End of Day Song

(These are the days of the hectic-crazies.  But it’s good hectic-crazies.  As we prepare for our move to Illinois, the early part of today was given to opening our moving sale for the lucrative early buyers.  My prayer schedule is off kilter, so this entry is going to be a rare, end-of-the-day journal.  Blessings to you, my friends!)

Good evening, Father.  I rest here with You after the strain of a tiring but fruitful day.  I’m full of gratitude for Your provision and blessing.

Thank You for blessing our moving sale.  May the blessing just follow us through the move and the fresh start.  May I be so bold as to pray that?!?!

The days conversations buzz through my head and create an interesting dialogue in prayer.  They remind me of the extent, the width, the depth of Your love, my Lord.  They remind me of the needfulness for the width and depth of Your love to be shown in me.

I thank You today for friends.  That sounds pretty simplistic, but I am overwhelmed by the greatness of these relationships You’ve poured into my life.  I’m thankful for those who look after us, and for those we can in turn look after.  Thank You for the gift of conversation and the beauty of shared hope and opportunities to encourage.

I thank You for place.  A place to live, a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place to grow, a place to thrive.  Thank You that You have prepared a place for me, and that You have a place for me in Your masterwork.

I thank You for provision.  I want for nothing.  You have trusted me with much.  Inspire me to new generosity, to fresh faithfulness.  May no one who knows me want for Your blessing.  Make my words useful.

Bring rest for tired bodies, dreams to inspire us, and renewal for a new day of opportunity.

I love You, Lord…  may this end of day song be a sweet sound in Your ear.

 

 

Undesirable Desirable

Good morning, my Father!  What great things do You have in store for us today?

I want to pray a prayer of readiness and acceptance, and along with that a BIG request that I’ll keep in the just between You and me part of this prayer.

Lord, I willingly surrender all that I am, as much as I can.  I lay me down as a living sacrifice, ready to be brought to life by Your breath on me and in me.

Take this life, make it and mold it until it is perfectly usable and wholly pleasing to You.  Break the bondage of my past and ready me for the better-ness of walking with You.

Teach me to love generously, selflessly and unbegrudgingly.  How do I get over myself and into You more today?  How can I best exemplify Your love to those who need it?  How can I put this creativity you’ve given me to work in a way that perfectly glorifies You?  Show me the way.

How can I serve Your little ones better today?  Help me to be even more patient with the youngest, most demanding voice.  Give me a new sense of urgency about serving even the youngest of these.

How can I better serve the hard-to-love today?  I suspect that this will be one of my hardest challenges.  How do I better serve those with hygiene issues (sounds crass, but I need Your Spirit’s help on this!)?  How do I better serve the duplicitous one, the complainer, the critical spirited?  How can You fashion my heart to better serve society’s most undesirable – even the ones who have done the most heinous things?  How do I live boldly and right in the face of such challenges?  What loving answer do I give to the critic?

I will trust You all the more to prepare me and equip me for any manner of challenge that comes my way.  Give me an intense and immense love for those You love.  Help me to deal fairly.

Your heart is my hope.  Oh, great and merciful One, You are my way.  Show me the way to be an mighty flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living.  Help me to be fair in my dealings with all.

I seek You with a new urgency on these things.  And now for the private words I need with You.  Hear these prayers, and the many others that come along beside me.  You are great and just and always faithful.  Glory to Your Name, my Father.

 

 

 

The Wrestling Mat

Your songs are resonating in my heart today.  I hear them all drawing me to You, inviting me to lay myself down before You sacrificially, crying out for a fire down in my soul.

As I bring myself to You, frail and weak, I realize all the more how You strengthen me and save me from myself.  There’s this huge struggle going on in me right now as I wrestle against myself and seek to wrest any claim I have on what is Your possession.  I simply long to by known by You, known of You, known in You.  That is my greatest gain.  That is my highest praise note.

It’s time to break free of this headache, this unrelenting focus on myself.  It takes my gaze from what You have called me to live in…  and it’s only when I get my focus on brining hope to the hopeless and help to the hurting that I truly find myself.

The cravings of my flesh and the longings of my heart only find satisfaction when I turn them from temporary things and onto the eternal of serving You.  I find my hope in You, my Lord!

Let Your Name be glorified in me, let Your praises be lifted today through me.  Save me from myself and into the mercies and graces of living Your love in all things I encounter.  You are above all, maker of all, master creator and master artisan. Take this life You’ve brush-stroked into Your masterpiece and through my renewal in You, Jesus, remind me of the good things I was made to participate in today.

Awaken the sleeper, arouse the dullard, shake the silent and embrace the unloved!  You are all and all of me, and the one thing I desire.

So my prayer this day culminates in this:  free me of myself and my weak-kneed passions, and deliver me to Your way – to the strength of loving and living grace into the lives of others.

Call me to the water, and I will cross it with You.

 

 

 

 

An Advent Blessing

(The purpose of this blog is to serve as a raw, transparent prayer journal.  However, as I begin to understand the type of impact this project has made, I’m also sensing the need to share more targeted prayers to speak into the needs of those who come here to pray with me.  I hope these occasional entries will be a blessing.  Today I pray a blessing on you for this Advent season.)

Glow wildly and wonderfully in the hearts and minds of those who turn to You with wild eyed wonder.

Manifest Your beauty in the smile of those who seek to reflect Your glory. May others see those who believe and know You better.

Hear the cry of the lonely and broken, and reveal Yourself to them… the most extravagant gift any of us will ever receive.

Save us from the ills of consumerism and enrich us in generosity and service.

Turn our attention from the words and greetings used to recognize this Christmas celebration, and turn our hearts instead to a full, personal reckoning with the difference You make in each of us. Let words not get in the way of pouring out ourselves to You and to others.

Where joy abounds, let love abound. Where sadness is piled high, bring angel-in-the-sky type songs of hope and peace.

Let me be a blessing even if no one blesses me.

May I be a blessing to You, because You bless me even when I fail to bless You.

Give us the words and actions to live into the hope You’ve so wonderfully and faithfully poured out to us.