A Prayer Sampler

Prayer is talking to God, born from a place of intimacy with God where we know He hears us. And the only way to develop that place of really deep intimacy with God is to be committed to obeying Him on a day-to-day basis. We must be committed to His Lordship in every area of our lives. Jesus said this point blank in John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." And He again tied obedience to intimacy with God in John 15:14: "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."

I'm talking about a very radical commitment here. God expects to be the Boss in this relationship. He expects to call the shots and He expects us to cooperate with Him. He expects to be able to tell us how to spend our time, how to spend our money, what we can or can't do, what movies we can or can't watch, etc. If we love Him, then we desire to obey Him, even when there's a conflict between what He wants and what we want.

If we want to have a powerful and effective prayer life, then we need to get this Lordship thing settled in our hearts. We need to make a commitment to walk out His Lordship in our day-to-day lives, and we need to trust Him to teach us how to do that. The Lord will come alongside of us with the Holy Spirit Who lives inside of us (John 14:16-17). He transforms us and He literally changes our desires and our passions to line up more closely with God's desires and passions. It becomes natural to act like God wants us to act and it becomes exciting to serve and obey Him. God begins to break into every aspect of our day, speaking to us, leading us, guiding us. God begins to work His glory in our situations and we begin to see His power operating in our lives. His peace becomes real and our joy becomes totally independent of our circumstances. Things that used to get us down no longer affect us that way because God is so active in our lives and walks. He demonstrates His faithfulness over and over again and He meets us and reveals Himself to us. This is His plan for each of us, and the foundation step toward making a real commitment to His lordship in our day-to-day lives.

Jesus be the Lord of All -- a prayer

This is a prayer for those of us who really believe in Jesus and want His Lordship in our lives. Anyone who doesn't feel this way might want to skip the rest of this lesson and save yourself some reading. God bless!

Lord Jesus, we are called by Your name and we want to bring glory and honor to You. Please forgive us for those areas of our lives where we are NOT living as You intended, where we are not a good example of Who You are to those who do not know You. Lord, grant us sincere repentance for anything in our lives that is contrary to Who You are and contrary to the work that You desire to do in us and through us. Lord, change us and transform us closer to Your nature. Fill us with Your love Lord; first for You, then for each other and finally for those who do not know You yet.

Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, Who lives in us and works in us to make us more like You. Please forgive us for resisting Your good work in us. Please forgive us for grieving Your Holy Spirit and for fighting the work that You are trying to do in us.

Lord please change our heart. Give us hearts after Your heart, O Lord. Change our desires to line up with Your desires. Please transform our passions to line up with Your plans and purposes. Please come to heal the brokenness that is within so many of us. Come to release us from past hurts and make us free to be the people You have called us to be. Lord, empower us to release all bitterness and to truly and freely forgive, just as You have truly and freely forgiven us.

Lord, help us to be more committed to obeying You. And teach us to hear Your voice more clearly. Release Your power in our lives that we might live victoriously for You. Help us to make ourselves available to You, Lord, that Your plans and purposes may be accomplished through us. Come wake up Your church, Lord. Restore us to that first love. Restore the joy of our salvation and restore our excitement to be Yours. Keep working in us to bring forth the fruit of Your presence in our lives. Give us the garments of praise and set us apart and sanctify us for Your plans and purposes. Create Your holiness within us, Lord, by transforming our natures through Your indwelling Holy Spirit.

Lord, if we could change ourselves and make ourselves perfect and then present ourselves to You, we would. But Lord, we can't do this. We need You to change us.

Please change us, O Lord. Give us a heart after Your heart. Create a clean heart within us. Restore us to that place of intimacy with You because the price has already been paid when Jesus died on Calvary. And the victory has already been won when Jesus rose from the dead, breaking the power of Satan over us, breaking the power of sin and death in our lives.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving Your life for us. Now we give our lives to You. We say, here we are, Lord. Come fill us and change us and use us to Your glory. Teach us to walk in Your power. Teach us to bring glory to Your name and to do the works that You are doing, no more and no less.

We love You, Lord. And we want You to be Lord of every area of our lives.

Amen.