Tag Archives: Prayer

2020 Prayer

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Have you given much thought recently to what Jesus prays for you? I hadn’t, but a few days ago it struck me that He was praying for me. So, I asked Him, “Lord, what is your prayer for me this year?” I listened and waited and, in time, I heard.

I belong to a “pack” of 10 women. We have ministered together and lead worship at many events over the last couple of decades. We know each other all too well and have prayed each other through the ups and downs of life. With 10 of us, that translates into a lot of prayers!

When we were rehearsing weekly, we would always spend time in prayer. When it was someone’s birthday, it was our tradition to eat sweets then pray only for the birthday girl. I can’t tell you what it does to your heart when you hear nine people each talk to God specifically about you and for you. It’s surprisingly hard to sit still and let people love you in that way. It often moved the birthday girl to tears.

Right now, Jesus is lifting throne-room prayers for you. He knows you all too well and has fervently prayed you through the ups and downs of life. His continual thoughts toward you outnumber the grains of sand in all the deserts and seas, and He daily bears your burdens. So great is His care for you!

Imagine listening in on those prayers. It would move us to tears. I believe we can know, at least in part, what He’s praying, but we need to be in the throne room to hear. So, step into the Most Holy Place by His blood and set yourself before Him in stillness and quiet surrender. Lean into Him who is leaning into you so full of tender love, and let Him love you. Ask what’s on His heart for you this year, and ask for ears to hear it. He wants you to know. Ask and it shall be given.

Jesus waits for those who will take time to listen and open themselves to the inconceivable…who will sink into Him in quiet surrender and be swept up into the impossible.

Secrets of Psalm 139

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To hear it: Secrets of Psalm 139

 

Lord, You have searched me and you know me.

You till and sift the soil of my soul,

And peer into the innermost secrets of my heart.

You know the raw me, and you still love me.

 

You know when I sit down and when I stand up;

You perceive my thoughts from afar

You know my thoughts before they occur to me;

You’ve known them from antiquity.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

You are intimately familiar with all my ways.

 

You see me rise in the morning and lay my head down at night

Throughout my day, even if I leave your path,

You will never leave mine

For where I am, you are.

You are closer than my skin for I am in You and You in me.

 

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Before I utter a sound, you’ve already heard it.

 

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

You surround every inch of all that’s me.

You go before me with grace and behind me with mercy.

You guide me toward your heart and you redeem my past.

 

Such knowledge is wonderfully incomprehensible!

It’s too lofty for me to attain;

Too massive to wrap my mind around.

 

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens and into the very birthplace of the stars, you are there;

If I make my bed in the utter depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, and settle on the far side of the sea,

Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast

And will never ever let go.

 

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

If a deep darkness of despair, fear and loneliness swallows my light,

Even that darkness will not be dark to you;

The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you,

And it flees from your holy light.

 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb –

Weaving soul and spirit, bone and muscle, according to your perfect design for me

You sparked the beating of my heart and I am Your image bearer.

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 

My frame was not hidden from you

When I was made in the secret place,

When I was woven together in the depths of the womb.

Your eyes saw my unformed body when I was a microscopic ball of cells.

 

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

You picked the day of my conception and You picked the day of my death

You are Sovereign over all the days between whether many or few.

 

How priceless are your thoughts toward me God! How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— On the shores of all the Seas and the deserts of all the continents.

 

You sing over me as I sleep;

When I awake, I am still with you and will always be with You

For you purchased me with your blood, and I belong to You.

 

If only You would slay the wicked and destroy evil in the world.

But search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.

See if there is anything in me that offends You and degrades Your sacrifice.

Search out any idol I value more than You and place above You.

Wash away all my inquity, cleanse me from my sin and purge every idol.

 

I surrender all I am – my heart and mind and body to You – I am Yours.

Be Lord of my thoughts, my desires, my life.

Lead me along the everlasting path, and, in your grace,

Give me more faith to trust You and follow You in obedience.

 
 

Secret Prayer

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The alarm goes off and I finally rise after a couple snooze cycles. Tea in hand, I shuffle to my chair and sit in the presence of God. It takes a few moments to corral wandering thoughts and turn toward Him. He watches me settle and waits. Sometimes I become acutely aware of His Presence and my humanness falls silent. Sometimes I just stare into my tea.
I don’t know how I should pray, but the Spirit begins to pray His heart and will for me in the unutterable language of Deity. In the quiet of the morning, a deep upwelling stirs my soul and the unutterable becomes my prayer.

All that I am waits quietly before you, O God,

for my hope is in You.

I am Yours – all I am and all I have.

Work into my heart a deeper and more absolute surrender.

Wash away all my sin.

Cleanse me from all that dishonors You and rises above You.

Empty me of myself and fill me with all of Your fullness.

Permeate every cell.

Remove the scales from my eyes and give me greater faith to see You.

Overwhelm me with Your presence and take my breath away.

I want to know Your great heart, O God.

I yearn for rare intimacy with You.