.: prayer for the day :.

This is a prayer that has been upon my heart lately, as I have been wrestling with my inconsistency within my relationship with the Father. I am beginning to realize that I need the Spirit to do what I cannot do by myself (i.e., to make me more and more like Christ):



“Father God,



Thank you for another day of life! I accept it as a gift of grace that I do not deserve. But I confess that for me to be made in the image of Your Son today, I need for You to move in powerful ways within my heart and life. I know my own heart and how I constantly abandon the work of Your kingdom in order to build my own. But I confess even now that I want to do what is right, with all my heart and spirit. I know that even this prayer is not a simple solution, so I ask for the determination to make it the cry of my heart. I want to be faithful, but I know that each day stands as an opportunity to either towards or away from loving intimacy with You. So I ask for grace for this day alone, for tomorrow is not a promise given to me.



I ask, just for today, that You would allow me to remain focused on what You have intended for me, and change my longings so that I might yearn for You and Your work in my life. I need for the Holy Spirit to cause me to see everything else as trivial compared to the glory and grace that You have in store for me. I am surrounded by a world that continues to draw me away from You, but You, Father, have overcome the world. I pray that You might help me to overcome my own trials and temptations, but that I would also learn how You are using them to teach me. I thank you for the example of Jesus Christ, who lived among us, as one of us, and yet keep His heart from sin through fellowship with His Father. I ask that I might also have that same intimate fellowship with You, God, so that I can see You as the greatest love of my life. I thank you for Your immeasurable grace, which You pour out on me daily, even without my asking.



Your desire is for me to be made into the image of Christ – I ask that You might make that my deepest desire and that I would live in such a way as to participate with You in that sanctifying process. My earthly nature continues to pull me away from the things that I know are satisfying (everything that You are and do) and entertain me with lesser desires. But I ask, Father God, that you would move in and through my heart to cause me to see my identity as Your child, and the strength and grace to behave as such. Satisfy me in such a way that sin is seen for what it truly is. And I know that You desire all such things for me, and find joy when Your children share such desires with You.



In Your Name, I pray all these things… Amen.”