Father, in Jesus' name, thank You for Your faithfulness to my family and I today. You are good and there is no one who infinitely comes close to comparing to You. You are the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the one and only true and living God. You are the Sovereign who rules and reigns overall. You are in absolute and total control over all that happens in Your creation, throughout history, and into eternity. I am thankful that these things are true regardless of what I see and how I feel.
God, there is so much evil and wickedness in this world. It is absolutely discouraging when those of us who claim to follow Christ allow the evil one to distract us from Christ and His mission. Instead of preaching Your Word and standing on Your truth we believe the lie that we need to come up with solutions to the problems in this world. When the truth is Jesus is the solution. He is the Savior of the world and the hope of nations!
I must admit that in spite of knowing this truth in my head, I often feel at a loss as to what to do. I have been apathetic, complacent, and indifferent towards Jesus and Your Kingdom agenda. I do not really care about people all around me who are broken, hopeless, hurting, lost, separated from You and deserving of Your wrath because of their sin. My heart does not break with what breaks Yours. If it did my eyes would be daily streaming with tears. So many people accepting the lies of satan more than the truth of God, giving into the lusts and passions of their sinful flesh, and trying to swim in the quicksand of this world while descending to death.
In light of the desperate need for Jesus by others I should be availing and surrendering my life to You daily so that You may use me to reach them. Yet I am easily sidetracked from You and Your mission by the world's entertainment and the overindulgence of my body with food and drink. I have been lulled to sleep. Often not thinking about or wanting to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are around me. I cannot even tell You how many times I have quit on You in my heart because You have not done as I have expected or wanted. My motives are impure. I often do 'godly' things with selfish ambition.
When was the last time that I was persecuted because of my faith in Jesus? Most of the time I am trying not to rock the boat, hiding in the shadows, with my head stuck in the ground. At times I do not care to know what is going on so that I do not have to think or do anything about it. To make me feel better about things I pretend to think that You have tucked me away and hidden me until an opportune time. But it is probably more accurate that I have taken myself out of position for You to use me and work in and through my life for Your glory. I feel so useless to You. The sad reality is that I am becoming more and more ok blending into the crowd as a spectator rather than playing the role that You have assigned to me in Your Kingdom.
Jesus, forgive me of my sin and lead me to turn from it to You with my whole heart. I am asking You to snap me out of my spiritual doldrums. If You do not then I am going to continue to drift from You and fail to wisely and faithfully steward all that You have entrusted to me to glorify Your name, build Your Kingdom, and do Your will on earth as it is in heaven. Give me Your spiritual smelling salts as You shock my heart with Your spiritual defibrillator until it again passionately beats for You and Your mission. I am so tired of telling You with my lips that I love You while not obeying what You said. Breakthrough in my heart, life, marriage, family, and ministry in such a way that the only explanation is 'Look what the Lord has done!' Thank You for never giving up on me. For You never let go and there is nothing that shall ever separate me from You unfailing and everlasting love. Amen!!!
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