Lent Prayers Week 2

Day 1

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, 

and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes 

and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV

The Message uses this phrase, “replace it with a heart that’s God-willed not self-willed”. That’s the base of most of my problems; I’m following me, and I don’t know where I’m going. I need to want God’s will, more than my will.  I need to surrender my desires to it, and the more I believe His love, believe Him, the less scary that sounds. He wants us to believe Him because it’s an act of love. You believe people you love, wanting our belief is wanting our love.

I love how God’s spirit in us can cause us to walk in His rules. This doesn’t mean we are robots; it means that God understands how fickle our hearts can be and leads us to obedience. One of my favorite scriptures in Philippians tells us that , God will give us both the desire and the power to please Him (2:13 NLT). He knows at our best we are lacking one of those two things, and He is willing to give it.

Father, open my eyes to the places that I am harboring sin in my heart.

Make my heart soft and responsive to You. Help me let go and confess.

Cleanse me from the idols that I have loved above You. Forgive me.

Remove the places that sin and bitterness have callused over my heart.

Forgive where unbelief has left me stoney.

Give me a new heart and a new spirit with a new capacity to love.

Cause me to walk in obedience with a power and joy from Your Spirit.

Day 2

"Take care lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart

leading you away from the living God."

 Hebrews 3:12 ESV

We are always being driven by what we believe. Whether they are true or false, our beliefs drive our actions. If someone throws a rubber snake at me that I believe is a real snake, I will respond with very real screams. The facts aren’t determining my actions. What I believe determines how I respond. This is why it’s important for us to KNOW what we believe and check to see if we are walking in it. Subtly believing lies that our enemy whispers to us, leads us away from the living God.

If I believe that without Jesus people will go to hell, then I will tell them about Him.

If I believe that prayer changes things, then I will spend time in prayer.

If I believe God has a purpose for my life, I will stop wasting time being comfortable.

The opposite is true:

 If I don’t believe prayer changes things, I won’t spend time on it.

If I don’t believe God has a purpose for my life, I will waste lots of time being comfortable.

If I don’t believe people are going to face an eternity without God, I won’t share Jesus with them.

We can say that we believe these things, but if our actions don’t show it, the truth has no affected us, we are still in unbelief.

Father, show me where there is evil unbelief in my heart leading me to sin.

Show me where I am not really believing you and my actions speak that truth.

Help me not just confess the sin but get to the root of the belief that is driving it.

Search it out, even if it's painful.

 Help me take care to maintain my heart and identify what I am believing.

Day 3

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;    he’s the one who will keep you on track.Don’t assume that you know it all.    Run to God! Run from evil!

Proverbs 3:5&6 MSG

I am pretty sure that this version of these verses was written for me.

Assuming that I know it all is my first reaction. I am also fairly confident that most things should be done my way. (you too?)

I try to figure everything out on my own repeatedly until I am at my wits end, and only then do I ask for help. I waste so much energy on what if scenarios and attempts to keep everyone happy. In reality, try as I might, I cannot control even my own life. At the root of all of this pride in my heart is really the fear that God isn’t going to work everything out for me. Even though I believe Him, I know He loves me, I sometimes doubt that He is really giving the best. That is what leads me to try to control things. The best doesn’t always look the way I want it to, so my real struggle is to believe what God says and trust that He is choosing the best.

God, help me trust You from the bottom of my heart because I believe You. I know You love me. You have the best plan for me. Stop me when I start trying to figure everything out on my own and remind me that You don’t ask me to do that. James says you give wisdom to everyone who asks. Keep me attentive and expectant for Your voice in everything I do and everywhere I go. Thank You that there is nothing in my life You don’t see coming, and You will move every obstacle that would actually harm me. I know that doesn’t mean I will like all the things You choose for my story, help me keep choosing to believe that Your way is the best way.  I invite you to lead me.

Day 4

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. NLT

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs  of life. ESV

Proverbs 4:23

The Hebrew word for guard or keep used here is “natsar’” and it refers to guards on a city wall or the temple. It’s a military term taken very seriously in Hebrew culture.

The Hebrew word for heart or (lib·be·ḵā) or leb, it means. The inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding, and determination. It’s the seat of all emotions and thinking, decisions and imagination feelings center or mission control center.

The phrase “springs of life” suggests that the heart is the source of life-giving actions and attitudes, much like a spring provides water that sustains life.

I get to decide what I keep in my heart. I don’t get to decide what happens to me. I don’t get to pick my reactions or initial feelings, but I do decide what gets to stay. What we keep will motivate our actions:

Will I keep bitterness or forgiveness?

Will I keep fear or power, love and a sound mind? (2Timothy 1:7)

Will I keep envy or thankfulness?

Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life,

which is corrupted by lust and deception.

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Ephesians 4:22&23

God, I need you to show me what’s in my heart

so that I can decide what to keep and what needs to go.

Show me where I have fear or bitterness poisoning the flow of love

coming from my heart. Teach me to pay attention to my heart diligently like a

guard on a city wall.

Day 5

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.

Deuteronomy 4:9

This verse really mirrors yesterday, but it gets specific about the things we remember. Don’t forget the things you have seen. Do you know why? They affect our belief. When we have seen God work, we know He can. When we have seen God answer prayers, we will pray again. Do you know what kept going wrong with the Israelites, they had “evil unbelieving hearts” because they forgot. God would miraculously provide for them, save them, lead them, and then the very next time something happened…they fell apart. As much as I have felt judgmental of the Israelites, I do the same thing.

My eyes have seen a lot of things. I need to keep them in my heart. I need to remember and refresh thankfulness with repetition. When I am not purposefully thankful, I forget. That last phrase, “all the days of your life” means we do this until we go to heaven. There isn’t a retirement age.

The longer life goes, the easier it is to forget the good things God has done. That’s why there are a lot of cranky old people. I’m determined that I am going to keep my soul diligently and store up thankfulness in my heart so that it so full it gushes out.

God, thank you for the way You _____________________________

Thank You that yesterday You _______________________________

Thank you God that you answered my prayer when________________________

Father, help me keep awareness of your presence in my heart so that I don’t miss your daily miracles. Help me diligently keep Your faithfulness in my heart.