Things I’m Hungry For This Morning

Fall fresh!  Waves of mercy, flood our streets!

Father, Maker, Creator of all things, send all-consuming torrents of hope and peace and love.  Sweep over me, over my community, with power only Your Holy Spirit can bring.

Let light shine into the darkest places.  Let hope fill the most desperate heart.  Let knowledge enlighten the most unengaged.  Let action meet belief and let strength empower compassion.

Let it be this way in me.  Inspire me so that I might live this day with the right blend of words and silence.  Make quick my impulse to rightness and justice, and slow my more easily provoked anger impulses.

Let healing prevail.  Continue the good things in my wife that you started long ago.  Bring the wellness You’ve placed in her to full manifestation in her body.  Speak over the grieving and struggling hearts that linger here in this prayer now.  Give us the inner understanding of the power and purpose you bring to the life of the expectant believer.  Yes, make me an expectant man!  Make me pregnant with hope and virtue and god-directed strength.  Let healing flow from Your lips, through mine, into the streets of this city.

Raise up believers who believe, the redeemed who will redeem, the grace-filled who become grace-full.  Let Your grace be like rocket fuel in us, motivating and powering us to do the good things You planned long ago.

Fall fresh, I cry!  I hunger for it!  I seek it!  I wait!

Genuine: Like My Father

Father, trash the stuff in me that is unlike You.  The attitudes, the mindsets, the reactions, the ways of seeing things; take what is foreign to Your blood and send it away.

I still find these annoying little things that creep up – or sometimes they pop up like fireworks – that create more havoc for me than good.  I’m done with them!  I don’t want to be satisfied with less when You are more.  I don’t want to sate myself with soft platitudes when in fact You are able to do far more than I can even imagine.  I don’t want to make excuses for my nature when in fact my relationship with You is largely predicated on my understanding of the supernatural.  You are more, You are able, You are a mighty God.  If you can hold the entire universe together…  in Your hand no less…  if Your words can move planets and shape color systems, than I can be sure You can shape me.  You can hold me together.

So I pray that Your righteousness will be my prime mover today.  I submit to Your Holy counsel and cleansing knowing that I don’t need filters for my mouth, I need heart-level change.  I don’t want to be a man of political gamesmanship or street-level war-making, I want to be genuine.  You are the real thing, You are in me, and I want that genuineness to saturate my being.

Take this fast beating heart, comfort this knotted, ill-at-ease stomach, and bring on the flood of righteousness that only Your Holy Spirit can ignite in me.

By faith I have given You Lordship over me.  By faith, I will walk in Your ways, seeking Your understanding, knowing Your will by the counsel of Your Holy Spirit.

Let Your mercy prevail in me.  Let it be so.  Let Your glory rise, my Lord, let it rise today!

Not Tempered, Not Tamed, But Transformed

Glory to You Name, my Lord.  Name above all names, hope outshining all darkness, friend surpassing all friends.

Thank You for welcoming me to Your table this morning.  Make my heart a place of peace where others can find refuge as well.

Where violence sparks violence, lead my heart to respond as Your heart does.

Where dark words greet truth, give me wisdom and discernment in my response.

Where anger wells up in me and threatens to rage, bring me back to this place of peace and contentment.

Even if I lose my life, I gain everything.  Thank You for this hope that rises above all.

So prepare me for a day anchored in You, and make me a blessing to everyone I encounter.  Do not mask the ugly Greg that lurks in dark recesses of my heart; instead, irradiate him and transform me more today into Your image.  I don’t need filters for my words and thoughts, I need You in my deepest parts.  Be my cloak and marrow today!

My responses to the newscasts and newsfeeds are not always as they should be.  Again I pray, do not temper me or tame me, but transform me more into Your image.  I seek You alone.

All things to Your glory, all of me for You…  what a prayer to pray!  That is my soul’s reach, that is my heart’s climb, that is what stimulates my intellect today.  Thank You for these clearer thoughts and this sharper focus.  Thank You for saving me.

Let Your glory rise afresh in me today, let it rise in this community anew.  Let it be so in Your Name, Jesus.

Mercy Rising In Me

(I needed a respite from this journaling process, but I have returned renewed and ready.  I hope sharing in this part of my morning prayers is a blessing to you.  – Greg)

Merciful God!  That is how I see You this morning; great and full of mercy.

Merciful God, I both rest and rise up in readiness in You.  You have graciously molded and formed my thinking, You have been patient and merciful in the times of my obstinance.

Your grace is both gentle and exhilarating.  How can I not be here with You, tasting the full of Your grace, and not be ready to experience the transformation and activation that only grace can bring?  Course through me now, You are my very life beat.  You are the blood racing through me, the breath I breathe, the excitement that causes my heart to race.  You are the knowledge and truth that stimulates my brain, the strength that straitens my back and empowers my muscles.  You are the delight of my soul and the thrill my eyes behold manifest around me.  You are subtle and bold, good yet wild, patient yet provoked.

As I anchor myself in this prayer to be a blessing, I gladly receive all the ways You’ve blessed me along the way.  Help me to use my riches, as meager as they may seem to me, for extraordinary things.  Multiply my ability to use my time – I need wisdom and determination.

Merciful God, make me a man of mercy.  Grace-full, grace-giving God, make me a man of grace.  Mighty, powerful God, make me a man of action.

May this worship I bring be a joy to Your heart, may my song please Your ear, may these prayers be a source of glory rising.

So, my King, let it rise…  let Your glory rise in me…  let it rise in us…  let it rise in this community…  let THIS be the day…  YES!!!

A Force of Influence, A Model of Hope

Jesus, You hold all things together.  Hold me together.  Hold us together.

Will You help me keep my mind flush with right thoughts and brimming with mercies?

Will You assist me to keep my heart pure and honorable?

Will You be my counsel and strength, my ever-present help in the face of danger?

Let our yeses rise in harmony, let our promises unfold in beauty where ashes once laid.

I lift those who struggle with less than merciful attitudes.  Let there be a new wave of hope overtaking where even the smallest burning flame of rage once consumed oxygen.

I lift those who struggle with the need for power.  I am thankful that You are powerful beyond our greatest need – let that be enough in the hearts of Your believers.

I thank You that You have given me such a strong team to work with here in Rushville.  I am so grateful for the visionary way they are rising to the occasion.  But I must pour myself out to You all the more so that I will not misrepresent You in any way, or be an disappointment to them in any regard.  Make these relationships strong so that the enemy can find no leverage against us.

I thank You for my family that inspires me to be a better man.  I want my heart to honor You in such a way that it creates a windforce of influence for them.  Make me, in fresh and new ways, more like You so that I may serve them all well.

I am so grateful for this walk with You.  I am so thankful for the moments both quiet and loud!  I am thankful for worship that is still, and worship that raises the roof.  I am thankful for Your presence that both draws near to me, but also that leads me boldly.

Let Your glory rise, my Lord.  Let it rise in me afresh today.  For Your glory alone!

God Politics

Good morning, Father.

My heart is stirred by the divisiveness of our systems here in this country.  In our fragile, imperfect world, we’ve devised a system that eschews any notion of bringing people together.  It seems the whole deal is predicated on dividing and hating.  What will become of us?  Are we near our end?  Have we made you sick to the stomach?  

In the midst of my despair, I see here in this quiet place that there are many good people working together in local settings to do right things, to bring hope, to lift despair.

As our government tells us we must hate people of different ideologies, as each party mires itself deeper in its drunkenness on power at any cost, as our leaders turn up prideful noses and speak words of contempt – I see this on every side – change me here in the tempest.

Make my heart like Yours – right as breathing, merciful as the new morning, full of the riches of Heaven and bankrupt of any morsel we might hold here in the flesh.

Make my thoughts like Yours – neither traditional nor contemporary, progressive nor conservative, this side nor that side, but simply loving what is right and full of grace and compassion.

Make my actions match this calling;  not for the free gift of salvation You’ve already given me, but BECAUSE You have saved me.  Lead me afresh to Your words, Savior, that I might learn and grow.  All to Your glory.

Help us to rise up as the true hope of men and women – made of nothing but what is pure, just, honest and admirable.  Let Your glory rise in us today, my Lord.  May Your Name be given the great waves of admiration it deserves.  All to You, Jesus.

More of a Blessing, Less of a Jerk

Good morning, Father!

So, I haven’t journaled my prayers for a while.  I’m sensing your nudge telling me to share again!  As I’ve quietened my heart before you, I’ve gotten TOO quiet.  Help me now to once again pour my heart out into words here.

Just when I thought it was safe to take on a big responsibility, many other needs come flooding in.  I’m pretty certain you don’t have a clone program, but your wisdom academy is always open.  Yes, as I pray for special degrees of wisdom to ably sort information and needs through these days, give me discernment as well.  A full measure of determination and tenacity would also be appreciated.  May I serve well and grow stronger in the process.

Help me to build up others that I may also grow.

Help me to encourage others better which, in turn, encourages me.

Help me to listen, to slow down, and to stay where I am needed in any given moment.  These things I can do with Your help, and I know they will make me stronger and better.

As I think about the interesting and unusually personality quirks of the new dog we have brought into our family, I also have to laugh at my own strange ways!  Take these quirks of mine and polish those that are endearing and help me to resolve to abandon those that are not.  May this sacrifice of myself be a fragrance pleasing to You, and a reflection of Your glory to all who encounter me.

Make me a blessing.  Yes, let it be so.  Today, every day, make me a blessing to my wife, my family, my neighbors, my congregation of believers, my community, and even my dog!  Let my depth in You be made so complete in me that even my dog notices!

And in all things – glory to You, my King.  Let it rise, let Your glory rise today.

What I Hope You’ll See When You Size Me Up

How deep, how wide, how long, how high…

Your love, my Lord, amazes me more every morning.

How can I live in such a way today that these wonderful things about knowing You are clearly shining through me?  Help me to take captive any impulse that would hurt others or create misinformation.  Shine through me.  I am willing, I lay me down.  I find great joy in this surrender.  The anticipation of revealing Your love to another searching, hungry heart today is in high gear.

When others size me up, may You be my cloak and marrow, my deepest AND my most public part.  Did I say part?  Have it all…  I wasn’t using it well, anyway!

Help me to have words of healing even for those spewing words designed to hurt.

Help me to have a willingness of time for those who need the space of a friend.

Help me to sort my desk work well.  Give me the gumption to get it done with excellence, without wasting time.

Help me to understand these truths I’m digesting that I may know You better and worship You more freely and with more abandon.

Help me to stand strong, confident and without feeling the weight of my flesh.

All for You, my kind and tenderhearted friend.  All for You, my universe-creating Lord.  All for You, my sacrificial Lamb.  All for You, my life Savior and healer.

Put Your glory on display in me today, put it on display in those who come here to pray with me, put it on display in the lives of Your believers in this town.  Yes, let it be so.

Great Expectations Fulfilled

Father, let this be the day of great expectations fulfilled!

What things do You need for me to add to my day to allow hope and promise to arise in someone’s heart?

What thing must I let go of in order to grab hold of the better engagement You have for me?

What person have I shut out that I need to give time and attention?

What mistakes about my own identity have I clung to that have prevented me from identifying with You?

What load of garbage am I carrying around that I need to drop off at the dumpster?

I seek, I listen, I ask, I knock on the door for Your much appreciated counsel.

I listen to the song You sing over me as I wait here in the quiet for Your glory to rise…

Plummeting Towards the Deep

The cry of my heart is that You would give me wisdom to lead well.  Create an ordering and discernment of truth in my mind that allows me to process it all well.

Father, maker, healer, friend…  counselor, instructor, equipper…  keep me from messing this thing up!  Highlight the wise words I need to keep at a moment’s reach.  Amp up my compassion and mercy factor while illuminating my understanding of truth and how to apply it.

You have given me a community to serve, and You are building my love and concern for them every day.  Show me my way through the myriad of encounters so that I may proceed full of Your love even in the darkest moment.  Helped me to be a friend to the foulest, most unlikeable one – and I know from experience that is a prayer you like to answer.  I realize that I don’t need more patience – that suggests I need to learn to endure and put up with personal inconveniences.  Increase me in my ability to maximize the impact of every moment and to fill them full of Your power, grace and wellness.

I find that my heart is lagging in some of these areas, and it would be far too easy for me to run and hide.  But I want – in fact, I insist – that I want to be the very best that You have in mind.  I don’t want to be content just to rest in Your arms or to simply lean into You…  I want to go deep, to be immersed in the privilege of knowing You and growing in You.  Let grace rock me off my ledge and send me plummeting towards the deep.

Let Your glory rise.  As it rises in me, let it be only to magnify You.  As hope fills the empty places of this community, let it be for the restoration of the broken and healing of the despondent.  Let this glory not only rise… but may Your glory bring life.  Yes!