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I find my mind wanders horrifically when
I settle down to pray. Writing
them out helps a lot.
Here are a couple of examples of some personal prayers:
We thank Thee
for the mercies of the night past; that we laid down and slept, and waked
up again in safety; because Thou hast sustained us, we are brought in
safety to the beginning of another day.
We acknowledge that we are cold and defective in our love to Thee;
we are weak in our desires after Thee; and cannot walk with Thee as we
ought to do. But we pray Thee to
forgive all our sins for Christ’s sake, and be at peace with us, in Him
who died to make peace, and ever liveth making intercession for us. Grant us strength for all the duties
of the day; that we may do all things after a godly sort, acknowledging
Thee in all our ways; and be Thou pleased to direct our steps. (Matthew
Henry)
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which
flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting
breath,
When mine eyes shall close in
death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
But you, beloved, build
yourself up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit, keep
yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ that leads to eternal life.
Jude 20-21.
LORD Jesus, I come to
You now boldly. I come to You who
are for me. You could not be any
more for me. You lived, taught,
suffered, died, rose and ascended for me. You sit at the Father’s right hand interceding for me. You will return for me to inaugurate a
new world, to remove the shroud of death, to wipe away my tears. LORD Jesus you are more for me than I
am! A thousand times more. I mean myself only death and slavery
to sin. You mean for me life and
freedom. I mean for me miserable
independence and self-indulgence.
You mean for me glorious fellowship and self-giving. I come to You
as the true me. I come to You to
claim who I am – not in myself, but in You. I leave behind the old me. He was crucified with
You, never to rise. I forsake
him. May I count him the corpse
that he most certainly is. I come
to claim my identity, my peace, my joy in You LORD Jesus.
You are the Heavenly
Man. You are the True Humanity,
the True Lord of the Cosmos, the True Ruler of the Heavens and the
Earth. You are the Maker of all
things. You are all that this
universe subsists in, points to and requires. You stand between Heaven and Earth – the Heir of both, the
Reconciler of one to the other.
And You reconciled all things through the blood of Your
cross.
Amazing Jesus, You who
own the Cosmos, You who have the human race and its disgusting rebellion
in the palm of Your hand – You submitted to the death we demanded of
You. In Your infinite wisdom You
laid down Your life. You perished
at the hand of Your Father. You
were counted the worst rebel. You
were punished as though You were the only rebel – You the Righteous One.
On the cross You were rejected by Earth, rejected by Heaven – thrust into
the air to die the death of the rejected. You were the loneliest man there has ever been. Godforsaken, manforsaken. You, the Light and Life of the Cosmos,
perished in darkness.
Never has One so
mighty become so meek. You are
the Lion of Judah who was slain as a Lamb. You are God crucified.
You are the First and the Last who died. All praise to You LORD Jesus. All praise to Your
magnificent grace. Your
condescension and mercy infinitely surpasses the impassible indifference
of the human gods. Oh LORD, my
bleeding LORD, my thirsty LORD, my crying LORD, my bound LORD, my scorned
LORD, my abandoned LORD, my dying LORD.
Did I really put You there?
And do You really hang there for me?
Thank You my Lamb,
thank You my LORD. I am humbled
by Your humility. You could not
have stooped lower my Jesus, yet in Your strength You descended to the
very depths. I love You so much Jesus. You are so glorious.
You could not be more glorious.
Your gospel could not be mightier or grander or more passionate.
LORD may I identify
with Your death. May I know my
death in Yours. The old me is
crucified and no longer lives.
The one condemned to hell has been condemned, the curse has been
satisfied. Now Jesus is risen,
and I with Him.
“Set your hearts on
things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on
earthly things. For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life
appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.”
My loving, awesome
LORD – YOU ROSE. Buried under 10
million oceans of sin and condemnation, You burst forth from the very
depths of hell as the champion over all things whether in heaven or on
earth or under the earth. By Your
omnipotent Holy Spirit, You rose in unstoppable power. You are the death of death, the death
of sin, the death of condemnation, the death of futility and frustration. You are the Firstborn of a new order
modelled on Your glorified body.
You are the Champion.
And I am in You. I am risen. I have burst forth in victory. I am new. I am
beyond death, beyond sin, beyond condemnation, beyond futility and
frustration. Thank You Jesus, may
I know it more. May I rest in it,
depend on it, move forwards in it.
I could not be more
loved. I could not be more
secure. My LORD, You have won the
most astonishing victory and You have allowed me to share in it. Thank You Jesus.
I confess to You that
I deserve only hell for my life. In myself I am a rebel and a
God-hater. In myself I would
trample on Your cross and spit at You.
I am wicked.
In my week I have done
so much to go along with this old humanity… Please Jesus wash me in Your blood. Please make me new by Your cross,
raise me to new life in Your resurrection, present me to Your Father
righteous in Your ascension.
I want to live my life
completely in You Jesus. By Your
Spirit please sweep me up into Your victory. May I live each second in You – consciously depending on
Your victory, on Your love and peace.
May I walk by the Spirit and live Your risen life.
May I glorify the
Father by trusting You with every decision, every thought, every action. May I continually wash in Your
blood. May I keep a conscience
void of offence. LORD, deliver me
from evil. And may I be bold to speak of You. To encourage the believers, to quicken and challenge and
appeal to the unbelievers. From
the over-flow of a heart set on You, may my mouth speak.
LORD grant me Your
Spirit in great measure. May I
know Your resurrection power, May I know Your continual presence and
love. Give me all discernment and
wisdom to live minute by minute.
Help me to see the gospel issue behind every presenting
symptom. Help me to point away
from myself and always to You.
Please grant me the gifts of Your Spirit. I eagerly desire prophesy, preaching
and teaching gifts, evangelism and leadership. LORD may you grant these
for the good of the body and may I always consider them for that purpose. And LORD I pray for tongues again,
that I might pray with my spirit to you.
LORD Jesus, make me
loving. May I look to others with compassion. May I seek their interest and not my own. I pray this especially for these
people…
May the fire of Christ consume all indifference to God
The light of Christ illumine our vision of God
The love of Christ enlarge our longing for God
The Spirit of Christ empower our service to God
And the blessing of God Almighty,
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Be among us, and remain with us always.
(James Jones)
Dear Heavenly Father,
How incredible that You would send Your Son. He who is all truth,
He who is all life, all beauty. He
who is Wisdom and Power. He who
is Love.
Father, with Him You are well pleased. You love Your Son.
And so You pour Him out on Zion – installing Him as King,
silencing Your enemies, bestowing on Him Your inheritance, providing for
us a refuge. You hand Him over to
us – to we who say ‘this is the Heir, let’s kill Him and take the
inheritance.’ You give Your
infinitely precious Son to we who deserve infinite wrath. And You say ‘This is my Son, with Him
I am well pleased. Listen to Him. Respect Him. I have glorified Him and will glorify Him again.’ How can you give Him to us? What love is this? How can we comprehend Your holy and
fierce resolve to bestow life, light and immortality on such devils. Is
there no limit to Your kindness, Your tender generous love? Will you not
withold Your own Heart from us given how we hate Him, mock Him and pierce
Him through? How can we ever
comprehend such mercy? How can we
ever express our grief for having spurned Him? How can we ever be grateful enough for infinite grace?
But it is enough that we love Him.
That we believe You did indeed send Him. That He came from You and returned to You, accomplishing
all You sent Him for. I believe
LORD. I love Him. With all the strength You’ve given me,
I love Him. And I love You for
sending Him. For Your heart
poured out in never-ending generosity.
I love your Spirit who opens my eyes to Him and kindles my love
for Him. I am so unworthy of Your gift.
I have killed Your Son. I
have laid my sins on His head and thrust Him down into the pit. I was once glad of His death. I once cried out ‘Crucify Him. Let His
blood be on my head’ But now I
want His blood for salvation. LORD sprinkle me. Cleanse me. Purge me. Shield me with the blood of the Lamb. Pass over me when You
come in Your wrath for I take shelter in Your Lamb. I praise You that He is my Lamb. And He is my Lion. And He is my Shepherd. And He is my Prince, Saviour,
Fore-runner, Author, Perfector, Priest, Judge, Master, Teacher, Husband
and Friend. Christ is all and is
in all. And I am in Him and You
are in Me. I have all fulness in
Jesus. I participate in the
divine nature – a son alongside Your Son. An anointed one alongside Your
Anointed One. You invite me into
Your family and bestow eternal honours on me. They belong only to Jesus.
Only to Him. Yet He has
betrothed Himself to me, entrusted His substance to His bride.
Surely you have given me a delightful inheritance. You have withheld nothing from
me. I have everything in
Jesus. I have You Holy Father, I
have the Eternal Spirit, I have peace, forgiveness, fellowship, grace,
honour and divine love. In
anticipation I have the whole creation in Christ. No good thing do I lack. Father make me to know it. Send Your Son from heaven again into
my heart. Make me to feel your
generosity. Make me to know the
peace and security that is mine in Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit.
Leave no room for self-pity.
Leave no room for bitterness or envy or anger or lust. Humble me by Your grace. Make me to know my littleness. My meekness. My need, my dependance. I am a little child with a mighty
Heavenly Father. Humble me by
your grace. And give me grace in
my humility. And may that grace
humble me further. LORD drive me
down in grateful joy to confess ‘I am only an unworthy servant.’ And yet what servant was ever treated
like this? The LORD Himself
serves me!!!?? What kind of Master
is He?!
Father, I live so much of my day, so much of my life, in arid
forgetfulness of this most ultimate truth: That You love me, that Christ
is for me, that Your Spirit is in me.
In consciousness (but not in fact) I live apart from the Vine, a
body without its Head, a bride who forgets her Husband. How absurd! Father, keep me close. Fill me with Your Spirit, remind me
by Your Word, correct, rebuke, train, encourage me through Your people –
keep me ever in the remembrance of Jesus.
Father, inspire a deeper thirst in me for fellowship. Give me a greater taste of Your glory,
a greater dissatisfaction with my dryness, a greater determination to
rest in You. May I cast off the
sin that so easily entangles, the sluggish fleshiness that drags me
down. May I pursue Christ hotly.
May I eagerly draw near and taste the reward of Your company.
Father, may I walk closer with Your Holy Spirit. May fellowship with Him produce
holiness of life – a single-minded determination to run the race, to sow
the seed, to serve the King. I
get so distracted. I pursue so
many trivial, selfish agendas. I
gratify the cravings of my flesh.
But I confess I can do nothing apart from the true Vine. Bind me closer. Unite my heart that I might fear Your
Name. Banish all
double-mindedness. May I treat
each day with the respect it deserves as Your creation. May I live in this realm – the
realm of today which You have given me.
May I not escape off into tomorrows of my own devising or
yesterdays of pride and regret.
May I live today before my Commanding Officer looking forward to
the Day He will say ‘Well done good and faithful servant.’
Father, help me to love my bride.
Thank You for her. She is
another precious gift which You have entrusted to me. May I be a means of grace to her. May I take headship seriously – give
me wisdom for this. May I live
for her holiness and growth in grace.
May I wash her with water through the word (give me words
LORD). May I be gentle and not
harsh. Understanding and not
uncaring. May I be sacrificial
and not selfish. May I take the
cruciform in our marriage all for the joy of her progress in the faith.
…
I pray also for these people…
Grant me all I need in Your service Father. When I speak may I speak with Your
words. May they accomplish all
that You send them to do. May my
preaching be a fire, a hammer, a sword and a balm. May it be indeed the Word of the
LORD. May I serve with Your
strength. Keep me diligent in all
my duties ….
Lord, I ask for prophesy, for teaching and preaching gifts. I ask
for leadership, for tremendous wisdom in helping your people. I ask for administration. I ask for hospitality (for us
both). And I ask again for
tongues, that I may pray to You with my spirit.
So Father keep me close.
And when I stray may the blood of Jesus be upon me, cleansing my
conscience and reminding me of grace.
I love You Father, keep me praying continually and seeing every
encounter in my day as an opportunity to serve others and to know You.
In Jesus’ mighty name,
Amen.
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