Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. Jer. 17:14 (NIV)
Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Psalm 51:12 (ESV)
Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalm 73:25-26 (NLT)
Dear heavenly Father, for your welcoming heart, we adore you; for your daily mercies, we worship you; for your promise of renewal, we trust you.
Your grace finds us where we are; but, thankfully, it doesn’t leave us there. Today, we represent the many different ways it’s possible to get disconnected from a vital and robust relationship with you. But we all share in common a longing to get back on the dance floor of your delight. We long for the music of the gospel to fill the corridors of our hearts, once again. Gracious and loving Father, bring us home. Restore to us our first love relationship with Jesus.
Some of us are just worn out, spent, and weary from life’s incessant demands. It’s not that we don’t love you, Lord; it’s just that the joy of our salvation has been replaced with sighs of just getting by. Breathe, O breath of God, and bring refreshment and renewal to our tired hearts.
Some of us are weighted down with broken relationships, or old wounds showing up with fresh power, or new hurts, which have blindsided us and have buckled our knees. We vacillate between sad and mad. Father, hold us close; give us the perspective of heaven; and send grace in the shape of our need. If we’re going to run, may it be in your direction.
Some of us have “gone off the reservation“, and have made bad and destructive choices. We’ve mishandled our longings, medicate our pain foolishly, and we don’t know the way back home. Grab us, grace us, and rescue us from ourselves, Father.
Some of us have become self-righteous sticks-in-the-mud—more aware of how others fail us than how Jesus loves us. Father, melt our hearts with mercy; gentle us with your grace; and humble us with our own sin. Restore to ALL of us the joy of your free and rich salvation. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ holy and loving name.
