A Concord Pastor Comments: Praying 10 minutes today: FRIDAY 4/19

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:

From the place where he dwells he gazes
on all who dwell on earth,
he who shapes the hearts of all
and considers all their deeds...   Psalm 33

What an amazing grace, Lord:
   that I sit here with you who dwell in the heavens;
   that you would choose to sit with me, as friends do;
   that you should listen when I speak to you
      who shape the hearts of all...

You made my heart, Lord,
   you knew its chambered depths long before my birth...
In my mother's womb you shaped my heart:
   the heart that will be mine 'til its last beat and my last breath...

As clay in your sculpting hands
   you've never ceased to shape my heart,
to mold it, always, ever more like yours...

You open my heart to be filled with the peace
   you offer me every day...

You knead my heart to make it strong
   for the work that's mine to do,
   for the burdens I must carry,
   for the sorrows and the joys I hold inside...

You mend my heart and heal its wounds
   when sin and disappointment pierce me...

You touch my heart with grace and
   bless my heart with all it needs
      to face the day ahead...

You shape the hearts of all, Lord,
   and mine no less than any:
you consider all my deeds, the good and bad alike,
   and call my heart to faithfulness,
      to repentance, truth and love...

I wonder and I pray, Lord:
   how will you shape my heart today?
How will your fingers mold my heart
   for this day's peace, this day's sorrow,
      for this day's joys and this day's work?

I wonder and I pray, Lord:
   what word will you speak to me today?
What word does my heart need to hear?
A word of consolation? a word of mercy?
   a word of challenge? a word of mission?
      a word of healing? a word of counsel?
   a word of wisdom? a word of truth?

Whatever word or words I need to hear this day, Lord,
   open my heart to the whisper of your voice
      in the quiet of my prayer, in my mind's rambling thoughts,
         in your Spirit's prompting counsel, in the world all around me,
      in the depths and chambers of the heart you've made for me...

Above all, Lord, help me trust
   you shape my heart anew each day
and speak a word for me to hear;
   that you're with me in this quiet time and place;
   that you are God, that you are near, that you are here...

I open and bare my heart to you, Lord,
   to shape it as you will, today...

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.