In this week’s Sunday Prayer, Hillary prays for us to flourish in prayer by keeping our eyes on the Lord.

Praying to Flourish in Prayer by Keeping our Eyes on the Lord

by Hillary Baggett

Lord, when we lift our hearts in prayer to you,

we open our minds and pour out our adoration and praise, we recognize who you are, the Creator, the Author, the Potter, the Vine.

We see, Lord, we are the created, the humans, the clay, and the branches. Apart from you, we can not grow, live freely, be who you designed us, or flourish in this life.

Keep our eyes on you, Lord.

If our eyes can stay focused on you, on who you are, then we can take our eyes off the present state of our lives – the depression, the anxiety, the fatigue, another deployment, another stay in the hospital, another round of doctors.

But you, O God – you can redeem us from the pit, you can raise our eyes to look and see you. You have never left us, but we have turned away from you.

Our hope is in you, Lord.

For this redemption and salvation that is our true hope, we thank you, Lord. When all hope seems lost, we still have you. We thank you for our families–whatever our family looks like: functional or not, together or not, adopted, fostered, by birth, or by circumstance. Show us that we are not rejected, but accepted. We are invited to the feast with you.

We request, ask, plead, beg, and lay our true needs as well as the desires of our hearts to you. You see us, Lord. You know our needs before they are on our tongues. You love us no matter what. Your lap, Abba, Father is just waiting for us to ask if we can climb on up and rest in you.

Stand In The Gap, Lord.

Our eyes are steadfast on you, send your Holy Spirit to stand in the gap, Lord.

When we have no words of comfort, send your Holy Spirit to speak for our silence and for our groans. Show us the gift of presence–to be there for our friends who have lost their parents, their husbands, their children, and their friends.

With gratitude, we lift up our meager words, our groans of distress, the emptiness of our silence and hopelessness.

Protect us, our spouses, our children, those wearing a uniform, and those who love someone in uniform from the spirit of hopelessness and against the spirit of suicide.

God hears our cries, answer our prayers, and offer us your peace, that is truly beyond our understanding.

Prayer is our release and surrender to you, O Lord.

We trust and love you, Lord.

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen.