Merciful God, thank You for Your kindness and tenderness toward me. Thank You that Jesus has redeemed me with His very own blood. You receive me just as I am, frail and flawed as that may be. You exchange my filthy rags for Your garment of salvation and robe of righteousness! (Isaiah 61:10). Your love for me is extravagant! Your grace and mercy overwhelms me like a flood, like being able to breathe underwater! You are awesome, holy and worthy of all my praise. I bless You and worship You, Lord.
Father, I focus my prayer today on exposing these two thieves, worry and regret. They steal from my NOW and dull the senses to Your goodness in my TODAY. I pray Your protection from worry and regret would allow me to live today in the here and now. Father, heighten my senses and awaken my heart with joy in the simple things. I pray the joy of simply being alive would rush in with an acute awareness of TODAY.
Keep my mind free from regret and rehearsing past failures and missed opportunities. May all the “what if’s” and “if only’s” lose their voice. The “should have’s” and “could have’s” stop badgering me. These are surely tools of distraction straight from the enemy. Let me say NO to this tactic of the accuser. The LORD rebuke Satan in Jesus’ Name, I pray (Zechariah 3:2). Help me to release anxiety over past sin as well. I pray the past would truly lay securely with Christ Jesus who holds it. Only You, Lord can allow Your forgiveness and peace to melt over it. Please do it! Please bring to mind good memories with profitable ministry and conversations and outcomes. Remind me of things I was a part of that glorified You. Remind me of things that are tender and sweet to You, private between the two of us. I also pray for memories that cause laughter to arise. Thank You for laughter! It is so good for the soul!
I pray too, against this other tormentor named worry. Jesus Himself said tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34). He also assured us that in this world we will have trouble, but to take courage, He has overcome the world. (John 16:33) Worry does not equal control. And control is an illusion anyway. YOU are in control, Lord. I am not. I pray I would boldly speak out against this time stealer of worry when it creeps into my thoughts. Impart great boldness to trust You deeply, no matter what. Like Esther, let me be able to say, “If I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16) Like Daniel, may I know that “The God we serve is able to rescue us, but even if He doesn’t, we will not serve other gods.” (Daniel 3:17,18) And like Peter, I say “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68,69)
Father, please help all of us, but especially those with serious illness, to redirect worrisome thoughts into prayer instead. I’ve heard it said that worry is negative prayer, that it actually shrinks our faith when we worry. So let prayer cause increased faith and trust in us and reliance on Your perfect will for our lives. You promise You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. (Isaiah 26:3 Amplified) So please keep my mind simply fascinated with You, Lord! And please purpose Your Spirit to pray through me when I simply don’t know what/how to pray. (Romans 8:26)
Lord, You see the past, present and future in my completion. You are not restricted by time in any way. You really are the God who is, was and is to come.(Revelation 4:8) You really are Lord over time itself! As I trust in You as my timekeeper, fear, worry and regret will diminish. I pray Your huge blessings to be present in my life TODAY. Reveal Yourself in ways that affirm the choice to refuse worry and regret. I bless Your Name, Jesus! Thank You. Be glorified in this day I pray. Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation (2Corinthians 6:2). Please give me this day my daily bread (Matthew 6:11) as You determine what I need. And because Jesus Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever, (Hebrews 13:8) I have full confidence as I ask all of this in His holy name. Amen.