January 27, 2010

• Lord, teach us to pray once again: so we might "not lose heart" & "faint"

  Continuing on with some reflections on prayer which I'm titling "Lord, teach us to pray once again."  (I would encourage you to read/pray through my post "May we learn to value the blood bought privilege of prayer" in addition to this one.)

  Lord, we heard You, Good Teacher, while You were in the flesh here, fully God and fully man, tempted as we are and yet without sin...warning us that we always ought to pray or else we would lose heart and become faint:

  Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
  2 He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
  3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary.
  4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
  5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.
  6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
  7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? , Will he delay long over them?
  8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
  
  Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint (KJV)...

  
  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
  Yet we are so slow to learn...
  Father, have mercy on us.
  Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
  Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us.

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  Father, Son and Spirit,
  We confess we often find ourselves losing heart.
  We confess we often find ourselves fainting.
  We confess we so often busy ourselves with so much activity,
  but not so often are we busy with the activity of prayer.
  Forgive us, O Lord God.

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  Because we are Yours by grace through faith,
  because we are adopted into Your family,
  because we are of Your Kingdom,
  because we are not of this world,
  in this world we have been promised opposition,
  in this world we have been promised persecution.

  When taunting arises (and it certainly will!),

  (You, Lord, were opposed, were You not?
  Your Church was opposed, was she not?)

  When opposition arises (and it certainly will!),
  

  (You, Lord, were opposed, were You not?
  Your Church was opposed, was she not?)

  When persecution arises (and it certainly will!),

  (You, Lord, were persecuted, were You not?
  Your Church was persecuted, was she not?)

  When taunting and opposition and persecution arise...
  when we are not rightly rooted in You,
  when we are not rightly rooted in prayer,
  whenever the winds begin to blow,
  whenever the storm comes,
  whenever the rocking comes,
  we will find we will too easily lose heart,
  we will find we will too easily faint
  because we are not firmly rooted in prayer
  because we are not firmly established in You
  because our hearts are not firmly settled on You
  because our minds are not steadfastly fixed on You
  because we have not followed Your command to pray always
  we end up losing heart,
  we end up faint,
  and our faith is capsized.

  How can we expect to fight the good fight apart from Your means?
  How can we expect to fight the good fight apart from persevering in prayer?

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  We confess we have not continued to abide in the true Vine.
  We confess we have not tarried in prayer.
  We confess we have continued to go back to you again and again with our requests.
  We confess we have not sat and listened for Your still small voice.
  We confess we have not obeyed Your command to pray as we ought.

  Forgive us, Father, for Jesus' sake.
  We long to be able to pray so we might not lose heart or faint.
  Strengthen us with Your Spirit so we might be able to pray as we ought.
  What good are we in the battle if we end up losing heart there?
  What good are we in the battle if we end up fainting there?

  How can we expect to fight the good fight apart from Your means?
  How can we expect to fight the good fight apart from persevering in prayer?

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  You have told us to pray without ceasing so we will not lose heart and faint.
  We confess we may pray about something only a few times, but not persevere like the widow.
  You have told us to pray without ceasing so we will not lose heart and faint.
  We confess we find it oh so hard to cease our activity, our doing and pray again and again.
  We confess we find it oh so hard to cease our activity, and actively engage ourselves in prayer.
  We confess we find it oh so hard to stop and speak to You.
  We confess we find it oh so hard to pray without ceasing.

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  You have told us to pray without ceasing so we will not lose heart and faint.
  We confess we may pray about something only a few times, but not persevere like the widow.
  You have told us to pray without ceasing so we will not lose heart and faint.
  We confess we find oh so hard to cease our activity and stop and speak to You.
  We confess we find it even so much harder to cease our speaking to You in prayer
  and to sit in Your presence and be silent and listen to You...
  and then to sit longer when You have been silent and wait on You to speak to us...
  and to keep coming back and sitting and listening again and again.

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  You have told us to pray without ceasing so we will not lose heart and faint.
  Give us ears to hear You.
  Help us to listen to You,
  not to listen to our own speech,
  not to listen to our own thoughts,
  not to listen to our fears,
  not to listen to our own wisdom,
  not to listen to our own lusts,
  not to listen to our own ambitions,
  not to listen to the devil's lies,
  not to listen to the temptations of the world,
  not to listen to the praises of our friends,
  not to listen to the taunts of our opponents.
  Stop our ears to all else but Your still small voice. Open our ears to hear only You, O Lord.

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  We can only have strong hearts,
  we can only persevere without fainting,
  as we abide in You and Your words
  (how can we abide in You and Your words if we never take time to be silent and listen?)
  as we sit and wait upon You in prayer
  as we continue to dwell with You
  as we fix our eyes on You
  as we fix our thoughts on You
  as we fix our minds on You,

  Good Shepherd, have mercy on us, we are the sheep of Your pasture.
  We confess we wander away from You and we do not pray as we ought.
  Lord, teach us to pray once again so we might "not lose heart" & "faint."

  Brothers and sisters, please add your prayers as His Spirit leads you...

  • 2:43 PM
  • 2 Comments