A Prayer - Faith, Hope & Love

Some of my blog entries are more along the lines of sharing what I have learned, and some are prayers that I share with the hope that others may want to use these prayers in their own devotional prayer time with the Lord.  Here is one such prayer.

May the Lord touch you in a powerful way and draw you close as you pray.

Jesus, I thank you and praise you that you are near to me, right now, by the power and presence of Holy Spirit.  Remind me of your immanent presence, both surrounding me and filling me.  Teach me the habit of being filled, over and over again, by you.  I am drinking you in like water, breathing you in like the air around me. 

You, Lord, are ever teaching me that these three remain – faith, hope, and love. (1 Cor 13).  Faith expressing itself in love.  Christ in me the hope of glory.  Where then is my hope?  My hope is in YOU -- the one who loves me and the one gave himself for me.  My hope is in YOU alone, Lord!  You are the author and finisher of my faith.  I abide in your love because you have prayed and the Father has answered, that the love that is in the Father for the Son may also be in me - in us (John 17).  I am living and breathing all day long an atmosphere of faith, hope and love.   Together this faith, hope and love is grace to me, is goodness to me, and provides all that I need, beyond what I can ask or imagine.  May I walk today and every day in this atmosphere of faith, hope and love.

May I walk more deeply in faith, cling more tightly to hope, and embody more completely your love.  Remind me today that everything that comes against my faith, or tries to attack my hope, or tempts me to not love is of the evil one.  I will remain in love, remain in hope, remain in faith.  Faith that moves mountains.  Hope that never dies. Love that fills and heals even the deepest of wounds.  Give me your heart, Lord!

For what is prayer if it is not the joining of my heart to yours?  What is life worth if it is not lived in your presence and from your presence?  Grant it, Lord, that there should never be anything that I desire that is not consistent with placing all my hope in you and walking out a life of love, and a life of faith in You.   Help me to unlearn every unhelpful idea of prayer that I have heard and practiced.

I enter into your heart by faith now, coming boldly before your mercy seat and your throne of grace, and I ask that you will forgive me for every idle word, every unloving thought, and fill me instead with a holy fire of your love for all whom I would encounter.  

Let my heart be softened and pliable, vulnerable to the mercy that you want to pour in me and through me.  Let me be a humble servant who is solely motivated by Your heart of compassion, not being moved by perceived need, but rather moved by the real power, wisdom, and love that can come only through joining my heart to your heart - knowing and obeying You, laying aside the flesh and embracing Spirit as Life.

Take me from this humble place before you, and move me into just the right place today where I may allow words of faith, words of hope, and words of love to flow from my lips.  May what I say and do today be a reflection of your heart of mercy, knowing that you, who have called me, are the One who is faithful to complete the good work you have started - both in me and in all those I love.

Thank you, Lord, that all my hope is in You, the Faithful and True God.  My faith rests in the One who never fails, the One who knows the end from the beginning and who holds eternity in his hands.. All my fountains are in You, and I drink deeply from your wells of salvation today!   May I blossom and bear fruit like a well-watered garden.

Amen!