Holy Father, in Jesus' name, thank You for Your love and faithfulness to me yet another day. Thank You Father for sending Your Son Jesus to show Your great and incredible love for me through His death on the cross for my sins. As a response to Your love help me to willingly and fully give myself to You, the One who willingly and fully gave Yourself for me.
God, to be honest there is so much about You and Your ways that baffle me. I cannot begin to understand why You made the heavens, the heavenly hosts, the earth, human beings, or anything else that You have made. For You do not need anything. Everything You need You are as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is another thing that I do not understand about You. You are One God in three persons who are distinct, co-equal, and co-eternal with each person possessing all of the attributes of God such that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God yet there is only One God. Every time that I am confronted with this truth I am reminded that You are God, I am not, and there are things about You that I will never be able to understand.
Father, I do not understand why You sent Your Son, Jesus, into the world to reconcile humanity back to Yourself by dying on the cross. We were condemned and under Your wrath because of our sin and rebellion against You, our benevolent Creator, and yet You sent Jesus into the world to save us and not give us what we rightly deserved. What value and worth have You given to human beings? You created us in Your image and likeness and then sent Your Son Jesus, the image of the invisible God who came in the image of sinful humanity yet without sin, into the world to die on the cross to forgive our sins and give us a right relationship with You.
God, Your love for humanity is mind blowing. Why do You love us the way that You do? Especially when You know how greatly we would reject and spurn Your offer of love towards us. We so often take You for granted and treat created things that You have made with more dignity and honor than we do You, the Creator of all things. We worship people created in Your image and likeness while often failing to acknowledge that You exist. We run to You when we are in trouble and expect You to make our lives the way that we want them to be and feel justified in dismissing You completely when You do not.
Jesus, we fail to realize that You came to us from heaven to deliver us from the dominion of darkness and make it possible for us to be transferred to the Kingdom of Light by trusting You. For if You had not done so then eternal damnation would be our future. Many live all of their earthly lives thinking that the bondage of sin is better than the freedom that You offer us in Yourself. Sadly, many of us who know You choose to play in the dark prison cell rather than walk in the marvelous light of intimate fellowship with You and the Father by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, help us to cast off all restraint and to live these lives that You have given us fully for You. Forgive us for so often taking a break on our pursuit of You for lesser things. Break us from running to You more when we want something from You and bring us to the place where we are running to You constantly just because we want You. God, do not let us be led astray by the opinions and philosophies of men away from the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, help us to love You above all others, to love one another as Jesus has loved us, to have Your heart of compassion and love for those who do not know Christ, and to even love those who hate us because of our love for You.
People in this world are blind and lost thinking that there is salvation in something other than Jesus - government, political parties, financial security, charitable acts, good works, morality, religion, and a myriad of other things. Yet Your Word declares there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. God, in these times of great despair and hopelessness in our world anoint us by Your Holy Spirit to proclaim and live the gospel of Jesus Christ with great boldness, courage, love, power, urgency, and wisdom. In Jesus' name, Amen!!!