My Travel Prayer List

For all the Christian travellers taking off on whatever adventure is ahead you should also bare in mind preparing yourself for your trip through prayer. We are brothers and sisters of Christ and therefore always standing in as a representation of our faith. On your trip you will meet lots of new faces and people to talk too. It is our duty to spread our Lord's message so even if you can't vocally speak out, show with your actions and be a light to those who cross your path. The three most important topics I will be covering for my travels through prayer are:

1.Guidance
2.Protection -Laws of the Land
                    -Temptation
                    -Others Responsibilities and Control
3.Reminiscence


"In the name of God I go on this journey. May God the Father be with me, may God the son protect me, and may God the Holy Spirit be by my side. In Jesus' almighty name Amen"

I found this delightful short prayer draws in all 3 of these topics, and once memorised can be an incredible tool for anyone who uses it and repetitively prays it over themselves. Why I love it so much because it squeezes in everything you want into such a small amount of words. It begins with Reminiscence reminding us in whose name were going on this journey for; in God's name! It then reiterates that is it God who in control through the language 'may God'. As it goes on to remind us that we are guided and protected by our almighty father.

1.Guidance

Guidance is a really tough because as Christians its one of the areas where we can slip away from God. We are in control of our immediate life through free will and therefore we as humans are A* students at getting off track. This is where God's guidance can steer us back, when we step out of God's presence it can be easy to not focus on him and get distracted by earthly things. Such as temptations into sin, even just being caught up in a certain vibe of a place whilst on your travels. You may forget about God or get out of bible routines or whatever is your usual christian life.

God knows what we need before we even say a word to him asking for his help. But staying in prayer and keeping ourselves in that making yourself more like Christ mindset is really going to protect you from going off track because your prayer is in itself a way of God's guidance. As its helping recognise what you need, which will be drawn from him and therefore guiding you to the correct path.

(I know that was really wordy and complicated but I hope you get the idea.)

I found a good prayer which I felt reflects asking god for guidance. 

"Lord as I set off on my travels I pray that You would be with me and remain close to me as my travel companion as I go on this journey – just as You walked with Your two disciples along the road after Your glorious resurrection. Fill me heart with Your peace and joy and remove any anxious thoughts I pray. Guide me Father and keep me safe throughout my travels, even when I am passing through rough and difficult terrain. Provide for all my needs as I journey and protect me from all dangers – seen or unseen and may I reach my journey’s end knowing that You have been my ever present travelling Companion and Helper along the way.  

Thank You that I am safe and under Your protection no matter where I may go – confident that You not only know the way but that You are the Way and the truth and the life – for You are my Saviour and God, in Jesus name I pray, 

Amen"

This  prayer is from http://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-for-Travel 

2.Protection

Laws of the Land

There are many aspects of protection we can look into and pray about. I'm going to indulge on what I think are top 3 most important things we will need to pray about in order to help arm us.
Although God does protect us, we must do what we can to protect ourselves in our journeys. Whatever culture you have come from, your most likely stepping out of your comfort zone into a new culture. Therefore we have to conform to the laws and government of that nation. It says in Romans 13 1-7 God is glorified and His will is fulfilled when you submit to His governing authorities. In 13:1 Paul writes: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.” The command begins with the words, “Every person” regarding every soul”). This includes believers and unbelievers, rich and poor, great and small, without exception. But Paul’s primary concern is that believers “submit” to governing authorities. The verb “submit” meaning “to place oneself under. This means you must research to see if any laws that concern you may be different from your home country, and you really wouldn't want to spoil your trip. 

I found an excellent prayer which is constructed around this topic. I will be praying it myself and believe this is really important one, because you could be stepping into dangerous territory and you need to arm yourself with God's word and protection. 

"We pray for our all those in authority over our land, in the Church, the Parliament, the Supreme Courts and justice systems, and the royal families of this nation. We pray that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Destroy the sceptre of the wicked over our nation, for Your word says the wicked shall not reign over the righteous. Your word says also that when the righteous reign, the people rejoice. So today bring forth the reign of the righteous in our land. Touch the hearts of Your bond slaves to stand for elections in every constituency. Grant them wisdom, grace and favour. We pray for those who rule over us. We pray that You will raise men and women of integrity who truly care for our welfare and not ones that exploit us, or abuse their power, for personal gain. We ask You, for leaders that we can look up to. Remove anyone within the country who is of authority and who is a hindrance to Your gospel. Bring into places of Power those, who like Joseph, have the wisdom to administer the resources of this nation well.Blow Holy Spirit through our schools, our hospitals, our prisons, police stations, financial institutions, our music, and TV and film industry. Blow out the dust that has settled. Destroy the works of Evil. We pray for Your church in our land. We sprinkle the Blood of Jesus on all Your people, and ask You to place Your armour over them in Jesus’ name Amen."

This prayer is from https://bible.org/seriespage/26-laws-land-romans-131-14

 Temptation

As this post is all about arming ourselves with prayer for our trip. We cant miss out temptation as is something that we are all acquainted with. Even Jesus was not immune to being tempted, from the very start of his ministry to the day when he hung upon the Cross, he was being tempted. The authorities asked him to perform miracles and signs to prove who he was, the ordinary people were at his side constantly wanting his attention and healing touch, sometimes in danger of distracting him from the bigger picture.

Our temptations can often be seemingly small things, but if they impact on the lives of others then they can be very damaging. God gives us strength to resist, and shows us through his Word that although this can be tough at times, it is ultimately rewarding.

This one may be slightly unique and different to each person as each person struggles with different things. So whatever it is surround yourself so temptation is out of sight, whether it be sex, don't go traveling and start mingling with only the other gender to you. If you struggle with drugs, don't go to immediate places where you could get hold of them etc. So make sure you make your own unique prayer to protect yourself from your weak points, don't be held down that they are your weak points either best to be aware of them and working through them than oblivious.

My prayer for Temptation:

Dear Lord Jesus,

 I ask for Your strength and help to resist ungodly temptations and not to give in, knowing that to do is not to glorify You and does me nothing but emotional and spiritual harm.

Help me to take every tempting thought captive and hand it over to You before it takes a hold of me and does harm to me or to other people. Help me in my weakness to know You as my strength and help me in my foolishness to know You as my wisdom. Help me I pray to resist all forms of temptation and give me the strength to say no and walk away from temptation, especially when there are others involved, who directly or indirectly –willingly or unknowingly are encouraging my downfall. And deliver me Lord I pray, from habits that are entrapping and enslaving me in actions that are detrimental to my spiritual health and walk.

Replace the thoughts that tempt and tease with those that turn my focus on Jesus and help me in all things and learn to say, Thy will not mine be done, in Jesus name I pray,

Amen

Others Responsibilities and Control

“Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God. I rule the nations. I rule the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 GW)

I am a bit of an overthinking thinker myself and I find it hard knowing that anything can happen at any given time, and that responsibility can be down to others and people who your around. It can be down to your surrounds like if you're in a high risk area for earthquakes and an earthquakes hits. Potentially you could be in more of a threat than you normally would at home so knowing there is a loving God in control makes it all the better. But that doesn't mean if these things happen that its going to be easy. The main chunk of this topic is all about your mental attitude really and getting your mind in the right place to be content that God is good. But as this under Protection you must do all in your power that you can in regards to maintaining your safety at all times. If you are under some other persons safety for instance when flying to the destination you can pray specific prayers but I will start with summing up Others Responsibilities and Control with this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank You that You are my ever present help and Companion, no matter where I am of where I go. Lord as I set out on my travels, I ask that You would be with me to guard and to guide me through every part of this journey. 

Keep me I pray from all harm and danger and I pray that You would go with me Lord, and encamp around me and stay close to me as I continue on my way. Give me travelling mercies I pray, and bring me safely to my final destination. Be with me Lord and give me Your peace and rest in my heart. I pray that whilst on my journey I am protect from evildoers who seek joy in watching others fall. I pray that safety is the centre harness wrapped around me at all times whilst travelling and that natural disasters and any other forms of disasters are kept at bay.
Lord Jesus, I place myself in Your safekeeping as I journey on my way and thank You for Your never failing mercies which are new every morning. In Jesus name I pray, 

Amen

3.Reminiscence

I wanted this last one to be Reminiscence because you can really personalise this one yourself. Its asking the question: Why at this moment in your life do this believe travelling is what is best for you or pursuing what god's plan. Hopefully, your church would have touched on this with you and discussed your travel plans with you. 

There are many many factors to why you may be travelling, but make sure it is a good valid

reason to fulfil god purpose. You might be travelling to do a mission, you may be travelling to take part in a camp and to see god's amazing creation, sometimes it can be just a period in your life to work out what your next step is in life.

 Personally, for me I feel my travelling pursues what God is calling me to do because, I feel I need a restoration and relaxation period which will enable to come back home with a refreshed outlook and refreshed physically, mentally and spiritually. But mine isn't just a 2 week holiday which would be the normal period anyone needs to relax and get back to work. But sometimes when stress and wounds are dug so deep you need more of a time to rebuild who you are as a person, and I believe travelling can be perfect for this, providing you stay close with God. 

Be careful, don't get drawn in thinking you can do this forever, yes its an amazing time to restore and gain lots of knowledge and wisdom. Just be careful that you get caught in a trap with being memorised by travelling and tourism that the point of your trip loses focus to why you're actually doing it. 

Throughout your trip I just personally pray you all stay with Jesus on it reminisce on how amazing Our Father is and reflect on his truths to you. Here is my last prayer on my prayer list I hope this has helped you with an outline of what you should be looking into when preparing spiritually for your adventure. 

Loving Father,

I thank You that You provide us with times when we are able to stand aside from the business of the world. It was You Who took Your own disciples aside to rest awhile and I thank You for this vacation – so that I too may take time apart and gain physical refreshment and renewal – not only physical Lord, but emotional and spiritual refreshment too. 

As I set out on my vacation I ask that You give me travelling mercies. Be with me Lord as I set out on my journey and keep me from any unforeseen dangers or accidents that would cause anxiety or difficulties. Watch over me and protect me I pray, wherever I may be – whether among the busy crowds or during those times of quiet solitude. 

I pray that this may be a time when I am replenished in body, mind and spirit so that I may return home refreshed, renewed and ready to return to my daily work and may be equipped to better serve You in the days that lie ahead – Thank You Lord for Your generous provision in Jesus name, 

Amen