The Devolution of Beseeching Prayer

Standard

Beseeching prayers since the Protestant Reformation:

Reformation Era to 17th century

Blessed Lord, may this servant’s death at the hands of those who oppose Thee and Thy Kingdom further the Glorious Light of Thy Gospel to the ends of the earth, that Thy Name be praised on the lips of them who hear Thy Words of Life, repent in dust and ashes before Thee, and receive Thy precious gift of Eternal Life. Amen.

17th through 18th century

Holy Father, Divine Flame, purge the dross from Thy servant’s life, that in humbling Thy servant, the Christ would be visible to all who do not acknowledge Thee. Make Thy servant pure in Thine Eyes, that I not be cast away and lose mine inheritance, but prove Thee true before all men, for the glory of Thy name. Amen.

19th century

Precious Jesus, my Beloved, teach me to bear thy burdens as a good soldier of the Kingdom. May I know patience as I wait by thy feet and learn of thee. And if there be any wicked way in me, purge it by the light of thy grace, that I may be found in thee perfect, a witness to the nations. Amen.

Early 20th century

Glorious Lord, empower me to be a light to the world, taking your Gospel where it has not yet been proclaimed. Let me always ask what I can do for you, and let me know you more deeply in each passing day. Build up my blessings so that others might see the fruits of a life devoted to you. Amen.

Late 20th century

Lord Jesus, show me how you will use me. Bless me for the many ways in which I serve you. Send me, but when you do, please let it not be somewhere like Calcutta or someplace too dangerous, like an urban ghetto. And I really, really need a mentor too. Amen.

March 2012

Please God, do you really need to keep asking me to do all this stuff in the Bible? I have this Facebook Timeline thingy that needs tweaking, and maintaining my LinkedIn profile takes a lot of time too. Seriously. You want me happy right? Then what are doing about it? Oh, and the new iPad 3 is out and mine is only a 2. Can you do something about that? Please? It would be a great place to start. Bye.

10 thoughts on “The Devolution of Beseeching Prayer

  1. David

    You forgot the part that reminds God how much He loves me. That’s what it’s all about, right? God loves me. It’s that warm fuzzy that’s all-important. We want to maintain that self-assuredness that the Creator of the ‘verse loves me.

  2. Jay

    “And I really, really need a mentor too.”

    Sadly, this is a serious need in the body of Christ. Teachers in the body feel like a byword, a rejected unnecessary role within the body of Christ. Or at least that is how a number perceive them.

    • Jay,

      I added this for my own amusement, since I was a young 20-something looking for a mentor around the early 1980s, when herds of young men roamed the land looking for mentors. Don’t hear as much call for that anymore; I guess people gave up. I think they’ve moved to fanboy status rather than actually pursuing mentors. Talked to a church leader a few months back said his church has a respected mentoring program but no one wants to be mentored! That’s topsy-turvy!

  3. connie

    Maybe those folks beseeching God in an acceptable manner don’t publish their prayers on facebook?

    I mean, I get your point but in my opinion so much that is wrong with the Visible Church these days is that people are thinking they are converted when….they haven’t really met Jesus yet. You know as well as I do that when you get a revelation of Him, you are forever changed…..

    I usually love and totally agree with most of your posts but this feels a lot like you are picking the low hanging fruit, so to speak. It seems meanspirited. It’s a lot easier to keep pointing to what is wrong-(and I agree with you that there’s a lot out there)but we can’t just stop there. We have to look to God for His solutions. He has them.

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