a prayer to clothe yourself

After yesterday's post, I remembered a prayer given to me several years ago by my friend Roger; it makes Colossians 3 “pray-able.” What made me think of it was the final section, which addresses what we are clothed with. Here’s the prayer:

I declare that:

• I have been raised with Christ.
• I set my heart on things above, where Christ is seated.
• I set my mind on things above.
• I do not set my mind on earthly things.
• I have died and my life is now hidden with Christ in God.
• When Christ, who is my life, appears, then I also will appear with him in glory.

I right now put to death whatever belongs to my earthly nature:

• I put to death sexual immorality.
• I put to death impurity.
• I put to death lust.
• I put to death evil desires.
• I put to death greed.
• I rid myself of anger.
• I rid myself of rage.
• I rid myself of malice.
• I rid myself of slander.
• I rid myself of all filthy language from my lips.
• I rid myself of deceitful spirits and all lying.

I put on the new self, which is continually renewed as I learn more about Christ, who made me new. It doesn’t matter who or what I once was. All that matters now is Christ, and He lives in me. I am God’s chosen person, holy and dearly loved, and therefore:

• I clothe myself with compassion.
• I clothe myself with kindness.
• I clothe myself with humility.
• I clothe myself with gentleness.
• I clothe myself with patience.
• I clothe myself with forgiveness toward all whom I come in contact with.
• I forgive as the Lord forgave me.
• I put on love, which binds these all together in perfect unity.
• I let the peace of Christ rule in my heart, since I am called to peace.
• I have a thankful heart.
• Whatever I do, whether in word or deed, I do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
• I give thanks to the Lord in every situation.

It’s been a while since I’ve prayed this regularly, but I think it’s time to use it again. One of the things I like about this prayer or confession is the repetition. You might think, as I did the first time through it, that the “I rid myself” and “I clothe myself” over and over was a waste of time. I discovered, however, that the repetition was very helpful; saying “I rid myself” six times really reinforced to me that I was making a choice to rid myself of sin.

Here’s how I used this prayer: I have a copy on my pda that I could open and read; since I always carry my Palm, I always have the prayer with me. I also printed it out in a large type size, put it in a plastic sheet protector, and taped it up in the shower. The large type means I don’t strain to read it. Since I shower everyday, I’m guaranteed to see and use the prayer. If you decide to do this, I recommend using wide tape and running it across the entire opening of the sheet protector. This will help to keep water out and your paper dry. Though I can’t give you the sheet protector, I can give you a prayer; it’s a pdf.

My prayer is that you find this helpful–let me know how you use it!

Tagged as: colossians, prayer, spiritual-clothing