My Adoration Prayer

Glory to the God who saves! The God who is ever-present, always faithful. Kudos and high marks to the wonder of the ages, the God of Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and Daniel; the God of Peter and Paul and John. The God of Esther and Ruth, the God of Lydia and Mary. The One true one who the shifting of culture and society cannot match or overthrow. God, if You could save those men from the fire, and I believe You did, there is nothing that I cannot walk through as well.

You are the remarkable God, unending God, treasure to those who seek You. You are patient and tenderhearted. Your mercy and grace is legendary yet not over-exaggerated.

Your Word is true, reliable and sufficient. Your power and glory rises above the Heavens ’til earth is barely a dust speck… and then it encircles the whole of the universe You created. And yet, as unthinkably big as You are, You know me, and hold me together. You know every hair and freckle of every man and women, and I suspect You have a fondness for all living things You created.

Your blessings are unrivaled and encouraging. Your artwork is magnificent. Your creative flair stirs me even when my spirit is heavy and dry.

You give fathers to the fatherless and mothers to the motherless. You give brothers and sisters and family when we are at a distance from our birth families.

Your skill and knowledge and expertise and proficiency knows no equal. At Your Name, the unseen forces of evil bow down. One day, all will bow.

In Your kindness You saved me. You flat-out rescued me from myself and brought me to this place far from home and gave me a home. Your deliverance has formed me to be a better citizen here. Your mercy and love has guided me. You give Your Holy Spirit as my counsel and helper. You truly must love me! What a wonderful Father.

Even in the small things, and all the way to the big things of this day, I am confident in You. I lay me down, I’m not my own. You are my protector and my peace. My hope and any glory that I might bask in. You are my defender and my forgiver.

Your grace is enough, and it moves me to obedience. I hunger and thirst after Your righteousness. I long to walk with You again today, to share in Your holiness.

Make me useful, wise and discerning. May even the hardest skeptic find me to be kind, sincere and full of grace and love. May my name be interwoven with Yours. Be my heart-protector and my reputation-builder. Shape me to be a man of high integrity, honor and compassion.

And I pray this, seek this and submit to this all to Your glory, my King. You are Savior, master, friend. You are life, You are breath, You are sustenance. You are warmth and sunshine, You are cool breeze and rain. My dry soul comes to life in You.

My heart to You, my intellect to You, my soul to You; I give You all that I can muster to give and pray for the wherewithal to give more till it’s all. Let Your glory rise in Woodsfield today, let it rise in Ohio, let it rise in this nation, let it rise in the world, let the universe proclaim it. Let Your glory rise in me. All for You, all to You, all in You. Jesus, my precious Jesus, I adore You!

At Your Name

Father, speak hope into my heart this morning.  Counsel my intellect with Your Word and by Your Spirit.  Let peace be my stronghold, let an outpouring of blessings to others shadow me at every turn.

Your Name is my claim!  Your Name moves mountains, tumbles ocean.  Your Name breaks with glory causing all creation to sing.  Yahweh, Yahweh, I love to shout Your Name, oh Lord!  (Yes, there is indeed a song of praise rolling through my head.)

Your faithfulness: great.

Your love: unending.

Your face: my desire.

Your grace: my cloak and marrow.

Let Your Name be glorified in me and through me this day.  Let it be my response to “Talk Like A Pirate Day”!  Let it be, “Talk Like My Savior Day” today and every day.  Now that’s something worth living into.  Glory to You.

I want so desperately to not be a hindrance to anyone knowing You.  Even more, I would love to be a catalyst whenever I can.  Instruct me by Your Spirit so that I may lead and teach and live all the beauty Your grace and mercy brings.  Help me to lead others to freedom from bondage in Your Name.  Give me the wisdom and discernment it takes to wisely counsel and to boldly speak in You, my Jesus.

Let salvation be the solution to this community’s pain.  Lift the darkness, roll the clouds away and let Your glory rise.

All to You, and in Your Name I pray, Jesus.  Let it be so.

Mercies To Distribute Like Girl Scout Cookies

(Today I read John 15.)

Teacher, this is one of those willing spirit/weak flesh mornings for me!  Bring me to life, awake my soul, let’s do good work together this morning.

(Unusual morning!  The want to sleep nearly overcame the desire to pray.  So, I have been involving myself in some unusual spiritual and physical exercises to awaken…  all dotted with words and songs of praise.  Now my breath is short and my mind is sharp!)

Oh Lord, my God, Your Name is sweeter than sweet potato casserole with sweet crumb-nut topping.  Your divine wisdom is a giant Niagra Falls of intellect sweeping me off common footing and into the deep waters.  The discernment You give is sharp as a Wusthoff knife.  It is as practical as a great pair of jeans.  Your mercy and grace are as warm and welcome as heated shaving cream on the back of my neck in a barber’s chair (though I haven’t experienced that in years!).  Your mercies and graces are as fresh and up to date as those wonderful fresh roasted coffee beans I receive in my mailbox every other week.  Speaking of which…  oh my, what a fragrance!  I can’t wait to open that package and smell that wonderful, extraordinary, utterly amazing aroma.  That’s what I encounter when I open myself to You!  What an aroma! What a satisfying fragrance!  May my prayers be an aroma pleasing to You, my God.

The pleasure of knowing You and serving You is satisfying and long-lasting…  far better than a Charms pop.  The flow of Your presence poured out to me presents itself as far more enriching than any show, song or even book (short of the one You use as a means of pouring out Your words).  And that brings me to the scriptures…  Your words there are multi-dimensional and instructional.  They are encouraging and yet challenging.  They sharpen me and equip me.  They are not merely an instruction manual, though…  they are life itself.  They are active, and verifiable merely by breathing them in!  They are all at once soothing and prickly.  They can be like a great salsa with several layers of flavor…  and then…  the heat kicks in!  Although, I must say, the salsa analogy falls way short.

How wonderful You are.  I worship You as my eyes take in the sunrise You’ve presented to us this morning.  Magnificent!  You are indeed the master artist!  We pat ourselves on the back when we do well copying Your original artwork.  All of nature sings Your glory.  Let it rise again in me, let Your glory rise!  Roll those clouds away.  Assist me to sing hope for the hopeless and shine light into the darkness.  Be my fuel, my wheels, my guidance system, my steel frame.  Be the passion of my heart and the motivator of my mind.  Be my song and my poem.  Be my yes and my no.  Punctuate me with both politeness and necessary urgency.

Great God of all things…  Lord God, Jehovah, Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Our Righteousness…  be ruler over me.  You’ve made this day and packed it full of purpose and significance.  I dare not waist it…  instead, I long to repeat Your joy and songs throughout it.  May I treasure every hour of this journey today and pack it full of behaviors and actions only You can inspire.

May it all be love.  Help me now to get love more right than ever before.  Help me with those holy deep breathes and pauses to give You space to correct me and put me back on course.  Then, more love!  More grace flowing through me!  More mercies to distribute like Girl Scout cookies!  Let it all be packed with joy and peace.  And then…  more love, great love, all-consuming love.  Fill me to overflowing and flood it into everyone I encounter.

And all this I pray in Your mighty and majestic Name, Lord Jesus….  let it be so!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

World’s Most Interesting Man

(Today I read John 13.)

Lord Jesus, it’s YOUR word I want resting in my head this morning, not the enemy’s.  Speak powerfully into me so that I may know what You want me to be considering this morning.  Lead this prayer,  Guide me, great Jehovah.

O praise the One who paid my debt, who broke my chains and set me free!  Praise to YOU my Savior, my friend, You have met me at the point of my greatest hurt and used that to make me whole.  I was blind, now I see.  What grace!  What remarkable, unending, life-changing grace!  What a Savior!  You are the mercy-maker, You are the Way!  I profess You today, I confess Your Name and once again say that You, the anointed One, are my Master, my King!  You are Lord of me.  Your real, and hope-building resurrection is a fact and a promise I live in.  You are the first of a great harvest, and I stand in awe of Your ability and power and grace!  Precious Jesus, how I love You!  Over and over, the pages of my life show you true and unfailing and faithful.  My experience in You is like the great light of the sun, able to find its way into even the darkest corner now that I have let You in.  To think that You give me hope, despite my own failures.  You bring quick forgiveness and perfect restoration to my soul.  Friend, maker, artist, dreamer/doer, You are Lord.  You are my righteousness.  You are Lord of Heaven’s armies, and gentle lamb.  Praise, highest praise and honor and glory to You!  Let Your glory rise, let Your Name ring out:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

You are perfect logic and yet You are mystery.  Open my mind’s eye even more; not so much so that I can figure You out, but so that I can learn to love like You love, to be the plan for meeting the hurts around me.  You prove Your love by sending us into the lives in need all around; may I go…  even today…  do mighty things, my Lord.  Be absolute Lord over me.  Keep me hungering for me, keep me thirsty!

OK, Lord, so that last prayer line brings that insipid beer commercial to my mind…  the one about the world’s most interesting man.  I’m thinking of the implication that his personal greatest and charisma makes him interesting and irresistible to all creation!  Well, I don’t have any of that stuff on my own.  I am easily discarded.  But in You, I find a goodness and rightness and lovingness and compassion that brings something even better out of me…  or perhaps I should say, it works through me.  I see it when I open Your Word to the people; You bring life to the words, and Your Spirit gives those who listen the gift of hearing just what You want them to hear.  I see it when I manage to get over myself and into You long enough to do good, right, loving things into the lives of those with need.  When my “yes” to you truly becomes “yes” and life comes out of the dark tombs of this world.  I will take loving and merciful and kind over interesting any day of the week and twice on Sunday!  Yes!

So now, Lord, I must say I have listened to the words You’ve given me over these Holy days.  I want my “yes” to You to resound into my community and beyond.  I want my yes to You to echo into the communities of India that once had no clean water, but now, in Your Name, have active wells.  I want my yes to You to resound into the brokenness of this community where a poverty mentality prevails, and the enemy still triumphs through addictions and angers and despair.  This is Your glory rising – this is Your glory rising day, isn’t it?!  As I pray to You to let Your glory rise, I realize afresh that if it is to arise so that others will experience it, it must arise in me, through me.  Put my feet to work.  Employ my tongue.  Get me cracking.  Holy Spirit, come.  Holy Spirit, I am Yours now.  In Jesus Great and Gracious Name, let it be so!

Good Friday Sorrows And Joy

(Today I read John 12.)

Teacher, wise and still merciful Leader, I seek You.  I am listening, I am here, I am ready.

Let my words glorify You…  may they honor You and give You praise.  You alone are God, You alone are worthy!  You are the One, You are the one who holds all things together.  Words fail to properly reveal Your glory, may Your Spirit assist me in doing what I cannot do on my own.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your cross.  Thank You for dying for me, for giving Your life in order than my sins may be pardoned.  Let that blood gift flow over me and through me today that I may live in proper recognition of what You have done for us all.

My sins, dark and damning, were about to overcome me and do me in.  But You, moving above all time and even beyond my own history before it was conceived, made the way for me to find life.  Even as I walked in my own deceit, Your light was shining without fail, calling me to You.  Even as I listened to the thunderous voices around me, Your voice steadily broke through all time to find my ear.  When You revealed Your truth, You held nothing back – though I still struggled to grasp even a portion of its expanse.  At the right time, You called.  Even as a young man I heard, I wanted You over all things.  Even as I grew and journeyed into camps that cursed Your Name and laid plans for my own demise, You remained faithful.  And as I reckoned with my need to lay it all down, my whole life to You, You calmly assured me with Your Word.

Gracious, patient, merciful God!  How can I adequately praise You for what You have done?  How can I, with words here in this prayer, give You the glory because You John 3:16’d me!  By Your Spirit I seek to be the voice You call me to be, I seek to be the visionary, the dreamer / doer, the man after Your heart that my deepest reaches now burn to be.

Yes to You, that is what, by Your Spirit, I want to be…  a  firm, pleasing “Yes” to You.

This journal cannot contain the depth and volume of what has just occurred here in prayer.  Thank You for Your revelation and for Your steadfast grace and mercy that teaches, that reveals, that renews!  You are Great, my God.  You are my TEACHER, You are my life.  I receive Your fresh mercies this morning and I LIVE.  I am Yours, and empowered by the active presence of Your Holy Spirit.  I am grateful.  I am as receptive and ready as I can be at this moment.  I receive Your word, I honor Your presence, I bask in Your greatness.

Yes to You, my Lord.  Let Your glory rise in me anew.  Yes.  Yes.

And now, receive my humble prayers of petition, and enable me to give You glory in words of high praise.  Merciful God, I am Yours.  Yes, yes to You.  I pray these things in the mighty power of Your Name, Lord Jesus, may it be so!

Working On The Love Thing

(Today I read John 11.)

Thank You, Father, for loving me.  Thank You that this very hope and worth that I can now allow myself to see in me also can be seen in anyone else I encounter.  I pray afresh today that You would give me eyes to see every person I encounter as being wonderfully stamped with the words, “Made by God, loved by God.”  Give me a better understanding of how much You love every one of us.  Tune my eyes to the marvelous value that exists in every single person I encounter.  Even those who anonymously annoy me in traffic!  Reveal afresh to my soul how much You love them.  Help me to love more, to love better, to love selflessly, to love without regard or prejudice.  Sort of a charity to all, malice towards none.

I don’t even sense I need to be renewed in any sort of appreciation for humans in general…  what I truly need is a renewal in my view of You.  That’s what really changes things.  If I spend too much time contemplating the depravity and despair-fueled living, I’ll never get this right.  So instead, teach me to walk with You anew today, teach me to love more and live more in Your light, and all these other things will then click into place.  After all, You are the righteous one.  You are the one whose glory and grace and mercy saves us.  May I see that eternal thing in every one of us that draws me to love and care and to see the preciousness that You see (that You, in fact, built in us).

I guess that makes this a confession.  I struggle daily to do this better.  Seems like a pastor would have this down pat, but what an eye opener this journey has been.  I am no less frail than others, but that is no license to stay weak and unloving in any circumstances.  Not that I haven’t witnessed incredible growth in me in this department.  I suppose what it is must be the more I grow, the more I see my failures in regards to this love mandate.  We get so caught up in so many aspects of the walk with You, and yet love fails so easily in our hands.  I need You, I need You!  Help me to love more, perfect me in love.  Give me Your eyes.  Give me Your heart.  Teacher, teach me more about this love; make it my standard.  If I fail, let it be simply a failure not to love enough rather than to not love at all.  Build in me this right thing today.  Let it flow, let it glow in me.

I’m both amused and disgusted by the realization that without this kind of love, I might as well be reading “50 Shades of Gray” as my word of truth, rather than Your Word.  If my mind has not escaped the garbage of an unloving life, then I have utterly and completely missed the heart of Your Good News…  and therefore, missed it all.  This is a lot to pray on this tender subject of love. I would like to think I’m a loving person, but I know that You are a loving God.  So as I walk with You today, fortify me, fill me, renew me, build me, empower me, embrace me, wrap me, send me with love.  Let this be the way Your glory rises in me today.  Let it rise!  And in Your Name, Jesus, let it be so!

Regaining Focus (After A Week Away!)

(Today I read John 10.)

Father, it’s good to be back to this wonderful, sacred routine!  Thank You for the refreshing time away with that beautiful, cuddly baby grandson of mine.  But it’s also good to be home and to be back in these kinds of moments of powerful, life altering early prayer.  Thank You for this habit You’ve developed in me!

Now wipe the sleep from my waking mind and bring me to a place of renewal with You.  Inspire me for the things to come today.  I am racing with a myriad of dizzying needs for the week already before me.  From things I knew would keep me hopping (prep for this weekend) to things I had not expected to deal with (a totaled vehicle from the young man who hit my car just before leaving on vacation).  I’ll admit that “frantic” is a good way of describing my spirit!  Bring me to peace, calm, bring me to the place where I can best serve You.    You have a way of readying me, You know me so well. Let discernment, wisdom, grace and mercy define me.  Most of all, let my personal definition be love; let me love, inspire me to loving acts, build and refresh me in love!  The demands of life can strain me, but YOU can rearrange me!  I give myself to You.  Teach me in Word, give me good conversations, perfect in me the art of deep breaths and healthy pauses!!!

I realize how the enemy can use such cunning ploys to crowd You out of our minds in a way that truly seems to sneak up on us!  I’ve got so many things packed in the ol’ noggin right now – help me to sort out the garbage, organize the useful, as I reaffirm Your Lordship over all!  Let Your glory rise!  Let it rise in me today!

Here’s what I ask for today, and I sense that I want to also ask this for any who come here to share this prayer with me:  I pray for holy, guided focus – keep me centered in You.  I pray for a honing of wisdom, endurance, and discernment that keeps me from disregarding important things.  I pray for power from Heaven to make even the most scrambled moments sacred and useful to You.  I pray for a generosity of spirit and self that allows me to pour myself out to others even when I think I can least spare the time.  I pray for clarity in preparation of the things to come for the worship events this Holy Week.  And mostly, Lord God, fine tune my receptors of Your word coming to my heart so that I am at Your service moment by moment.

And in all this, I praise You, my wonderful, mighty God! You are Lord of all, beginning and end, Name above all names, Master, maker, artist, creator, dreamer/doer, Lord of Heaven’s armies!  You are God Most High, Lord God our righteousness.  You are Father…  daddy…  friend, comforter, healer.  You are wise above all wisdom, You are righteous in all things.  Your love never fails, You are unfailing in faithfulness.  Your mercy astounds me, Your grace overwhelms me.  Even in the darkest points of the journey, You are there!  I SEE Your fingerprints on it all…  in the most inexplicable…  in the things we might use to condemn You…  in the noose some would use to kill any thought of Your goodness…  Your logic and reason prevails.  In our reckless, wrong ways of defining You and demanding that You conform to our narrow, blurred vision, Your righteousness and betterness prevails!  Holy God!  You are Lord!  You are Lord indeed!

You are risen, You are alive, You are good and mighty. All praise to You, my risen Lord, powerful and just and loving to extraordinary degree.  What a joy You are to my sense, what comfort You are to my soul, what peace You are to my cognitive abilities, what perfection You are even in the face of my bullheadedness!  Praise to You, let Your glory rise!  Let it be so!

Applying The Mud

(Today I read John 9.)

Thanks You, Father, for opening my eyes!  Thank You for the mud applied to my pride and ego and angst, and for washing me clean.  Where there remains blindness in me, correct my vision that I may see.  May I be both humble and bold with this truth, this Good News.  May I have endurance, discernment, wisdom, passion, compassion, and an eager spirit.  Break my heart anew for the broken.  Direct my attention again to the hurting. May You be given the glory in all things!

Who is hurting?  Who I am missing?  What things in plain sight am I denying?  Turn my heart to these.  Help me to never again love the ideas of possession and fame.  Help me to be practical in all things.  Develop strength in this humility you are building in me.  May I not only learn to see the person regarded as the least in society as better than me, may I have a spirit that leads me in the way of humble service.  And all to Your glory, my Lord, all to You.

May I not disregard anyone; teach me to see poverty as it exists in so many ways.  Give me a heart and a word for the impoverished wealthy – those who have much in this world, but are famished spiritually.  Give me a heart for the one who is teachable and longs to learn of Your ways.  May I never turn them away!  And then, give me a strong will and the force of Your Spirit to deal well with the stubborn, prideful and embittered.  Not that I’m looking to be surrounded my such things – oh my! – but that you would make me ready and capable of dealing with all manner of human thought and condition as the need presents itself.  I see that my prayer here, as my heart opens to You, is that I will love all people equally, and with Your heart, Your eyes, your passion.

May I be a blessing to many that many will know You as their Lord and Savior!  Let it be so, in Your Name, Jesus.  Oh, my God, my heart cries…  let it be so!

Shaking Off the Sleep

(Today I read John 8.)

Lord God, here with me, present and not hidden; I love You, I worship You, I pray that this time focusing on You will be an aroma pleasing to You.

Awaken me – in every way possible, bring me awake.  Assist me now to proclaim You even as my body insists that it should be sleeping!  I drink from Your cup for life; do not leave me dry in the valley of bones!  Awaken my senses to You, awaken my mind, awaken my heart.  Stir my passions, set my compassion into frenzied motion.  Let my whole being worship You and be ready to speak Your Name of love into every conversation – even the silent ones.  Awaken me now that I may rise up and go!

Set my mind on things above.  As I progressively come to find the things of this earth more and more unsatisfying, take me again to Your table where I might find better life, better nourishment, and find it far more abundantly.

What would You have me to learn of the Father today? Teach me.

What words of counsel, what powerful thing would Your Holy Spirit have for me today?

Jesus, what door have I not opened to You?  What window has remained shut?  How have I excluded You from any part of me?  Keep knocking, I’m coming!

Thank You for the sweet, much needed blessing of knowing You here with me this morning.  Thank You for this powerful time of worship, and for allowing me the privilege of praying over my friends.

And now, for this work You have given me to do, enhance my wisdom, add in lots of discernment and endurance, stoke the fires of holy boldness, temper me with patience, fill my being full of life-giving vision, and turn my eyes and heart to all these ones you love so dearly here around me in this community.  Make me an mighty flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living.  Help me to help those in need in good, life-giving ways, not merely in easy, non-helpful ways.  Make me a teacher, not an enabler.  A blessing, not a curse-extender, a friend, not a conspirator.  You have enlarged my territory, may I live in every corner of it!

I bless Your Name as I pray these things by Your Name, Holy Jesus, master and friend, savior, life, artist, creator, doer of all right and good things…  let it be so.

A Prayer For The One Who Is Grieving

(My heart is still fresh with the loss of my dad, though I find great joy in knowing he is home at last.  Today I am prayerfully aware of many who are grieving the loss of someone far too soon to the ravages of cancer.  As I prayed, I knew I needed to pray something special for those who are hurting over loss, and even if I don’t know you, you are a part of this prayer as well.)

Father, even in the joy and assurance that we have in You, there are days when we grieve mightily.  Thank You that You have built great depths of love into this challenging walk of life.  And when that love bond seems to be broken, even though it really isn’t, may we grieve in a healthy, affirming, releasing sort of way.  May our grief never overtake us, may it never defeat us, may it never possess us.  Help us to use it in a healthy way as we reason, cry, and go through the full range of emotions at a time of loss.

I pray for my friend who has come to linger with me in prayer for this moment.  In their grief, show them Your love, mercy and compassion.  Help us to know You better, to know Your love more fully, to even dare to experience joy more completely because of the ways You faithfully love us.

As we deal with the fragility of these containers we are born into, and grapple with the hurt that comes with loss, let Your Living Water flow into our hearts so that the pain will be swallowed up in victory, so that death loses its sting, so that grief, as it plays out in a healthy fashion, submits to life and wellness.  Make us whole in You, I pray.  Be with my friend who grieves today – we have all walked that path, and I know that I have found You to be good and right.  May they experience that assurance today as well.  Send many to love them, and help many to find their ways beyond the awkward, clumsy words we easily grab and instead offer affirming, loving, encouraging words direct from Your heart.  May it be so in Your Name, Jesus!  We thank You, Lord, You are good.