Lord, You are my rear guard and my leading commander. With a holy jealousy, let me not open the gates of my heart to any except You. I measure my steps by faith as best I can. Forgive me for occasions when I mar the luster of Your sovereignty be craving advice from my fellow man. Though the balance of my circumstances feels precarious at times, I would rather stand upon the rock of Your Word than trust in the props and buttresses of cultural ideologies. I am grateful for Your endless provision when scarcity threatens to undermine my trust in You. Let me not be hasty and seek the counsel of friends before coming to You in prayer. My implicit reliance on Your strong arm is not a sign of weakness but a mark of faith. Though I am prone to neglect the manifold wisdom of Your answers when they are slow in coming, protect me from my own foolishness to seek out any source to my dilemma besides You. In the greatest spiritual battles there is but one way to fight. So I come to the altar in prayer so that You might teach me how to wield the sword of the Spirit against my enemy. Under the blessed assurance that only comes through Your Word as set down in Ephesians 6:17-18 and the authority of Christ, I bow in prayer.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:17-18, NIV