O Wondrous Lord, I give praise to You because You have filled my life with many good things and an abundance that surpasses my understanding. Pour Your love into my life so that I do not allow anything to take Your place of preeminence in my life. In so doing, I will enable You to bless me with blessings that exceed anything I can imagine. I never want to be separated from You and Your love. Where You lead … I will go. Where You put me … I will be content. Where Your people are … there will I be in their midst. When I die … I want to spend eternity with You. I know that I can never repay Your kindness to me, but I will live for You and commit my fidelity to You alone. You have richly rewarded my diligence and been extremely patient with my shortcomings. You have been faithful to me in many ways and have taken me under Your wings whenever I needed protection from my enemies. Your strength revitalizes me when my spirit sags and my life is continually made better by Your being in it.
Whenever my life is about to take a turn for the worst, I want You by my side. Whether I face life or death … abundance or little … health or sickness … I am convinced nothing can separate me from Your love. My desire is to be a faithful servant who listens carefully when You speak and then undertakes the steps necessary to put Your teachings into practice. Teach me how to be an unconditional lover such as Yourself … for a true friend loves at all times. Teach me to be a giver and not a taker … for joy abounds in the life of a giver. I know that You have prepared me for the adversity I may soon face but, in overcoming it, You’ll have prepared me to be a burden bearer for those laboring under the weight of their cross. I need for You to show me how to leave everything behind so I can follow in Your footsteps and be formed into Your likeness.
I need for You separate me from the things that hold me back from giving You my all. Take away my little gods so that I can pay homage to You alone. Remove the selfishness from within my heart … cut away the evil that has taken root in my life … wash away the impurities that accumulate as I walk in the world … and, purge me of my sins which so easily beset me. Remove all of my foolish ambitions and yearning that cause me to waste and fritter away the time that I should be spending in devotion and service to You. I gladly offer to You the sacrifice of a surrendered life so that I can gain the prize of Your calling. How often I find myself gazing upward awaiting Your return. How gladly I find myself busy serving You and Your people as I await Your call for me to come home. And, as I walk with You, I want my heart to become as pure as Yours. Take my hand and guide me so that I might walk in Your footsteps and become wise in Your ways. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.