Every Day I Pray: Prayers for Awakening to the Grace of Inner Communion

by Iyanla Vanzant

Overview

“The most powerful spiritual healer, fixer, teacher on the planet.” —Oprah Winfrey

From the bestselling author of Until Today! and One Day My Soul Just Opened Up comes a unique invitation to prayer—and her most deeply personal book yet.

Over the years, bestselling author Iyanla Vanzant has received many letters from readers who want to know how to pray. Some are afraid they are praying wrong. Some want a formula. Some think their prayers are unworthy. Here, Iyanla shares the realizations that changed her experience with prayer once and for all: Every thought, every word, every action is a prayer; focus on God's presence in everything—and everyone—and prayer becomes as natural as breathing.

The prayers in Everyday I Pray culled from Iyanla's own prayer journal, address a variety of topics and situations. It is Iyanla's hope that they will spark a light in the hearts of readers, and that others will come to know the peace of God's grace. With this intimate collection, she invites readers everywhere to join her in making the thoughts, words, and deeds of everyday life more reverent, honorable, and loving.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439142523
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	09/18/2012
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Iyanla Vanzant is one of the country’s most celebrated writers and public speakers, and she’s among the most influential, socially engaged, and acclaimed spiritual life coaches of our time. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen books which have been translated into twenty-three languages, and the host and executive producer of the award-winning breakout hit Iyanla: Fix My Life, the #1 reality show on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. As Founder of Inner Visions World Wide, Iyanla is actively engaged in personal development courses and on-going training programs for spiritual life coaches, and ordained ministers at Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development.  

Table of Contents

	Introduction	15
	For Building a Prayer Life	25
	Morning Prayer	28
	Let There Be Light	31
	Prayer of Acknowledgment	33
	Prayer for Alignment with God	35
	Practicing the Presence of God	38
	Welcoming the Holy Spirit into Your Life	40
	Prayer for Guidance	42
	I Am!	43
	Prayer for Clarity	45
	I Am Willing to Change	48
	Prayer of Transformation	49
	Prayer for Inner Strength	51
	Please Untie the Nots	54
	Prayer for Divine Correction	56
	God's Promise	60
	The Perfect Love	62
	A Blessing for the Body	63
	Prayer for a Married Couple	65
	A Father's Prayer for His Child	68
	A Mother's Prayer for Her Child(ren)	71
	A Mother's Prayer for Her Unborn Child	74
	Prayer for Protection	78
	A Prayer for Self-Forgiveness	80
	The Freedom of Forgiveness	83
	Please Forgive Me	84
	Prayer for Strength When Doing Something New	87
	Prayer for Peace in Difficult Tasks	90
	Prayer for the Overwhelmed	92
	To Eliminate Tiredness or Exhaustion	94
	To Speak the Truth	96
	Prayer of Thanksgiving	98
	Blessing for a Meal	100
	Just a Bit of Thanks!	101
	Prosperity Prayer	103
	Prayer to Eliminate Debt	107
	Prayer of Gratitude	110
	I Am Thanking You Right Now	112
	Thank God for Faith!	115
	Prayer for Faith	117
	The Divine Power in Me	119
	In Fear or Anxiety	123
	In Times of Despair	125
	In Regret	127
	In Times of Loneliness	130
	In Times of Grief	132
	For Wisdom Through Grief	135
	When You've Been Hurt	137
	Prayer When Ending a Relationship (or in Any Experience of Sudden Loss)	140
	In My Weakest Moment	143
	Prayer of Surrender	144
	Prayer for Healing	147
	Prayer for Peace	149
	The Power of Peace	150
	Prayer for World Peace	152
	Prayer of Celebration	154
	Evening Prayer	157

Editorial Reviews

Oftentimes strength, peace, inspiration, grace, and comfort are realized through prayer. But what constitutes a prayer? Writes Iyanla Vanzant: “Every thought, every word, every action is a prayer." In Every Day I Pray, Vanzant offers more than 50 prayers from her personal Prayer Journal, each addressing a different topic or need. Vanzant hopes “they will spark a light within your heart. Perhaps in the presence of the light you will be inspired to write a prayer of two of your own…[and you] will come to know and experience the peace of God’s grace.”

bn.com

Prayer is "an inner communion with the divine" and should be "as natural as breathing," writes spirituality diva Vanzant, author of the bestselling In the Meantime, in this collection drawn from her ongoing "Prayer Journal." There's undeniable energy (and a lot of exclamation points) in Vanzant's personal entreaties; she's fond of ringing but generic affirmations of God (who is "awesome," "magnificent," "amazing" and "a skilled negotiator") and self ("I praise my body! I love my body!"). "[E]very thought, every word, every action is a prayer," Vanzant says, but she still offers specifics: there are prayers for "Alignment with God" and for blessing married couples; to "Eliminate Tiredness or Exhaustion" and to give thanks. Her fervent desire for the Divine presence in every facet of life will be inspiring for many, but others might find her detailed invocations ("Teach me to monitor my thoughts and desires to ensure that they are filled with love, harmony and peace for myself and everyone in my life in all situations and under all circumstances"; "Please purge my agenda today. Take out of my life everything...that could possibly take my focus from you") a trifle demanding. Replete with "I" statements, many of her prayers seem self-absorbed; the longer, more reflective ones, such as "Prayer When Ending a Relationship" and "God's Promise" strike deeper chords. Vanzant's spirituality of is powerful and motivating, as is her rags-to-riches bio, but occasionally this volume seems as much about her as it is about God. Photos of Vanzant and her children. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly