Jesus

Nothing, I am nothing

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​image via Pinterest
 
Lord, you wanted it, here I am on the ground.
I don’t even dare to rise, I don’t even dare look at you.
Nothing, I am nothing, I know it now.
Your light is terrible, Lord, and I’d like to escape it.
Since I have accepted you, you have bared my dwelling.
Every day, mercilessly, your light uncovers it,
And I see what I had never seen before.

I see the forest of my sins behind the tree that hid them.
I see innumerable roots, impossible to grasp,
I see that everything in me is an obstacle to you,
  as the smallest particle of matter blocks the sunlight
  and brings on the night.
I see the devil attacking the key-points of the fortress
  that I thought impregnable,
  and I find myself tottering and ready to fall.
I see my helplessness,
  I who thought that I could make myself of value to you.
I see that everything in me is mixed,
  and that not one of my actions is pure.
I see the infinite depth of each fault
  in the face of your infinite love.
I feel incapable of reaching a single soul,
  through the noise of my words and the wind on my gestures.
I see the Spirit blow where I haven’t toiled,
  and the grain take root where I haven’t sown.

Nothing, I am nothing, I accomplish nothing,
  I know it now.
Your light is hard, merciless, Lord.
No corner of my life and soul remain in the shadow.
Turn as I may, your light is everywhere,
And I stand naked and full of fear.

Formerly, I admitted that I was a sinner,
  that I was unworthy,
And I believed it, Lord, but didn’t know it.
In your presence I looked for some faults
  but produced only labored and feeble confessions.
Lord, it’s my whole being that kneels now
  It’s the sin that I am that asks forgiveness.

Lord, thank you for your light – I would never have known.
But, Lord, enough.  I assure you I’ve understood.
I am nothing
And you are all.

Michel Quoist, 1918 – 1997, French Catholic priest
Prayers of Life

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John 15:5 

I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him,
    he it is that bears much fruit,
    for apart from me you can do nothing

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Question

Have you ever seen yourself as being important 
    to what God wants to accomplish?

Drown my Transgressions

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image

 
O Father in heaven,
I come to You in lowliness of heart
begging You to drown my transgressions
in the sea of You own infinite love.

My failure to be true even to my own accepted standards,
My self-deception in the face of temptation,
My choosing the worse when I know the better,
       O Lord, forgive.
My failure to apply to myself the standards of conduct I demand of others,
My blindness to the suffering of others
   and my slowness to be taught by my own,
My complacence toward wrongs that do not touch my own case
   and my over-sensitiveness to those that do,
My slowness to see the good in my fellows
   and to see the evil in myself,
My hardness of heart towards my neighbors’ faults
   and my readiness to make allowance for my own,
My unwillingness to believe that You have called me to a small work
   and my brother to a great one.
      O Lord, forgive.

John Baillie, 1886–1960, Scottish theologian
A Diary of Private Prayer, slightly edited
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Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

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Questions

What is it like for you when you come clean 

    and confess your heart’s attitudes to God?  
Have you ever felt cleansed and renewed by God’s spirit?

How excellent is your mercy!

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image via Vecteezy

 
O Lord our God, how excellent is your name in all the World!
Your glorious majesty is excellent, but that brings me nothing;
    your justice is excellent, but that brings me nothing.
It is your mercy that must do me good,
    and therefore your other excellencies I adore,
    but this I invocate.
To invoke your justice, I dare not;
    your glory, I cannot,
    but your mercy, I both dare and can.
 
For why should I not dare, when fear gives me boldness?
How should I not be able when weakness gives me strength?
Why should I not dare, when you invite me to it?
How should I not be able when you draw me to it?
 
Do you invite me, and I shall not come?
Do you draw me, and I shall draw back?
Can there be a patron so powerful as you?
Can there be a beggar so dejected as myself?
 
Whom, then, is it more fit to ask for mercy than you, O God,
    who are the God of mercy?
And for whom is it more fit to ask for mercy than for me
    who am a creature of misery?
 
Richard Baxter, 1615 – 1691, English Puritan
Reformation Commentary on Scripture Psalms 1-72

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Psalm 51:1-2
 
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
  according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

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Questions

Do you believe that God’s mercies are always available for you?
Do you believe that God’s mercy invites and encourages you 
    to confess your failures to him?
 

I weave a silence on my lips . . .

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Jesus Calming Storm by Jane Wilson Boyle via Pinterest
 
I weave a silence on my lips
I weave a silence into my mind
I weave a silence within my heart
I close my ears to distractions
I close my eyes to attractions
I close my heart to temptations

Calm me O Lord as you stilled the storm
Still me O Lord, keep me from harm
Let all the tumult within me cease
Enfold me Lord in your peace.
 
David Adam, 1936-2020, English priest, rector of Lindisfarne
The Book of a Thousand Prayers
 
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Psalm 62:1-2
 
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
    from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
 
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Questions
 
When have you experienced God’s peace most powerfully? 
What was the occasion or circumstance?

Authoritative Prayer

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​In the strong name of Jesus Christ
I stand against the world, the flesh and the devil.
I resist every force that would seek to distract me from my center in God.
I reject the distorted concepts and ideas that make sin plausible and desirable.
I oppose every attempt to keep me from knowing full fellowship with God.

By the power of the Holy Spirit
I speak directly to the thoughts, emotions, and desires of my heart
and command you to find your satisfaction in the infinite variety of God’s love
    rather than the bland diet of sin.
I call upon the good, the true, and the beautiful to rise up within me
    and the evil to subside.
I ask for an increase in righteousness, preace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

By the authority of almighty God
I tear down Satan’s strongholds in my life,
    in the lives of those I love,
        and in the society in which I live.
I take into myself the weapons of truth, righteousness, peace, salvation,
    the word of God, and prayer.
I command every evil influence to leave;
    you have no right here and I allow you no point of entry.
I ask for an increase of faith, hope and love so that,
    by the power of God, I can be a light set on a hill,
    causing truth and justice to flourish.

These things I pray for the sake of him who loved me  and gave himself for me.
Amen.

Richard Foster, 1942- , Quaker theologian and author
Prayer – Finding the Heart’s True Home

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2 Corinthians 10:4-5 

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh
    but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion
    raised against the knowledge of God,
    and take every thought captive to obey Christ

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Question

Have you ever been led to pray with the boldness 
    and with the authority expressed in this prayer? 
Ask for an increased measure of boldness in your prayers.

I approach with boldness

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​I am not worthy, Master and Lord,
   that You should enter under the roof of my soul:
yet inasmuch as You desire to live in me as the lover of mankind
   I approach with boldness.
You have commanded: let the doors be opened
   which You alone have made
   and You shall enter with Your love for mankind just as You are.
You shall enter and enlighten my darkened reasoning,
   I believe you will do this.

For You did not cast away the prostitute who came to You with tears,
   neither did You turn away the tax collector who repented,
   nor did You reject the thief who acknowledged Your kingdom,
   nor did You forsake the repentant persecutor, the Apostle Paul, even as he was.
But all who came to You in repentance You united to the ranks of Your friends,
   Who alone are blessed forever, now and unto the endless ages. Amen.

St John Chrysostom, c.349-407, Archbishop of Constantinople
The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: Orthodox Service Books

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Hebrews 4:14-16

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven,
   Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses,
   for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us
   when we need it most.
 
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Question
 
When you’ve felt guilty and convicted of sin, how have you approached God?

responding to temptation

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The Temptation by J. Kirk Richards, 1999 via Pinterest
 
You, Lord Jesus, knew great power,
to heal, to transform,
to proclaim the reign of God.
So you met with great temptations.
The wrong way, glittering and possible, was open;
you could rule if you chose,
in majesty and wonder,
more victorious than Alexander,
more imperial than Caesar.
     But you said No,
     simply, decisively, for ever, for us.

We pray for the Church, tempted like its Head.
When the Church seeks political power,
     Jesus, stay with us.
When the Church longs to become wealthy,
     Jesus, speak to us.
When the Church strives to impress with splendor,
     Jesus, give us simplicity.
When the Church wanders from the way of sacrifice,
     Jesus, hold us.
When the Church listens to the call for cheap grace,
     Jesus, keep us always in your way.

Holy Spirit of God, enable us to respond to temptation
with the strength of your Word within us,
so that we may hold firm to our calling
and take your better way in faithfulness.

Bernard Thorogood, 1927-2020, English minister United Reformed Church
The Complete Book of Christian Prayer
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Matthew 4:8-10

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain 
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
 
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Question:

In what ways do you see your Church being tempted to compromise? 

Variation on the Jesus Prayer

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image via Pinterest​
 
Jesus.
Lord Jesus.
Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, have mercy.
Jesus, have mercy.

variation on the Jesus Prayer,
originated from the Desert Fathers, 5th century Egypt

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Luke 18:13 

But the tax collector stood at a distance.
He would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said,
‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

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The word Mercy is from the Hebrew word Hesed
which describes a sense of love and loyalty
that inspires merciful and compassionate behavior toward another.

Question:

What are some ways that you have experienced
God’s mercy or hesed in your life?

Plea for Divine Presence

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Older than the morning stars 
    that twinkled in the blackness of night’s first birth,
    the rotation of the axis of time,
    bring us into the freshness of your mercy 
    and the newness of your presence.
We come to you today with heartfelt gratitude,
    not with mixing Judas paint with Judas praise
    in order to cover our hypocrisy.
Some of us come to you with triumph over tragedy.
Others of us come with enduring pain
    suffering from shameful defeat
    in an inescapable battle of life.
Some of us feel like going on
    and others of us feel like giving up.
But to you we come just as we are.
Whether we are winners or losers,
    we know that you love us one and all.
Greatest of the Greatest,
    you know just how much we can bear.
We all come to commune with you:
 
    The tireless champion;
    The tired loser;
    The retired forgotten ones;
    We all come to be consistently corrected
        and confronted by you.
    We come counting our lost.
    We come as citizens of cities controlled by crime.
    We come chilled by the cold of cowardice.
    Great God Almighty:
    Commune with us conscience clean.
    Caress us with the cradle of compassion.
    Consecrate us with courageous convictions.
    Control us with Christlike concerns.
    Great Physician Powerful:
    Pardon us with the conscience of peace.
    Place us in paths of productivity.
 
Practice the perfection of healing 
    upon those who are physically, emotionally, or spiritually sick.
This is our humble plea, 
    we present in the precious Name of the prince of peace, 
    Jesus Christ, our priceless priest. Amen.
 
J. Alfred Smith, Sr, 1931-2025, American pastor in Oakland, California
 
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For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs

Sin’s True Colors

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Lord God,
when the devil presents the bait,
    show us the hook.
When the devil presents the golden cup
    show the poison hidden inside.
When the devil presents the sweet pleasure of sin,
    show us the misery that will follow.
When the devil presents the profit of yielding to sin,
    show us the wrath that comes from committing it.
When Satan promises the soul honor and profit,
    give us eyes to see the shame and loss he delivers.
Strengthen our resolve
    that we keep at the greatest possible distance from sin,
    and not play with the golden bait held out by Satan.
 
May we tremble at sin, and keep our distance from it.
Give us eyes to see that sin is a bitter sweet
    whose sweetness quickly vanishes,
     replaced by lasting shame, sorrow, horror and terror.
May we fear to lose
    that divine favor that is better than life,
        that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,
            that peace that passes understanding,
                those divine influences by which our souls
                are refreshed, raised and gladdened.
 
Help us to see when Satan paints sin with virtue’s colors:
    when pride is called neatness and cleanliness,
    when covetousness is called good stewardship,
    when drunkenness is called good company,
    when a lack of self-control is called liberality,
    and when wild living is called youthful tricks.
Help us to see through the deceits of sin.
Help us to see sin as one day we will see it:
    when what once appeared sweet will appear most bitter,
    what once appeared beautiful will appear most ugly,
    what once appeared delightful will appear most dreadful.
 
Gracious Father, may we reckon the true price of our sin:
    that it cost the best blood, the noblest blood,
        the life-blood, the heart-blood of our Lord Jesus.
 
Thomas Brooks, 1608–1680, English Puritan preacher and author
 
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Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
 

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