Tuesday Morning Prayer

Heavenly Father,


Oh, the sunshine today! I bless you for the sun and its rays and that when I go outside I feel like a new person. Thank you that I can shed my winter skin. I can shed the insulation that has been accumulated during the cold and the drab. Thank you that the air smells new and green is hinting every where. Thank you for my front porch. Thank you for the red nectar in the hummingbird feeders and freshly bathed dogs who have wet noses. Thank you for little boys getting to touch the grass for the first time. Thank you for mamas who take their children to the park.

Thank you for your word. Thank you for having Paul write Ephesians. Thank you for the profoundness and the simplicity of his letter. Thank you that because of Paul’s letters from almost two thousand years ago I can know who I am and what I am to do. Thank you that you reveal your will to me in the sentences and phrases and paragraphs from his pen.

Thank you for prayer. Thank you that you hear me. That you bend your ear, and you bend down to feed me. That’s what your word says. Thank you that prayer is far more than many think and not at all what people think. Thank you for my calling. Make me worthy today, Father. Worthy of that calling I have received.
But this morning too, Lord, people are hurting. They are afraid, frightened, scared, wounded, bleeding, confused, perplexed and shocked. People around me are hurting in ways that I cannot even wrap my arms around. They are lonely. They are despairing. They are longing and yearning for their emptiness to be filled. And they are filling it with things that will eventually only contribute to the emptiness. These things will only dig the cavern deeper. People are fighting fierce demons and flesh appetites that are devastating.

People around us are weeping and we don’t see. We are blind or have chosen to turn our heads. And we are turning deaf ears to their loud cries. And we are putting our hands in our pockets.

Father, intervene. And yet as I ask this of you I wonder…have you asked me to do something for someone and I have ignored your proddings. Through me have you wanted to intervene into the chaos of someone’s life, but I didn’t want one more thing on my plate? Have I turned my head and pretended I didn’t hear you? Or have I given you a perplexed look as if I didn’t understand your instructions?

Father, Dave shared with us that faith is far more than what we say or think or even believe. It is what we do with those words, thoughts and beliefs. Do they remain these abstract concepts—good in theory, but not in practical every day life? Father, there must be flesh to my faith. Hurting people don’t need abstract thought, they need someone who will put their shoulder under theirs and lift them for a little while.

Father, I pray that you would help your children to allow their faith to have flesh. Teach us to be doers of your word. Teach us to love not just in word, but in deed. I don’t know exactly how you want me to do that today. But I ask that you help me pull my hands out of my pockets, help me to stop turning a blind eye and help me to be willing to hear. To listen.

I pray for fathers who have lost their sons today. I pray for mothers who are weeping for absent children. I pray for marriages that are suddenly splintered or slowly decaying. I pray for those who are battling cancer—their own bodies turned against them. I pray for the caretakers who are weary and tired and worn. I pray for those who battle addictions and are desperate. I pray for those who are looking in the mirror and hating who they see. I pray for those who are lonely, who come home to empty houses and empty beds and empty tables. I pray for those who have sent sons and daughters into harm’s way. I pray for those who are in war with depression and are clawing their way out. I pray for those who have lost their way and can’t seem to find their purpose.

Your children are hurting, Lord. We need you to move. We need you to heal. We need you to protect. We need you to provide. But we are a part of your answer; please help us to be obedient. Help us to be the messengers. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us so that we might see you, please help us to become flesh now that people might see you.



Amen and amen