Today, I will post a prayer written by John Piper from his book, Seeking and Savoring Jesus Christ, pages 90-92. May this be the prayer of your heart.

O Father, how I need mercy. I sin every day. I fall short of your command to love you with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. I am lukewarm in my affections. All my motives, even at their best, are mixed. I murmur. I am anxious about tomorrow. I get angry too quickly. I desire what ought not be desired.
I get irritated at the very attitudes in others that I myself displayed five minutes before. If you do not show mercy to me, I am undone. O God, let me see the mercy of Christ and savor it for what it is. Grant me power to comprehend his love. Incline me to read and ponder the stories of the mercy of Jesus in the Gospels. Let me so admire what he did that I imitate him. But let it be much more than external imitation. Let it come from the heart where I have been broken for my sin and where I have come to cherish mercy and live by mercy and hope in mercy and long for mercy. Make the mercy of Jesus the greatest beauty of the Savior in my eyes. Let me behold, and beholding, become like him. And bend this taste for mercy outward so that I show it. Make me full of his mercy that I might show mercy. Fulfiill in me the command to do justice and love mercy. Let me love showing mercy. Make it so much a part of me that it is who I am. So unite me to Christ that his mercy is my mercy, and my mercy is a presenting of Christ. He is all I have to give in the end. Glorify his mercy, Father, in my faith and in my patience. Thank you, oh thank you, for Christ and your mercy to me in him. In his name I pray, amen.
John Piper
Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

See you Monday!Rejoice always, pray without ceasing!(1 Thessalonians 5:17)
pp. 90-92

"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." Luke 6:32-36

Lord God! Thank you for this incredible privilege of being able to come to You in prayer! Thank you for Jesus and His shed blood that gives to those who have repented and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation access to You, our God and Father. Lord, I pray today according to your Word that you would help me love my enemies. Lord help me to love those that offend me. Help me to be kind to the ungrateful and evil and be merciful as you are merciful! Lord, help me to have a kind thought for the person who cuts in front of me on the highway. Help me to have a kind word for the person in the grocery store who cuts in front of me in line. Lord help me to have a kind word and love and mercy for the friend or family member who offends me. Lord help me to love those who don't love me. Lord, help me to not be angry with those who are angry with me. Lord, help me to be like you. Help me to extend mercy to others as you have extended mercy to me. For the glory of Your Holy Name, in Jesus, I pray... amen.

"Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you are also in the body." Hebrews 13:3

Dear Lord, I pray for christians around the world who are imprisoned, tortured and even killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, give them strength to continue on in their faith. Lord, help them to continue on in hope in Jesus and trusting YOUR faithfulness in the face of the persecution they are in now. Lord, we have brothers and sisters in VietNam, in India, in China, in Indonesia who are tortured and imprisoned for their christian beliefs...Help those of us who are living in freedom to remember these brothers and sisters in prayer. Lord, I pray for their release from prison. Lord, help the families of the prisonsers be comforted by your Word and the knowledge of your faithfulness. Your word says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:10) ... Lord, I know that here in America we have no clue what it is to be persecuted like our brothers and sisters in these other countries. Lord, strengthen our resolve to remember these people, to pray for them and Lord let us remember the freedoms we DO have in this country and be bold to spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ! Lord, please protect the christians in these countries from being arrested. Help them to be able to preach about Jesus Christ without being persecuted. Please open the eyes, ears and hearts of those who arrest these christians and those who guard them, to the truth of the Gospel. Help the persecutors to be saved Lord! Oh Lord, forgive me for forgetting about the present day martyrs. Please remind me to pray for them, to be bold in spreading the gospel for the glory of your name. For the glory of your name, in Jesus we pray, Amen.

If you are interested in finding out more about the persecuted church in the world please visit the following web sites:
http://www.persecution.com/
http://www.prisoneralert.com/

"My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!" Psalm 35:2-3

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Over the years I have come to love hymns. They are rich and full of biblical truths.
Tim Challies wrote about hymns on his blog <"http://www.challies.com> the other day and wrote out the lyrics to one of my favorites. I thought I'd include that hymn here today as our prayer to Jesus, thanking Him for who He is and what He has done for us. If you know it sing it to the Lord today! If you don't.. prayerfully read the lyrics and exalt the name of the Lord with me!

My Jesus I love Thee (Will­iam R. Fea­ther­ston, 1864; Fea­thers­ton was on­ly 16 years old at the time)

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I will love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I will ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I will sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:1-2

O God help me to imitate You! help me to be holy as You are holy. Help me Lord to glorify You with my life. Help me Lord to walk in love as Christ loved me! Jesus gave Himself up for me! He died, He was a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
Jesus lived the perfect life that I cannot live. Jesus died, He paid the penalty for my sins! O God, thank You for this kind of love. Help me, therefore, to practice a self-less love towards others. Help me to think of others as more highly than myself. Help me to give of myself, to live sacrifically in loving others. Help me to be an imitator of You, O God. I am Your beloved child. Help me to be like You. For the glory of Your name in Jesus' name. Amen.

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake of asleep we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

Lord, this truth that, I have not been destined for wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, is astounding. It speaks, no it screams, of Your great love and mercy towards those You save. I am deserving of Your wrath for my sins are great and yet I have been destined to obtain salvation. Oh God, may my gratitude to You for Your great mercy increase! May my devotion to You increase! May my love for You increase! Increase my faith! Increase my obedience to your ways. Help me to desire to walk in Your ways. Be glorified O Lord! Lord, help me to encourage my brothers and sisters with this truth. Help me to build them up. Lord, help me to remember what could have been BUT instead You saved me! Lord, help me therefore to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). Help me to continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel(Colossians 1:23). Thank you that your mercy and grace are great!
Be glorified Lord, be glorified! In Jesus name.. amen

Prayer Focus: To desire and do the will of God

Romans 12:2 " And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God."

I thank You Lord God for the blood of Christ that washed me free from the guilt of sin! I thank you for the death of Christ that paid for my sin! I thank you for the resurrection of Christ which gives me victory over death. I thank you for the perfect, righteous life of Christ which was imputed to me! I thank the Holy Spirit who gives me strength and victory over sin. I thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit and Your grace which enable me to do Your will! God, I desire to do Your will....yet I so often get lured away by my desire for the things and the ways of this world. Turn my heart towards You Lord that I may feast on Your word and drink from the living water.. change my heart, renew my mind that I may know and follow Your will. Help me to desire to follow Your ways! For your glory! Amen.

Prayer Focus: Our communities would be impacted by us for the sake of Christ.

Psalm 34:8 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good....."

God, you have a passion for Your glory to be spread through the nations and in our communities. Thank you God for putting me exactly where you want me to live. You have called some of us to go out to the nations to bring glory to your name by preaching Christ crucified and You have left some of us right where we are to be witnesses in our own backyards! God, wherever you have called us, please help us to obey you! Make us so passionate about You and who You are that we will not be able to keep silent about your greatness and love and our Savior Jesus Christ! Lord, I want my life to be one that glorifies Your name.. When I don't feel this way, CHANGE MY HEART! Lord, give us a boldness to share the gospel for your name's sake and the salvation of the lost. Help those that we share the gospel with taste and see that You are good. Lord, I don't want to waste my life... use my life Lord to tell others about Jesus.
I love you Lord and I ask these things in Jesus for the glory of Your name.

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! A few years ago when associated with a young adult church group called The Gathering in Northern VA I used to send out a daily scripture and prayer to a group of people. The purpose of this was not to be the ONLY prayer of your day but to spur us on into deeper prayer and dependency on our God and Savior. So... I am starting it up again! This time I will publish daily prayers in the blogosphere! I hope you will join me in praying for our families, the churches we belong to, for the lost, for missions etc , etc.. the list is endless! I look forward to praying with you! In Christ for the glory of His name... diane