New Life With Christ

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

—Colossians 3:1-3 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Since I have decided to make Christ the Lord of my life and have chosen this new life with Him, help me to seek after eternal realities and find that my real life is hidden—concealed and kept safe—with Christ in You.

Help me to flee from earthly temptations and put to death my desires for the things of this world—things which lead me to be self-focused, materialistic, pleasure seeking and superficial.

Help me to search out Your eternal perspective, die to self, and allow the life of Christ to live in me and change me into the person I should be—one who truly loves You and loves others with the love of Christ.

Help me to fill my thoughts with Your thoughts—in order to see things as You do—so that my desires become those things that You desire and my thoughts, words, and actions become an outflow of my love for You.

Since I have decided to make Christ the Lord of my life and have chosen this new life with Him, help me to seek after eternal realities—and find that my real life is hidden—concealed and kept safe—with Christ in You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

As I Enter God's House

As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God.  Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God.  After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth.  So let your words be few.

—Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 (NLT)

Almighty God,

Help me carefully guard my steps as  I enter Your house—as I come into Your Presence—that I might not foolishly dishonor You.

Let me never come before You unless my ears are ready to hear, my heart is ready to receive, and my flesh is ready to be obey all that You would ask of me.

Help me to thoughtfully consider every offering that I bring to You—that I might offer it with the humble acknowledgment that You alone are the One who takes each thing that I have to offer and makes it worthy to be received.

Keep me from making rash promises to You and to others—but help me consider my weaknesses and my propensity to fail to deliver on my promises, apart from Your power at work in me enabling me to do so.

Never allow me to come before You carelessly, abruptly, irreverently, or arrogantly—as if I deserved Your attention or could dictate to You what You should do to accommodate my wishes.

For You are the LORD of Heaven and Earth, God Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer of all there is and all that there will ever be.  So, let my words be few.

Help me carefully guard my steps as I enter Your house—as I come into Your Presence—that I might not foolishly dishonor You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Do Everything Without Complaining And Arguing

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

—Philippians 2:14-15 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Let every choice I make be in absolute and willing submission to Christ—so that this life I live will produce convincing evidence that I am Your child!

Help me not to complain about anything—but choose to always be grateful!  For it is You who provides for every need I have and uses everything that I experience for Your purposes—turning all of it to my benefit and for Your glory.

Help me not to needlessly stir up strife between myself and others, by engaging in arrogantly prideful and self-promoting arguments—when You want me to walk humbly before others, full of truth and grace, as expressed in perfect love—leaving to You the work that only You can do to change their hearts.

Let my response to Your Word always be one of willing obedience, so others will have no room to criticize me—and so they might see Christ at work in me and be drawn to Him.

And help me to live a clean and innocent life—so that I stand out as a bright light of hope to those who are hopelessly lost and unable to find their way out of the darkness that engulfs them.

Let every choice I make be in absolute and willing submission to Christ—so that this life I live will produce convincing evidence that I am Your child!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.