Dear Heavenly Father, today I come to You on behalf of my friends – my brothers my sisters and Jesus Christ – as I know how often along my own journey I’ve longed to know that someone was calling out to You for me in my hour of need. In those moments when I discovered that a saint who understood my burden was calling my name before You, I was filled with great relief that the weight had just been halved. This morning, Father, thank You for the privilege of calling out for those who are struggling – if they have my heart this morning, how certain it is that they have Yours. Some today are beaten up, some today have failed, some today are painfully aware of how far short they fall of Your glory. Satan uses it against them to ruthlessly buffet and to keep them down and defeated. His accusations come quicker than they can fend off. He aims to take them under, suffocating them with falsified guilt. I pray today Lord that they would find Your grace ALL sufficient, for our enemy has no answer for this. I pray that they would dare to agree with their enemy who accuses them and let them say with a loud voice that they clearly understand their unworthiness but that they militantly stand, not in their own presumed value, but in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ which is fully theirs by faith! I pray that the accusation of the enemy will fall back to him unaccepted by Your forgiven child – flung at his feet as the worthless rag that it is. I pray that the word of God would find good ground in the hearts of believing saints and that they would take refuge in the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is granted them by your grace. Let the truth of their inability and unworthiness only serve to propel them to You for defense and assurance.
Others today, Lord, are deeply discouraged. They are doing their very best as they are seeking Your presence, Your power – they are seeking Your face as the passion of their hungry hearts. These are waiting on Your hand to move yet they find stillness and silence from the God that they know loves them. They are filled with confusion, desperate and wanting badly not to distrust Your worthy Self. Lord, some today are wondering why their prayers are falling on seemingly deaf ears and yet they know deep in their soul that You hear every word. They know that You love them. They understand that You are committed to them – they cannot deny it because they see the cross of Calvary! So for this day I pray that You will lift up their eyes to the hills from which their help arrives. I pray that they will remember their God! I ask that You will convince them that, as You have given Your Son first for them, You will surely never withhold all lesser things from them when they find themselves in the time of need. I petition You today that their faith will not falter nor ever fail; when they would struggle in their own weakness I pray, Strong Father, that You will be there overshadowing and undergirding. Surround them on every side, Lord, that there will be a ray of light that will burst through the clouds of their circumstances. I ask that they will sense Your smile of affirmation – for this is Your child’s deepest longing. I pray Your omnipotent finger will wipe away the tears of their distress and weariness. May the power of their God infuse them and meet them at the very point of their need! Please, Father, do not lessen their load but strengthen their spirits instead. Do not take away from them this present challenge but abundantly grant unto them the power to endure; let them glorify You by patiently waiting on You and declaring that their God is good even when their circumstances are bad.
Finally, Lord, I pray for those who are struggling with sin. Some of Your very own are struggling with dreaded division of heart. Some of those who have committed their lives unto You have given way- inch by inch – to Satan their enemy, to the flesh, their enemy, to this world system, their enemy. I pray and am confident, Lord, that You will convict their hearts this very day and, if necessary, that You will discipline them so that they may learn not to stray, never again to wander, no more to walk away from the God who shepherds their souls. I pray, Lord, that they will humbly bow before You with tears and fruits worthy of repentance. I pray that the very moment that they do so that they will sense their Father coming towards them with the ring, the robe and instructing that the fattened calf should be slain as there is cause for celebration in heaven over the return of the wayward son or daughter. Lord, grant that they will not be held in jeopardy nor will they be placed on self-imposed probation, but that they will find their reality of a full pardon – as cold waters to a thirsty soul so is this good news from a far country! God make Your children as we should be. Do not allow us to be anything less than what the blood of Your precious Son has provided for us to be. Help us to rise to the potential that You have granted us. Let us embrace the full measure of what You have afforded us in Jesus Christ. Let us aim very high so that, Lord God, we might bring great glory to You who are the highest of all. Help us to believe You, to trust You, to love You, to lean upon You, to receive from You and, Lord, most importantly to hunger after You as this is the essential catalyst for every joy to be discovered in You. Let us be certain that we will see Your face soon! Help us to guard the treasure that this promise remains the climactic and glorious reward that we have given our hearts unto. We will see You! Thank you for giving us this grace. Thank you for being God when we least expect it.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for His glory in our lives, I pray. Amen.