Episode 128: Joshua 24:22

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Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, the creator and host of the podcast, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. Our goal is to take a few moments and dive deep into God’s word before meditating on it ourselves. I’ll read a scripture from the Bible, and then pray it over our lives. Please join me in the prayer. Invite a friend to listen in and let’s begin our day with God’s peace. I am so excited to get started; thank you for joining me today.

You’re listening to Episode 128 and today’s verse is Joshua 24:22.

“You are a witness to your own decision,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to serve the LORD.”
“Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses to what we have said.”

Let’s pray together.

Oh, LORD, this is a bit convicting for me today. How many times have I confirmed my desire to serve You and then not lived it out through my actions, words, or thoughts. There are too many to count and I beg Your forgiveness for them. I know You already have and I’m so grateful, but I need to ask for it anyway. I need to reaffirm my commitment to You.

Perhaps in a way it’s comforting that the Israelites also went back on their word. They did it over and over again. I’m not alone in my inability to follow You based on my own grit and pretty words. I have examples of people who failed and rose again, of those You continually had mercy on. Thank You for these words and these stories. They are such givers of hope in a weary world.

But, LORD, I also want to live up to the responsibility lived in this verse. Being a witness is a grave thing. And being a witness against yourself, well, that weighs even heavier. It’s incredibly serious to stand here and say, I have chosen to serve the LORD. I can’t get away from that decision. I can’t treat it with contempt and not live out the consequences. When we decide to live for You, that’s a life-long commitment of tremendous importance. I pray I treat it as such.

Help me today, Jesus. Help me to each moment decide to live for You and with You. To honor and obey You. To serve You and give to You. To adore You and worship You. Help me to seek out Your will for my life and be intentional about each thing I say, do, or think. Examining myself to make sure that these things are in line with Your desires for me and with a commitment to serve You. Help me to pick myself back up after failure and make progress toward this honorable goal.

I pray that when the end of my life has come, You will be proud of the decision I made and the way I carried it out. I pray You will welcome me into Your arms and declare, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” May my life be a reflection of Yours and each movement I make be part of Your design. Help me to hear Your voice and to follow Your prompting, dear Holy Spirit. Help me to desire to obey, not just out of duty or head knowledge or a need to save my own skin. Help me to want to be Yours and delight in Your law, because I trust You and because I honor You and because I know You.

Jesus, let this be true for all of us today. May it be our heart’s prayer. May we declare this truth unashamedly and wholeheartedly. Let us be Your servants.

I pray this in the holy and deserving name of Jesus. Amen.

That is the end of our collective prayer, but don’t forget that you can keep praying and meditating on this on your own. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful rest of your day. I’d love to ask you a favor before we go and that is to please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast if you haven’t already. That is the best way to invite other people to join us in our prayers and it helps me more than you can know.

I also want to get to know each other better. Follow me over on Instagram where I’ve recently updated my handle to reflect my married name. It’s now thejulihernandez where you can DM me prayer requests or suggestions on verses you’d like me to pray on the podcast or just let me know what’s going on in your life. Another way to get in touch with what I’m up to is on my website at www.thejulihernandez.com. My website hosts a transcription of each prayer so that you can pray them whenever you like. You’ll also see monthly blog posts that detail my current writing projects and I can’t wait to engage with you on that. Let’s connect, but for now, Shalom.