Prayers from God

Precious Jesus,

You are our Shepherd. We are Your sheep. (See John 10:11)
May we not wander away,
But listen intently for and closely to Your voice;
And obey Your every command.

You are our Potter. We are Your clay. (See Isa. 64:8)
May we not resist Your shaping and become unmalleable,
But accept Your reproof with joy;
And conform to Your every squeeze.

You are our Vine. We are Your branches. (See John 15:5)
May we not become separated or shrivel up,
But cling to You and be pruned by You
And bear much fruit.

You are our Light. We are Your followers. (See John 1:7-9)
May we not walk in darkness,
But follow Your every guidance
And grow in love.

You are the Light of the World. We are Your reflectors. (See John 8:12)
May we not become dull or scratched,
But may our countenance and actions show Your glory
Just as Moses’ did when he came down from the Mount Sinai. (See Ex. 34:29-30)

We’ve come to a time in this service set aside for rendering. When You were asked whether it was right to pay taxes to that despot Caesar, You asked whose image and whose inscription are on the coin. Then You said, “Render…unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” (See Matt. 22:21 KJV) Lord, the only things I know that have Your image on them are human beings; and sure enough, some of the human beings right here in this room also have Your name, Jesus Christ, inscribed in their hearts.

Lord, You are our Master. We are Your slaves. (See John 13:13-14)
May we not hold anything back,
But render unto You everything—
Body, mind, soul, heart, and will.

You are the Bread of Life. We are Your servers. (See John 6:35)
May none here go home hungry today.
And may we serve a loaf of that bread to a lost friend this week.

Amen

Lord God Almighty,

I finally got around to checking out the new guy in the office’s motorcycle the other day. It was really snazzy. But what really intrigued me was the speedometer—it went all the way to 180mph. There were seven other bikes parked there. The Moto Guzz had a 140mph limit; the Harleys all had 120; and the Honda 750 and the Kamasaki had 80mph limits. When I got back to the office, I asked Eric about it. He said, “And you better believe me, it’ll do every bit of it.” In the back of my mind I said to myself Eric has ridden this thing at more than 180mph around here somewhere. So I pressed for more info. It was obvious that that bike was Eric’s pride and joy. He couldn’t stop telling me more and more details about it. He said his bike is a Ducati—that there are about two of those sold in Tennessee per year. A Ducati is the ultimate in motorcycles—kind of like a Ferrari car, and it’s really a racing bike. In fact, he told me he paid about $20K for it but if he’d gotten all the racing options and add-ons it would have been close to $250,000. I kept asking how he resisted the temptation to break the speed limit around here when he had a bike that would go 180mph. He finally confided in me that every day that he rides it to work, on the way home he gets it up to 140mph on Fredonia Road over in Manchester.

O Lord, we confess that in You we have the Ducati of gods—the one that is the snazziest and comes with all options and all the add-ons and all that power and all that speed, the one we could win every race with; but, Lord, we’re not soaring on wings like eagles, we’re not enjoying You the way Eric enjoys his Ducati. We’re just putting along at what we consider a safe speed when we need to throw caution to the wind and let it all out—turn everything over to You, become completely dependent on You, follow Your every leading and let You take us wherever You want, and just enjoy the ride.

O Lord, we confess that with all that power and cattle on a thousand hills that You want us to ask for big things because You want to do great things for us and through us, yet we’re too scared to ask for big things that would really glorify You. O Lord, help us to ask for the big things You want us to have.

O Lord, we confess that we’re not just bubbling over ready to just tell all kinds of information about You like Eric is about his bike. O Lord, help us to make You our pride and joy.

Lord, Eric tells me that once he gets on, gets up some speed, squeezes in his knees, and tucks down that he almost feels like he’s one with his Ducati. O Lord, help us to get close to You, to have such a grip on You that we’re really one with You.

O Lord, may we not be able to resist the temptation to try out all Your power and all Your promises. And may You get all the glory.
Amen