40 Days of Praise: You Can Elevate Your Prayer Life

By Rebecca Jean Downey

Now is the hour! Three times in Psalm 118, King David encourages us to experience the Now of knowing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through prayer and praise. Through 40 Days of Praise you will learn how to pray and why to pray in the way Jesus taught His Disciples.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DOWNEY CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649219930

Rebecca Jean Downey

Benard Owuondo is a graphic artist with thousands of book designs in print. British born, Benard studied in the U.S. and now lives in Kenya with his wife and children.

Book preview

Creative Solutions Publishing House, 2020

40 Days of Praise

Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca Jean Downey

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Creative Solutions Publishing,

1911 SW Campus Dr., # 304, Federal Way, WA 98023

ISBN: 978-1-7923-3112-1 (softcover)

All scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible. The following translations are attributed in this book of prayers:

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked as KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Permission given by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries for the use of text from the NLT applies to the specific use requested. 

Contemporary English Version:

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

No part of 40 Days of Praise may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Cover Design: Benard Owuondo

Photo Credit: Benard Owuondo

Interior Design: Benard Owuondo

Printed in the United States of America

Creative Solutions Publishing House

Federal Way, Washington

40 Days of Praise © 2020

Table of Contents

Introduction

Before You Begin

Prayers for a Heart Like David’s

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Day 34

Day 35

Day 36

Day 37

Day 38

Day 39

Day 40

Introduction

Before You begin 40 Days of Praise, I recommend thinking through what a good prayer life would look like for you. How would you measure success? Are you short on time and long on responsibilities? Where will you find this extra time to pray intentionally each day? Our Lord is a practical God, Who knows all about time. He injected minutes, hours, days and years into humanity so that we would be able to measure our achievements and consider our failures. He knows just how much earthly time it takes to develop new habits, and to break harmful ones.

And therefore, your own 40-day journey, should include some parameters on what you would consider as a satisfying prayer life. What success is to me, is not success to you. While I have a fulltime job, my children are grown. I do not have to prepare anyone’s breakfast, pack their lunches, or participate in a carpool. The first task for you, is finding time to pray. Ask God in prayer to suggest a good time. Remember, He’s the ultimate time management expert. He’s seen it all before and I’m sure there is a window in your day, reserved just for Your prayer. I’m excited because I know God longs to hear from you! Jesus told us in Matthew 22:37 to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. I believe a solid, intentional prayer life is the first step in learning all about how to love Jesus.

While commuting to work is generally a popular time to listen to the radio, an audio book or your own play list, it may not always be the best place to pray. More than 114 million people drive alone in their cars to and from work each day. While I would love to think that each of them are praying, they are most likely distracted with worry about their families, finances, and jobs. In other words, they aren’t always focused on the drive. I would ask for you to have your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.

We can pray during our lunch hour. But if you generally enjoy eating with your colleagues, I would encourage you to continue, because God also communicates through friendships, and angels unaware. If you work from home, there are often even more demands on your time because you don’t want to appear idle and you accept assignments that overwhelm you. In this case, take a prayer break in the afternoon, when the frustrations of the day