To Do Your Will

Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.

—Psalm 143:10 (NIV)

Gracious LORD,

May I always look to You to teach me to do Your will—as by Your Spirit You lead me on level ground—for You are the one who lays out before me Your plans and purposes for my life.

My great tendency is be self-centered and to do what I want to do—then ask You to bless it. 

But I want to learn to set aside my will and allow You to redirect my steps to do Your will—because I know that the way of Your will is perfect and, if I follow it, I will be blessed in ways no one can measure.

Help me to honor You as my God, by teaching me to do Your will—for there is no one more able than You to show me Your ways.

Lead me, by Your good and gracious Holy Spirit, so I might walk uprightly along the level path that You have willed for me to travel.

May I always look to You to teach me to do Your will—as by Your Spirit You lead me on level ground—for You are the one who lays out before me Your plans and purposes for my life.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Clothed In His Presence

The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.  So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.  Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see.  Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.  Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

—Romans 13:12-14 (NLT)

Awesome LORD,

May I put my hope in the passing of this present evil time and my confidence in the soon return of Your Son, Jesus, and make the choice to walk uprightly in the days I have left here on earth—by clothing myself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the time that I have left, before Your Son’s return, help me to remove any dark deeds with which I have clothed myself and put on the shining armor of right living.

Help me to live a decent life, so that others might see that I don’t belong to the night and so that they might be drawn to the light of Christ in me.

Draw me away from the works of darkness that would try to overcome my thoughts, words and actions, and help me to find my only identity in the presence of Christ within me—as I emulate His love, follow after His wisdom, and walk in His peace.

May I put my hope in the passing of this present evil time and my confidence in the soon return of Your Son, Jesus, and make the choice to walk uprightly in the days I have left here on earth—by clothing myself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.