Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for creating me in Your image and after Your likeness. You have shown me, love, even in the art of my creation. All bits and parts of me are wonderful and intricate.
I am unique and amazing, and You have selected me to fulfill a part of Your purpose from the beginning of time.
I look at the heavenly bodies, vegetation, animals, and nature. Everything fits with perfection and has a specific purpose. This makes me understand that nothing You create is useless, and they all come together for Your pleasure.
And then, I think about the pain Your heart underwent when we sinned against You in the Garden of Eden and fell from purpose. We lost our place in Your plan of creation, and we lost the right to rule over every other thing that You had made. And yet, You never turned Your back on us but sent Your only Son to take the brunt of our punishment.
I see the darkness and pain that surrounds a life that is void of Your light. It is ugly and aimless; such life is like an arid desert, and nothing grows there. Many people grope in the darkness of sin and death as they try to figure out a way to live by their will. And like in miry clay, they sink further and farther into depression.
Thus, it makes sense when Jesus describes Himself as the way, the truth, and the light. Indeed, no one experiences the true essence of life outside God.
And yet, it is possible to know about You and still acknowledge my belly as my god. It is possible to run after the pleasures of this world and turn away from Your purposes for my life. I fear this, and I have come today to ask for Your help.
I pray, Heavenly Father, that You will help me to be single-minded when it comes to serving You. I ask that You will give me focus and zeal for Your work.
I do not know how to serve, and I do not have everything it takes to do Your will with my strength. And so, I come to lay down everything that I am before You, and I ask that You will take this frail and weak vessel and turn it into a tool for service.
Lord, I pray that I never get too proud of the things that You will do through me and in me, but that I will continuously lead the lost, worn, and weary to the cross.
Dear Lord, I pray that You will turn the hearts of Your children worldwide away from the cares of this world and help them to fix their gaze on Jesus.
Open our eyes to understand that only You can satisfy the cravings of our hearts. Lord, I ask that You will make us faithful stewards of the gospel that You have committed to our care. And more than anything, I ask that You will help us to grow in grace and service. Amen.
