A Prayer for Worship

I include these prayers and snapshots of my relationship with the Lord for no other reason than that 1) you can learn a tremendous amount about a person by the way they pray (so you get to know me better) and 2) maybe by reading my prayers you will be encouraged or built up in your faith. Be blessed!

June 30, 2006

Lord, be blessed by our worship tonight. Anoint us to touch your heart. May the holy and pure praise of your name by your children be so distasteful to any demons or evil strongholds that they have to flee – the walls fall down and we have freedom to call on your name with truly open hearts – hearts longing to be filled with your truth and love. Give us open hearts that give you freedom to move on us in whatever way you want – whatever seems good to your heart. Lord, we don't want to be afraid anymore – we don't want to be afraid of you. We don't understand how it is that you love us like you say you do. We have so many questions. We've been hurt – we've been taken advantage of – by each other – Lord, some of us feel that you took advantage of us and hurt us. Oh how that must hurt your heart. When you gave your son – your only son – Lord your word says that it was your will to crush your son – the only one who loved you – Jesus was the only one who was not selfish unto death – he was the only one who loved you and you were pleased to kill him for me. Oh Lord! You were willing to pay such a great price for me and yet I would question your love for me. Yet I would think you would desire to hurt me. Oh, Father, thank you for your patience with us. Lord, we want to know you. We want to know what's real. We want to trust you. We want to let you love us and lead us through the adventures of this life – as brief as it is. Lord, we want to let you show us the mysteries and secrets of your heart. We want to learn how to love others so much that we don't have to always be looking over our shoulders to see if someone's going to hurt us. I want to trust that you are making me into the man you've called me to be. You're dreams for me are so much better than my own. You're teaching me how to have victory in all things as I learn to rejoice in you and your faithfulness. Pour out reconciliation and forgiveness on us, your Children. Give us humble hearts to encourage and serve and not to point the finger or criticize – teach us how to extract the beautiful from the worthless – just like you do with me. I want to be like you. I want to see my circumstances and others the way you do – through eyes of love and hopefulness and not judgment and insecurity, Lord. I thank you that you've made us a family and that we need each other. I love my brothers and sisters so much. Thank you for loving each of us personally and having special moments with each of us – but thank you for giving us each other that we can sacrifice for each other serve each other. We can practice learning to be like you. We want your life living in us – not just stagnant in our heads – but alive in our hearts – changing our character – transforming us to love fearlessly – to give generously – to forgive unconditionally – to lay down our lives that we might find them completely alive and renewed in you. Lord, we're tired of feeling broken and hopeless – if we're gonna be broken, Lord, let us at least be broken and hopeful – hopeful because of your promises – hopeful because you do not lie – hopeful because your thoughts over us are loving kindness and restoration and redemption. Lord, we're broken, but you told us that if we would just grab your hand you would heal me – you would give me faith – you would give me a reason – you'd give me hope. You said so, Lord. Lord, we're scared. We've never done anything like this before. Some of us are hurting so much that we just want to quit. We can't stay where we are, but we're afraid to follow you. Lord, no more. No more. We're scared. But we're ready. Forgive me for being ashamed of you. I am not ashamed of you. I am no longer going to make you into what I think you are. I'm no longer going to assume that you're like me. If you were like me I would have every reason to be afraid of you. But you're not like me. You are willing to die for your enemies. You are willing to give every crumb of food you have so that you the ones who seek to kill you can live. You are not like me. I will rejoice in you, my Savior. I will sing your praises from the rooftops. I will proclaim your name to the nations. I will lift you up before kings and princes. I will rejoice in you in the midst of pain and suffering. I will call on you in my distress and you will hear me. I will reach for you and you will save me. I will seek you and chase after you with my whole heart and you will let me find you. I will leap from this cliff with nothing but your promise to catch me because your promise is more real, more true, more solid than this ground I'm so afraid to leave. Bless the Lord oh my soul! Bless the Lord.