12/18/12

Praying 10 minutes today: WEDNESDAY 12/19


Find a quiet time and place to pray... take a few deep breaths...
be still... and know that God is near...


A word to reflect on:   

I am the Lord your God,
you shall not have other gods beside me...
- Exodus 20






(Before moving on to the reflection below,
   spend some quiet time with the scripture verse above...)
 
You are the Lord, you are my God:
   you are the Lord of my life...

That's so easy to say, Lord, so easy to pray,
   but much harder to live when I think of you
      as Lord of all the parts my life...

You're the Lord of my life
   so you're Lord of my mind and my thoughts,
      my schemes and ideas,
         my will and my imagination...

You're the Lord of my life
   so you're Lord of my heart and desires,
      my hungers and thirsts, my longing and learning
          for security, for love and for peace...

You're Lord of my soul
   so you're Lord of my prayer, my faith hope and love;
you're Lord of the place in my heart where you dwell;
you're Lord of the grace that pardons my sins;
you're Lord of the peace my soul deeply needs,
you're Lord of the Spirit who refreshes my soul...
You're Lord of my life
   so you're Lord of my body, my health and my ills, 
      my feelings and urges, my craving for comfort, 
         my lust for pleasure, my youth and my aging, 
            my flesh and my bones...

You're Lord of my life
   so you're Lord of my will, my decisions and choices;
you're Lord of the paths that I choose to walk;
you're Lord of the compass that guides me through life;
you're Lord of my missteps, my stumbles and falls;
you're Lord of journey and the difference it makes...

You're Lord of my life
   so you're Lord of my secrets, my fears and my shame;
you're Lord of my problems, my troubles and trials;
you're Lord of what's hidden within me,
   and nothing is hidden from you...

You're Lord of my life:
   my Lord when I work and my Lord when I play;
   Lord of my sweat and Lord of my leisure;
   my Lord when I'm selfish and my Lord when I'm helpful;
you're the Lord of my comings and goings, 
   the Lord of my sleeping and rising;
you're Lord of my every minute and hour,
   Lord of my night and Lord of my day...

You're Lord of my life,
   past, present and future, beginning to end,
but surest of all you're Lord of this day,
   the day I live now, the one day that's mine,
      the day you have made...

You're my Lord and my God but so often
   I have strange gods beside you:
      the god of my self, the god of my pride, 
      the god of my stubbornness, the god of my envy,
      the god of my laziness, the god of my anger,
      the god of contentment and the god of self-pity...

Such gods are idols, made from my weakness,
   hand crafted by me to make my life easy;
such gods are false, they never speak truth,
   they confuse and confound and lead me away;
such gods are empty and easily break,
   they offer no substance, no rescue, no grace...

You are the Lord, you are my God:
   let no other god capture my heart,
   let no other god play games with my mind,
   let no other god find room in my soul...

Be the Lord of my days, the God of my hope;
be the Lord of my journey, the God whom I long for;
be the Lord of my love: set your seal on my heart...

In the quiet of my prayer, 
   I name you Lord, my God, my all...

In the silence of my prayer, 
   I trust my heart into your hands...

In stillness let me know 
   that you are with me, Lord, my God:
      let no other take your place 
         for I have no God but you...

To ponder and pray over...
Who is the Lord of my life, my God?
Are there parts of me, parts of my day,
   that I hold back, slow to surrender to my God?
Where, when, how do I need to ask God
   to be Lord of my life?
What will I ask of the Lord today?
From this prayer time, what word or phrase will I keep with me
   to carry through the rest of my day?

(After you spend some time with these questions,
   pray the reflection above one more time...)


Here are some tips for praying 10 minutes a day.  If you find these daily prayer reminders helpful, please let me know - and share them with others.  You'll find an archive of these daily posts here.

 
 
   
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