A Pistol & Prayer – Your Everyday Carry?

EDC stands for Everyday Carry. It’s a phrase typically used when talking about the self-defense equipment a person carries on them regularly. For instance, my ‘everyday carry’ consists of a Ruger LCP, two knives, and a tactical pen. In addition, I have recently added a neck knife to this list. So, unless I am at the pool in my swimming trunks, you can almost bet I am carrying those items on my at any given time.

This past week God has shown me the importance of adding prayer to my EDC list. Specifically prayers for protection. I have been studying an excellent book about prayer, “Intercessory Prayer” by Dutch Sheets. In this book, a chapter talks about our need to be praying for protection daily. We need to be praying daily for protection for ourselves, our loved ones, and our families. Jesus taught about this too when his disciples asked him to teach them to pray. He told us to ask God for our daily bread and to deliver us from evil. This type of prayer isn’t just a ‘one and done’ prayer but something we need to do regularly. It sets up ‘boundaries if you will and engages the agents of God according to His will.

I am not saying trials and trouble won’t ever come your way just because you pray daily for protection. But you cannot deny the uncountable amount of testimonies where deliverance came after prayer.

This week I learned firsthand the benefits of ‘EDC’ prayer. As I mentioned earlier, I had just studied about praying daily for protection and when the Holy Spirit puts someone on your heart/mind. So I taught my family and kids what I learned, and we started making it part of our morning family devotion routine.

Over the next two days, a couple of different friends told us that we were on their hearts and that they were praying for us. Then, the next day, my wife and I were getting ready in the morning, and she felt an incredible urgency to check on our littlest child, Joy. So she shouted downstairs to the teenagers to check on Joy. In just a few seconds, one of our teenagers yelled back up the stairs that all was fine.

That was about to change. In less than 3 minutes, we heard Joy yelling and crying from the backyard. As I ran down the stairs, my son came in yelling, “Joy’s in the pool without her floaties!”.

I think I took the last ten steps in one shot. As I came around the corner to the backyard, I could see Joy was already out of the pool, thanks to her sister Claire. She was completely wet and sobbing but unharmed. Both my wife and I thanked God out loud and scooped her up.

The pool out back is small, going from just under 3 to over 4 feet. But 4 feet is over Joy’s head. After falling in, she somehow treaded water long enough for her sister Claire to grab her and drag her up out of the pool. The entire ordeal was less than 15 seconds long. And we are so thankful for that.

That was about to change. In less than 3 minutes, we heard Joy yelling and crying from the backyard. As I ran down the stairs, my son came in yelling, “Joy’s in the pool without her floaties!”.

After we all got our hearts out of our throats and back in our chests, we prayed and thanked God for protecting Joy. It could have been a very different outcome if it weren’t for all the alerts God had sent us, including our friends feeling prompted to pray for us, the urgency my wife felt to check on Joy, and the placement of Claire near Joy. I do not believe these were coincidences. They were answers to our prayers.

Does God need our prayers to act? No. He’s God. He can do whatever He wants. But for His reasons, He has chosen often to require us to pray before He will act.

So if you get anything from this, it is this: Do not assume you don’t need to ask for protection. Put spiritual defenses up daily. Ask God to block the enemy’s plans against you. Build boundaries over your family and loved ones. And if you ever have the Holy Spirit put somebody on your mind/heart, stop what you are doing and pray for that person even if you don’t know why.

Adding prayer to your Everyday Carry will benefit you and your loved ones. It takes up less room than a pistol and has no shortage of ammo. Do it.