided to make my reflections public in hopes to generate a community of Believers who seek to understand and apply God’s Word.

    Here’s the main mission of this blog / these reflections:

    What He has done and how He has commanded us to live ultimately impacts my daily behavior and tasks as a wife, mother, and marketer in the corporate world. I look to ALL of Scripture to give me inspiration into how I can obey God and give glory to Him in what I do in the modern world.

    So, welcome to this blog that at the end of the day is Scripture reflection meets day in the life content. I am grateful you are here 🙂