A
Prayer
by
Pastor Jack Hayford
Lord God, Creator of all, Maker of my heart ... I bring it to You
this morning.
My heart ... which at various times has been lifted in praise to
You, rejoices over Your goodness and giving to me.
My heart … which also sometimes cowers in fear before people and
problems—when I forget You are bigger than them all—has been stained
by mediations unworthy of a child made in Your image. It has been
lifted up in pride over attainments accomplished by Your hand alone.
And, Lord, my heart is often hardened as well. I bring my heart
to You this day for softening...
… like a child's, softened to forgive quickly, easily, without
judgment, prejudice, bitterness, or resentment;
… like a field, softened to receive seeds of Your truth,
that the fruit of Your Holy Spirit might be produced through my
life;
… like clay, softened, that I might be shaped today more
completely into the man or the woman You want me to become.
Forgive my hardness of heart when it results from my own disobedience,
neglect, or outright resistance to Your ways.
Deliver me, lest my heart shrink by reason of this dryness and
hardening. Flow the rivers of Your life over my heart, and bring
it to renewal, O Lord.
And where my heart is hardened simply by the heat of duty, the
weariness of work, the attack of enemies, the slings and arrows
of the inconsiderate or crude … at those points, give me a vision
of Your heart today, Lord. For although I have wounded Your
love by my failures, You have never hardened Your heart against
me.
So, dear God, let my heart be softened today in the same way as
Yours toward any who have done to me as I have to You. Deliver me
from all temptation to smallness or hardness of heart, and fill
my life this morning with Your will and Your Word.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer (Psalm
19:14).
Through Christ, our Lord, Amen. |
Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233