“But Thou, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.” (Psalm 3:3-6)
MORNING PRAYER
Dear Father,
It’s so scary, the tangled web that deception weaves! My heart is broken for what I see happening around me. It’s everywhere. Was I just naïve? Because life is rapidly changing from day to day. I know I repeatedly say this to You, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. I can’t fully wrap my arms around all the ways I see foundational, biblical Truth attacked. You see me, shaking my head… again!
I think about you, Jesus, enduring gossip, false accusations & lies, and emotional & physical abuse by your persecutors. Sometimes those doubters were even close friends & family. I don’t understand how You bore that grief, all the way to the Cross. Would I have accused You? It makes me sick, to the point of tears, to even think so! Hindsight is 20/20. I have Your written Word. But what if I had lived back then? Your garden suffering was a culmination of it all. You agonized over your impending loss, without compromise, for eternal weight of glory. Please teach me to love like that. Because sometimes I can’t get past the disillusionment of hurt. Somedays I have an eternal perspective. Other times it’s just plain HARD to not be affected by an insidious, creeping evil that I can’t see. It’s illusive, Lord, but intentional. I do hate the enemy of our souls! I do hate watching his destruction in lives I know & love. Like dropping a pebble into a lake, I watch the ripples traveling outward, long after the initial “plop” in the water.
Lord, you have given me the promise & seal of Your Spirit. Please open my spiritual eyes to what You want me to see. I know I should not react defensively. But then comes that sudden trigger, when my emotional target is so very real, like a stinging pain I can almost touch. My pride steps up to bat. And it’s downhill from there. You embraced that pain, verbally defenseless, because of loving obedience to fulfill Your Father’s redemptive purposes. And You did it alone… completely… alone, for people who missed Your heart of love & didn’t know how much they needed You. There are times when it feels like my heart is breaking. Pretense can be nasty, between people pretending to love, resulting in s-l-o-w, strangulating death. Teach me to love selflessly when I cannot “breathe.” Because it’s all about You.
You know me better than I know myself. You know my thoughts, motivations, fears & the times I grapple with unbelief. The timing of events that touch my life isn’t lost on You. Whether I like it or not, information thrust on me these days can feel like an avalanche. Thank you, for Your all-sufficient grace in my ongoing, ever-present needs. I am learning how much strength there is in dependency. Please protect my mind, our marriage, our future, & our remaining days on this earth. Thank You for my beloved & for unceasingly working to knit our hearts together. Keep us sealed by Your love so that we are “leakproof” & resistant to the assaults of the world, the enemy, & our own flesh. “Cocoon us” in Your very life by the power of Your Spirit. We are Yours, Lord. Thank You for saving us! IN YOUR MATCHLESS NAME I TRUST!
Share this post