My Father and My God,
As one whom You have regenerated and redeemed, I believe, through the teaching of Scripture, that You: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the sovereign Creator, Ruler, Sustainer, and Governor of all things that You have created in heaven and on earth. It’s in You that I, and all creatures, live and move and have our being. It’s You, O LORD, who gives life, breath, health, sickness, riches, poverty, and everything else in this world for Your glory and the good of Your church. As one whom You have redeemed, I, and all believers, are your purchased possessions; we belong to You, we are not our own. You alone are God. I am finite and ignorant of so many things; You alone are infinite in wisdom and You know ALL things.
Help me, Father, to trust You in times of adversity, confusion, temptation, and depression. I know nothing happens by chance but all things come by Your Fatherly hand. Therefore, by the help of the Holy Spirit, I can be patient in adversity, even though I struggle to be calm; I can be thankful in prosperity as You richly bless me, even though I often fail to give You thanks as I ought; and for the things that are future, I can have comfort, confidence, and courage that nothing will or can separate me from Your love, since all things are so in Your hand that without Your will they cannot even move. But even in this, I get fearful, anxious, discouraged, angry, confused, and depressed. Help me, Father! Help all your redeemed; help us trust Your hand of Providence; help us have great confidence in Your wisdom in all things, especially the things we don’t understand. Help us remain steadfast in the faith through difficult days. Strengthen us to faithfully walk in the way of Your Word. Fill us, Holy Spirit, with Your holy presence and Your inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. Rule and control our minds to serve You with joy, gladness, and resolve.
Forgive me, Lord Jesus, forgive all Your people when we sin in our thoughts, words, and deeds, which is daily! Redirect and recalibrate our minds continually to the ethic of Scripture. Cause us to keep short accounts with You and confess our sins moment by moment. I fall so utterly short of glorifying You. Lord, I hate my sin! I hate the daily struggle against sin! I hate what sin has done to humanity! I hate that sin, my sin, eclipses Your glory and exalts man! I hate that sin, my sin, distorts Your glorious image! I hate that my sin caused You, Lord Jesus, to suffer on the cross! O Lord, forgive me, forgive all Your sheep in our daily struggle. Forgive me for not rightly, diligently, and daily reflecting Your glory! As the Apostle Paul declared in Romans 7:24-25, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Thank You, dear Father, for sending Your Son, Jesus, to redeem me and a multitude of sinners from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and making us saints in Christ. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling all the demands of the Law of God in my place, in the place of all that were given to You by the Father. Thank You for absorbing the wrath of God against all my sins, and against all the sins of all Your sheep; thank You for satisfying the justice of God on my behalf and on behalf of all Your people by Your inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors on the cross. Thank You that Your perfect passive and active obedience merited my salvation and forgiveness! Your perfect work, Lord Jesus, merited my entrance into the holy of holies, so that I come boldly into the throne of grace covered in Your righteous robes! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for applying all the benefits of Christ to my account; thank you for regenerating my soul and creating faith in my heart; thank You for breaking the power of sin in my life; thank You for Your intercession and assurance as You speak to me in and through Your Word. Thank You for illuminating my mind to Your Word of Truth! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for engrafting me into Jesus’ spiritual body, the church! Thank You for the blessed virtue of forgiveness and the comforting assurance that I am and forever will remain a child of God!
O my God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, O how I love You! I want to love You more! I want to serve You well! I want to live for You! I want to be with You! Help me, O God; help me persevere; keep me on the straight and narrow path; never let me go; forgive me when I sin, comfort me in trials, strengthen me in temptation, uphold me in tribulation, encourage me when discouraged for You are my Good Shepherd Who cares eternally for Your sheep. I am one of Your sheep! Tend me and “Guide me, O my great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but You are mighty; hold me with Your powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore, feed me now and evermore.”
I ask all this in Jesus’ Name, Righteousness, and Authority!
Amen!
