Episode 39: 1 Peter 5:6-7
Transcription
Today’s verse is 1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
Let’s pray together.
LORD, today I pray for those who have opportunities at hand. Perhaps it is a promotion, a relationship, a place to serve, a recognition of accomplishment, or something else entirely. Whatever that thing is, I pray that it is considered with You in mind. I pray that we don’t jump into anything without consulting You. I pray we are mindful of our obligation and love for You. May You be ever first in our lives. May we always love You first, above all else.
When we come before You in humility and true desire of submission, please give us wisdom and discernment. Help us to hear Your voice clearly. I pray against all distractions and deceptions that would try to keep us from earnest and clear communication with You. Provide us the time, provide us the place, but always help us to spend time with You. Help us to let go of everything that would try to divide us from you. Help us to focus on Your will and our relationship. May we desire time and deep union with You. Always strengthen our connection and enable us to hear You. Let us hear You in the very caverns of our hearts and souls, without any hesitation. Help us to know what is right.
Help us to do what is right. Help us to submit to Your will, to cling to what You have told us. We don’t want to do anything apart from that. If we must reject something, help us to do it with grace and love. If we are to accept something, may we do it in humility and love. Perhaps we need to change direction only so slightly; point us, dear Father. Whatever we do, may we do it unto You. I pray our emotions do not unduly sway us, but instead we are open to the best that comes from You. I pray we understand that if You take something away, it’s because our best will be served from that.
We know You can do no evil, LORD, and we know there is evil in the world. So help us to discern what comes from You and what is of the enemy. Help us to fight against him, under Your guidance, along with our fellow believers, and all the power of Your heavenly forces. Teach us to hear You so we don’t fight You instead. We can struggle to do the right thing because we are trying to protect ourselves, but help us instead to ask the question: how can I best serve God? In serving You as You have called us, we do only good. Tame our wild, rebellious hearts, Jesus. You are our example, may we follow it gladly, not resentfully.
Thank You that You do lift us up, God. You have good plans for us. You have a destiny and a future that You knew before we were born. You created us with purpose because You love us. You saw how we can best reflect the image of You, and You will use us. Please use us, Jesus. We don’t want to sit around, enduring life. We want to be filled with a vital purpose, an ambition of love, being guided in a clear direction.
Life is not always clear, it’s full of things that would entice us from You. It’s full of well-meaning distractions and missions that would seem to be a good thing, but aren’t the best thing. I get lost so easily. I feel like I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do. I’m overwhelmed by the evil and the hatred I see around me every day. I am frustrated with the state of the world, the state of my own life, and my own heart. I’m full of shame at my own reactions. Take that shame. I ask for forgiveness because I have given in to fear and because I have rejected Your leadership. I need Your help. Please help me to surrender my burdens to You, to know that You can carry them for me. To know You will throw away what I don’t need and either I won’t miss it, or You will give it back to me glorified and refined.
Jesus, help take the focus off me. Help me put it on You. My needs, worries, cares, and problems don’t matter because if I give them to You, You will help me. You will calm my fears, You will take my hand, You will comfort my grief. I don’t always believe in my heart that this is true, so please confirm it to me. Show me how abundant is Your love and how wide Your arms and how generous Your gifts. When I feel like I can’t move because I am smothered with anxiety, please take it from me.
Today, if you are bogged down with the endless complexity of your life, I pray you will stop, take the time to let go of what is bothering you, and surrender it to Him. Jesus is meant to bear our burdens and He then gives us a load we are able to bear. Pray for relief and release. Pray for a relationship with Him. Pray for a Friend and a Father and a Savior and a Comforter and a Shepherd and a Giver of life. He is all of those things and so much more.
Jesus, be there for us. Father, be our guide. Spirit, send us Your counsel.
I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
