My Prayer

"Spirit, we know that we have done wrong by You.

Please forgive us for grieving, resisting, and quenching

You.  We have resisted You through sin, through our 

rebellion, and through our hardness of heart.  At times,

we have been spiritually blind.  At other times, we knew

what You wanted us to do, but we chose to ignore Your

promptings.  Yet this is not how we want to live now.

We need You to change us.  Only through You can

we truly worship.  Spirit of the Lord, You are the one

who brings us to a place where we can worship.  You

are the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit

of life.  Thank You for the truth, the holiness, and the

life You give us.

We need Your wisdom and understanding as 

we seek to live this life.  Keep us from disbelief, from

fear.  We need Your strength to help us do what you

are asking us to do and to live how You are asking us

to live.  Speak loudly and drown our the other voices 

calling us to conform to the patterns of this world.

You are the Spirit of self-control and love.  Give us

the self-control needed to deny our flesh and follow You.

Give us a love strong enough to motivate courageous

action.  Manifest Yourself through us that we may serve

and love Your bride, the church, as You do.

Come, Holy Spirit, come.  We don't know exactly

what that means and looks like for each of us yet,

in the particular places You've called us to inhabit.

But, nonetheless, whatever it means, we ask for Your

presence. Come, Holy Spirit, come."

from Forgotten God by Francis Chan