Lord Christ,
Transform my terrors to trust,
my fears to faith,
my worries to worship.
Let anguish melt into adoration.
Resolve my hang-ups with hope.
Holy Spirit,
Help me to cultivate and share...
Inner peace,
The comfort of quiet and solitude,
A sense of well being,
Contentment,
The joy of living.
Amen.
This is an aspirational mash-up of today’s Scripture Union* and Henri Nouwen reading - my spiritual goals for a new year. Fight the fear. Build up my hope muscle. Strive for a greater sense of gratitude and contentment. These attributes don’t spontaneously happen at baptism or when one “gets saved.” This is the stuff you work on - with God - every day of your life. That’s my definition of sanctification: the incremental, ongoing development of Christlike qualities. Per John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Click on Labels at the bottom of this post for more prayers on this theme.
