A Beautiful Prayer
_________________________________________________________________________________
Lord, you are God Almighty, maker of Heaven and
Earth.
I know this to be true.
You are the Author of my days, my hours, my
minutes, my seconds.
You know the number of hairs on my head.
You are all-knowing, all-seeing, all-hearing,
all-saving.
You number the stars and call them each by name,
Yet you invite me to bring my every care to you.
By your breath, you called all things into
existence,
And it was your Word that breathed life into my
dead soul.
Like Job, I first heard of you and my eyes have
also seen you.
You have done miraculous things in my life for
your glory and for my specific good.
Forgive me for allowing the memory of those works
to fade.
Forgive me for questioning your desire to do good
after what I have seen and known of your goodness.
Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
I am ashamed of how faithless I still seem to be.
Forgive me for worshiping at the altar of fear
instead of the altar of faith.
I know every letter of your Word to be true,
But my wayward heart still seeks comfort in lesser
things.
My sin makes me feel like I am still your enemy,
an object of your wrath.
It makes me doubt the promises of your Word are
true for me.
Remind me of my salvation.
Remind me that though I fall short, I have been
justified by your grace through Jesus.
Remind me that I have been born again into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading.
Lord, make my mouth gape again at the wonder of
who you are.
Make me tremble at your awful righteousness,
But make me rejoice all the more that you are slow
to anger and full of mercy.
Teach me that you are a God who is love and has
wrath;
You are not a God who is wrath but can love.
Teach me to believe that you are not slow to
fulfill your promises.
What I see as slowness is actually your great
patience toward me and others.
Teach me not to allow what I see and experience to
determine my faith.
Teach me what it means to walk by faith instead of
sight.
Lord, create in me an utter disgust toward sin.
Help me to seek the way out of temptation that you
promise to provide.
And on my best days, remind me that my most
righteous acts are as filthy rags.
Indwell me with a spirit that is ever dependent on
and ever thankful for the cross.
Teach me to pray in submission to your good and
perfect will.
And teach me to trust that your answers cannot be
anything other than good and perfect.
Circumcise my heart so that I will love you with
all of it, and with all my soul.
Hold me fast to the life that promise brings.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Photo source
