Friday, March 23, 2012

Covenant Prayer

If you believe the Lord will answer your prayers, then why not ask for everything? I found this covenant prayer, written by my friend, Robert Brownell, author of Spirit Lessons, and I've adapted it. I recommend you also make this your covenant prayer:

Lord God Almighty, worthy of all praise and honor, Holy is Your name!

Lord, I pray for spiritual growth and maturity; I want all of You, and none of my flesh. I ask for the mind of Christ, the emotions of Christ, and the will of Christ in my life.

Lord, help me become a humble, hard working servant, who bares Your fruit; a disciple with great faith, a wise and encouraging tongue, and one in whom You can trust.

Lord, I offer my body as a living sacrifice to you. I offer the members of my body as instruments of righteousness. I give You everything I have, and everything I am, may my love for You only grow stronger.  I ask for complete and total union with Christ.

I empty myself out before you and deny myself.  Holy Spirit, I ask you to apply the cross to my flesh nature.  Jesus, I follow you.  Please set my course.  Make me a pathway for You.

Lord, encourage and motivate me, so that I may continually serve you with a passion, and please teach me to listen to the Holy Spirit, so that I may always know Your will.

Lord, please help me overcome temptation, and don’t let the devil have any foothold in me.  I renounce the world and all of its evil matters and concerns.

Lord, break every stronghold in me, so that Your Holy Spirit may totally dominate my life.  Baptize me with your Holy Spirit and with fire.  Burn away all that will not pass through the fire as purely from You. I ask that the life of Jesus would flow through me unhindered without one single hindrance.

Lord, judge me severely, correct me ruthlessly, and rebuke me thoroughly, so I can serve you more perfectly, being void of all hypocrisy, meek and lowly of heart.  

Lord, please instill in me an awesome and intense fear of the Lord, expose me & cleanse me.   I ask You, Holy Spirit, to take my white garment and cleanse it, removing all the filthy stains, and press it, removing all wrinkles. Make me clean inside and outside.  Keep me away from pride, foolishness and self-centeredness. Help me, so that I may be ready and that I may stand before Jesus when He comes.

Lord, help me become a great Harvester, sowing Your seed and bringing many people to You.

Lord, here I am, use me.  I want to advance Your Kingdom and serve You everyday, open many doors of opportunity to shine the Light of Jesus through me, and put several people in my path, so that I may bring them to You.

Lord, help me do something profound for You everyday, and to have an impact on eternity.

Lord, I want to master Your Word. Please, fill me with Your knowledge and truth, bless me with wisdom, and remove any falsehoods in me.

Lord, help me become a mighty prayer warrior, one who can move mountains in Your name, teach me to use all the gifts You have blessed me with, and not miss any given opportunity.

Lord, teach me how to bring down all the principalities and powers that work against Your Kingdom.

Lord, I pray for a long life of service to You, with health and blessings for my family, help me develop a disciplined mind, a crucified flesh, and a loving compassionate heart.

Lord, set my sights on the highest goal, and have me do whatever is necessary to achieve the greatest blessing of the good and faithful servant, and to finish strong in the Lord.

Lord, help me fully experience the Christian life, and to manifest Jesus in every aspect of my life.

Lord, help me become a true worshiper of You.  Fill my cup with Your tears, that I may love those whom You Love, and understand Your heart and passion.

Most Holy and Righteous God, thank You for everything You have done. I surrender my life to You, please direct me and make me into Your image, for I am nothing without You. May my life bring glory and honor to You.

Please send out many more workers into the harvest field, in the name of Your son,

JESUS CHRIST        AMEN

Author's note: You can also find my complete collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.

Photo credit: Taken from The Hope Blog by Ingrid Schlueter.

Do you want to know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. Find out how in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?" 
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Prayer that Pleases the Father's Heart

During my prayer time today, I sensed the Lord saying that He desires my heart, my spirit, my emotions, my love, and feelings when I pray, even more than the words that come from my mouth.  This is the most important aspect of prayer, not the words we utter! It is possible to honor Him with your lips and yet your heart is far from Him.

Jesus taught us, "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." (Mat 6:7)

When Jesus prayed, He expressed deep emotion to the Father.  "In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety." (Heb 5:7).  His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane was a classic example.  As He prayed, His soul was deeply moved within Him and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk 22:44).

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  That's what should take precedence in prayer, along with your faith and trust in Him.  He wants your heart to be passionately in love with Him, and belong to Him completely.

The apostle Paul said, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."  (1Co 13:1-3)

I hope this is an encouragement to you, as it was to me, to pray in such a way that pleases the Father's heart.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.