Cleanse Every Sin

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!” 
― Billy Graham

My Notes on Prayer Part I

Prayer. What comes to your mind when you think of prayer? Do you think of God as a distant being that isn't listening? When your prayers seem to echo off the ceiling, do you feel you are alone? It's easy to assume that just because God doesn't answer us according the way we would like him to answer, that he is not answering our prayers. Actually though, that couldn't be farther from the truth. 
The Father wants to communicate with us in a personal level. He wants us to come to Him with our deepest longings and tell Him the desires of our hearts. He already knows, but He wants us to ask according to His will. When we don't understand life and we lose someone we love, God wants us to come to Him with our questions. We can ask God, "Why?" He isn't intimidated by our questions. Another thing I am learning about prayer is that it isn't about praying nice and pretending that we have it all together. We are talking to the God of the universe. He already knows our thoughts...why do we pretend like we have it all together? He knows we don't. I am learning to be more real with God. We need to become vulnerable to God...He loves us so much more than we could ever even fathom.

To be continued....

The Person in the Mirror

Sometimes, I mirror the world rather than reflecting You, God. Broken, I come running. Running back into your arms of grace, and bowing at your nail pierced and blood stained feet.

I’m determined to live for so very much more than mediocrity. Giving up all my fears, I ask you to change my heart. Mold me into the person I am to become. What are my virtues and how will I be able to hear your voice? Hear it over all of life’s noise?

I want to be so in love with You, my Savior. This is my desperate cry. Jesus, you are the grace of my life. Without You, where would I be? I can’t go a single day without Your precious love.

I realized that I had to let go of EVERYTHING before You could turn me into the best me that I could possibly be.

I was letting other things overtake me where I no longer had a photograph of the person I wanted to be - one that reflected Your love, Your forgiveness, and Your character. 

To gain integrity and to become the person God designed me to be, I had to kneel in surrender.

The photograph is coming into focus. Now things don’t always seem clear, but I rest assured, knowing my Savior is ever so near. I no longer conform to this world, but I ask you to transform me by the renewing of my mind so that I may be able to test and approve what Your will is.

I can feel You shining through me. How can I keep from shining? How can I keep from singing? You are my life. I see Your grace ready to forgive. I am learning what is pure and noble. I saw what I didn’t want my character to become. Also, You showed me Your love. Most of all, I learned that NOTHING is impossible with You. I resolve to do hard things for Your glory. I just found myself. There is no turning around. My feet are planted on this solid ground.

Jesus, help me reflect You and capture the image of what it means to mirror You.

-Written by Stacie in June 2007, edited in 2013