Matthew 6:10: Your kingdom come, Your will be done.
It's interesting when God helps us connect what we've been hearing recently to what we've been hearing for awhile. Surrender
Today, I listened and participated in Day 3 of the Surrender Novena. I love this novena - these prayers of surrender.
Today, the novena took us into the Lord's prayer. The prayer Jesus prayed to teach us to pray.
"Thy will be done" is the same as saying. You take care of it.
A few years ago, our church invited some of us to learn about discernment. During that season, I prayed Richard Foster's Prayer of Relinquishment Every Day.
Today, O Lord, I yield myself to you. May your will be my delight today. May your way have perfect sway in me. May your love be the pattern of my living.
I surrender to you my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions. Do with them what you will, when you will, as you will.
I place into your loving care my family, my friends, my future. Care for them with a care that I can never give.
I release into your hands my need to control, my craving for status, my fear of obscurity.
Eradicate the evil, purify the good, and establish your kingdom on earth.
For Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
Last spring I rewrote the prayer of Relinquishment for my own life when I was participating in Priscilla Shirer's study on the Armor of God. I was then and still am trying to figure out my place on this planet run by our mighty and magnificent God. I have difficulty understanding how God is running the universe and my place in it. I am watching for revelation, and I am learning to surrender.
Here is my prayer of relinquishment. If you pray it, substitute your people and items as needed:
O Lord, I yield myself to you. May Your will be my delight. May Your love be the pattern of my living. I surrender to you my hopes for having wholeness in this lifetime, for my children's paths, for our family, for my dreams of travel, writing, speaking, for my ambitions to be a part of systemic change. Do with them what you will, when you will, as you will.
I place into your loving care my Sam, Nella and Mia, my parents and siblings, my friends and my future. Care for them with a care that I can never give. Thank you for being the great protector, so I don't have to.
I release into Your hands my need to control, my craving for status and to be heard, my fear of obscurity. Open my eyes, that they will alert me to the enemy's attacks so carefully crafted against my history, my wounds, my children and spouse, my gifts and my voice.
Give me courage to use your weapons, not mine. Eradicate the evil, purify the good and establish Your kingdom on Earth. Let me do only what is mine.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Today, I add the Surrender Novena's key line that we pray 10 times. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.