Prayer for this Year

Lord, you have placed me in a house of people yearning for Your Spirit.  We are a broken, broken people, but quick to sharpen and encourage each other.  We are a people willing to talk about holding all things in common, a people willing to confess sin and pray together.  We are a people willing to scrape gum off floors and lift half-pipes.  Lord, we are a house of potential, and I don't know what your plans hold for us.

Lord, I push when I should rest, charge when I should listen.  And sometimes I run when I should stay, sit when I should fight.  Lord, I need you now, as always.  I need you to lead me.  We, the house, need your direction.

Give us the right words to speak, and patience to wait for the right moment to speak.  Give us a hunger to pray and to listen to You, and to read Your words.  Jesus we need Your humility and Your discernment.  Bless us with Your wisdom Lord, and Your steady peace.

Give us endurance, to live well, and patience with each other.  Teach us when to interject and when to let each other fail, when to confront and when to trust Your sanctifying presence.  Set within us a desire to worship.  Set before us Your glory, that we would be in awe of it.  Jesus, show us the scars in Your hands, over and over again.  Spirit, speak loudly.

Lord, who am I to make such demands of You?  Every prayer is a plea, and I have no standing on which to beg except for that which You Yourself have offerred.  I have no priestly intercession but Yours, Jesus.  I cling to it.  Pray for us, please, for Your name and for Your love.  We want to know you more Lord.

I love You, Lord, for many reasons. Recently, for sunsets and woodstorks and coffee, for friendships and peace and genuine transformation by grace.  For an amazing house, with excellent roommates.  For potential, and for the yearning You have put in my heart.  For music, and because You hear my prayers, daily.  For the times You answer them so quickly, in the mundane and in the miraculous.  For the way You finish our falling short, reconcile our over-stepping, heal our self-addictions.  Lord, I love You and I wait on You.  Make Yourself known to us, for it is Your character to do so.  In the name of Your Son, my priest, I pray.