Prayer of Affirmation

2009-06-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Lord, I come to you now and I bring with me these you have put into my life. Thank you for each of these people and the opportunities they present to know you. Thank you for my son. I pray for him and for all the ones who surround his life. Thank you for ...(son's friends)

Lord, I pray for my sister...(her family names)
I pray for my family...(family names) Thank you for all our family, that they are Christians and they taught me so much about love and support.

Thank you Lord for all my friends and neighbors throughout my life. Thank you for ...(names) and all the people around my life. Thank you for each one.

Lord, thank you for the people who taught me how to do my work. Thank you for... (names) and all my customers and friends...(names).

Thank you for the ones who helped me at Cooper Mays, for...(names) , and all their families.

Now Lord, I thank you for my friends who call upon your name, who shared their knowledge of you with me. Thank you for...(names) and all their families. Thank you for the household of faith, may they be your ministers again, today.

Lord Jesus, I come with these and thank you that we know we are received, because you have bid us to come. May the light of your holy presence shine upon us and expose our sins to our own eyes. May we see, acknowledge and confess our sins that they may be removed. Let us not hide, justify or excuse our sins, but call them by name and in the light of your presence, release them to you. They are nailed to the cross of Golgatha, where your blood pays our sin debt to the laws of life and love. May we have a genuine awareness of the damage our sins have done to one another, to you, and to our own soul. Thank you that this is SALVATION! That with the sword of God's word, you remove our sins from our soul, from our history, even from the memory of Holy God. You purchased our sin to remove it, not to shame or condemn us, but to cast it away, making us clean with nothing left against us. Now, wash us with the water of God's word, that we would be quickened unto wisdom and knowing the will of God, walk in obedience.

Blessed Saviour, I ask you now to extend the hand of healing. As you answered the pleas of the afflicted, and of their parents and friends in the streets of Judea, thank you for healing my son. You restored his health and vitality, may he continue to have freedom from the pain and be free of the medications that robbed him of his life in the flesh. Heal ...(names) Lord Jesus, please heal our relationships; especially between me and ....(names). Heal also our desires, that I would not waste the gifts of life, but invest them in that which glorifies the Lord God. Heal my memory, that I would have knowledge of my sins and seek forgiveness from those against whom I sinned. And that there might be mercy and not judgement.

Fill us with the life of God; with the love, the power, the wisdom of God. And cloth us with the garments of salvation and praise, put upon our feet the preparation of the gospel of peace, upon our shoulders robes of righteousness and crown us with your glory.

Gather us to the door you built in the firmament. You built it with the substance of your life, the only life that moves freely between heaven and earth. It was an example of perfection and righteousness and you offered it up as a sacrifice for the sin of this world. With the substance of your life you built this door. With the nails of God's sure words of promise to us, you hung it in the firmament, and with the blood of your sacrifice you wrote upon it "whosoever will." And you hold it open against all the forces that would prevent us from entering the kingdom of God and heaven. We meet a sword which is the word of God, it defines and maintains this firmament, dividing light and darkness, holy and unholy. Pointing at the gate of our heart it discerns our thoughts and intents, piercing to the joint and marrow, dividing spirit and soul asunder, laying us naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. But that sword salutes us as we enter with the King of Glory. And you take us to the tree of life, and feed us the fruit of that tree; the richness, the fullness, the sweetness of life. You minister the healing that is in its leaves, and it changes our nature into your likeness.

We follow you through streets of gold and across the crystal sea and up into the highest heaven, into the abiding place of Everlasting & Almighty God, the I AM THAT I AM, our Maker and Creator, Fountain of Life, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, Holy One of Israel, by the power of your word all things exist, and all creation functions according to your purpose. You formed man from the dust of the earth in your own image, breathing into our nostrils the breath of life, causing us to be a living soul. Your word says that you saw all that you had made and behold, it was very good. We do not remember the days we beheld your glory and rejoiced in your presence, for we took unto ourselves a way contrary to your will. We committed sins against your words of life and love, corrupting ourselves we would have been destroyed with our sins. But you spoke forth the word of Salvation, you laid bear your Holy Arm and the Right Hand of your Righteousness has gone forth, Mighty to Save.

You sent the only human who lived a life, perfect and worthy to be called the Son of God, you sent Jesus, to seek and to save us. He redeemed our souls from hell with his own blood, he cleansed us, healed us, clothed us and presents into your most awesome and glorious presence acceptable and embraceable to you and he taught us to say,

"Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name". Thank you dear God that we can call you Father, and know it pleases you. How amazing that we sinful creatures can be accepted and are your own children. Hallowed is your name. You have called us into the holiness of your character. We do not know what holy is, but we know we are not holy. Thank you that you have vowed to make us holy, as you are holy.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." Father, this is the prayer that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, as he shed drops of blood in agony, experiencing the human condition of possessing a will that was in conflict with your will. He identified with humanity, clinging to his human will, and in anguish and sorrow, sacrificed it to you, and accepted your will which was for him to drink the cup of judgement against the sin of this world and pour out on us his righteousness. His obedience won for us eternal life. I pray we follow him in this sacrifice of self will, accepting your will in our lives on earth today. We know your will for us is to receive this glorious gift of salvation and walk in his righteousness made available to us, today.

Give us this day our daily bread. Father, this would be the bread of life, the life of Jesus, broken and shared with us. Give to us our portion for today that we may consume his life, be nourished and empowerd by it and walk in the strength of his life today. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Father, this would be the death of Jesus, for it is the blood of his sacrifice that establishes forever your Mercy and our unity and fellowship with you. With his blood you have given us the authority, and he has given us the commandment, to extend loving mercy as far as we can reach; certainly to those that we love and hold dear, even to our debtors, even to our enemies.

Father, you have given us the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, your son and our Saviour. Lead us today, least we would lean to our own understanding and be overcome by temptation to abuse or fail to use these most precious treasures. Thank you Father that you give us the Captain of our Salvation to lead us and to deliver us from evil today. He has already put his body beneath our yoke and burden of sin, taking to himself our guilt and shame, our condemnation and our death. And Father, it pleases you and he agrees to put upon our shoulder his yoke of righteousness and holiness, his mantel and burden of bringing together everlasting God and creation. And you harness us together with the power of the Holy Spirit, who knits us into one body, holds us that none should stray or fall away, enabling us to bear one another's burdens. And so may we discover it is the presence of Everlasting God we bear into this day.

Father, we look again to Jesus, dear carpenter of Nazareth, revealed to be your only Son, who is our mighty Saviour and now as our excellent High Priest to rear up in our bodies your holy tabernacle, your abiding place on earth.

He begins with the product of our lives, lives that you planted upon earth and we grew up reaching for heaven but we failed. We are corrupt and defiled, not suitable building material for your tabernacle. We would have been destroyed by the fire of your holy presence, reduced to ashes beneath his feet. So he laid his body upon the product of our lives and he allowed the nails of your words of promise to us to unite his life to ours. There he shed his precious blood covering our lives with his own. That which was my shame, my condemnation and my death, he has made my crimson pillar of power, my eternal proof of purchase, the foundation of my everlasting life. He hangs round about us his righteousness and his holiness, covering us with his flesh, enfolding and enclosing us in himself, claiming us as territory of everlasting God, a place on earth you have chosen to put your holy name.

He places within us a golden lamp stand, a body wrought out of pure gold, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, given the wick of a lifespan, and crowned with the knowledge of the presence of everlasting God, giving light against the firmament, revealing the patterns of heaven. And he places the table of showbread where you give us life on a golden table, supplied, supported, sustained and ordered by the hand of Everlasting God, that we may consume it in your presence with joy. And the alter of incense where you give us a place to abide face to face with Holy God in communion and fellowship over the sweet fragrance of Jesus. And finally Father, for the furnishing of the Holy of Holies where you dwell between the cherubim over the place of your holy word, he enters the dark and forbidding wilderness of our imagination, where our reckless and rebellious heart wanders and the beast of our sin nature dwells.

Our hearts go so quickly and consistently into fellowship with that beast. We commit sins and abominations and hide in that darkness in determination to bury our sins under excuses and justifications. We become trapped in lines of confusion while that beast devours our gifts of life; of time and energy and care of heart. Lord Jesus, the light of your presence reveals our doings, our sins appear, our corruption and our unfaithfulness to Holy God. But you do not condemn our heart you release it from the jaws of that beast. You cleanse it and heal it and make it tender toward our Father, speaking to us words of his loving mercies. You gather our heart upon your bosom, and in your mighty arms of salvation you deliver it up into the glorious presence of Almighty God. There in the intimacy and power of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you invest the elements of one another into our heart.

Father, you reach into the broken bread of life and fill an earthen vessel, putting into our heart the person of the Lord Jesus, planting in the heart of our imagination his everlasting life. And you take the rod that bears our name and graft it to Him who is the true vine, bringing into fruition and perfection our own unique and individual personality. Father, you have called us by name and said "Live before me forever" and we do because you have bundled our lives together in the life of God, giving us eternal perfection like a prize. And you take a flame from him who is the Holy Spirit, who hovers over the face of the deep bringing forth creation at your word and sustaining it according to your will. You take his flame and put it in a golden censer giving into our heart the power to be a child of the Most High God. Now Father, you lay bear your own heart and allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to gather your thoughts, your plans, your promises, your personality and your ways; and in the form of letters and words they inscribe you into our heart. There you abide a patient and a consistent father, submitting yourself to our human intellect, allowing us to examine and wrestle with the Truth of who you are. And you teach us that we would learn, practice, do and keep your ways, that we would walk Holy as you are Holy.

Lord God, what awesome unsearchable concepts these are; all are beyond our understanding. Though our conscious minds fight against these thoughts we cling to them by faith and trust in your ability to perform your promises to us. Thank you that you share your life with us in this body of flesh. May all of us who call ourselves by your name, be mindful of your presence and yielded to your authority, for you are God; the same God in the heart of our imagination as you are on the Throne of Heaven.

Our High Priest places the heart of our imagination, bearing the elements of Holy God, within our tabernacle of flesh, creating within us a Holy of Holies. He covers it with the MERCY SEAT, explaining in that act your purpose and avenue for visiting your creation, to give mercy to us and those that you bring into your presence through our lives. He sprinkles everything with his own blood that there be nothing left to inhibit or prevent our abiding together. And being committed to our success, he pours out his life's blood upon the dusty ground or our lives that our bodies of flesh may absorb His Life into it and together we can pray,

" Hallelujah! Almighty God, thank you for saving our souls from hell! Thank you for calling us and writing our names in the book of life! Thank you that you prepare a place for us to dwell with you forever in heaven! Thank you that you receive us now to your bosom your family forever! As you have chosen our lives and made the heart of our imagination an abiding place for yourself, circumcise our hearts to love you, as you spoke by your servant Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. Cause us to walk in your statutes and commandments, as you spoke by your servant Ezekiel. Express your presence in our lives on earth, as you are God of heaven. Fill every cell and fiber of our bodies of flesh, rule in every thought, every action, every moment of our lives on earth as you rule in heaven. MAKE OUR LIVES A PLACE OF REFUGE, MAKE OUR HEARTS YOUR THRONE OF GRACE. BE GOD IN OUR LIVES ON EARTH AS YOU ARE THE GOD OF HEAVEN FOREVER AND EVER!!"

Father, let us go together now with our Saviour, keeping our eyes upon the Author and Finisher of our faith, learning as we follow in his steps how to serve the Living God. Father, he has his face set toward sacrifice again today, l pray we would follow him and sacrifice ourselves together with him, that we might bring glory to your holy name on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, we still bear the image of the earthly boils and vermin we have been, but you have changed us, you have accepted us in the Beloved. May our lives shine today, living tabernacles of testimony to your Presence, to your Love, to your Mercy, and to your Power.

In the name of the Holy Son Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to the glory of Everlasting God our Father, today and forever more, world without end.

Amen, Amen and Amen.

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A LITURGY

Prayer of Affirmation