As you think about the significant decisions you’ve made in your life, how have you prepared yourself for discernment? How have you prayed?
Our surrender and God’s strength are required to discern and do God’s will. These prayers prepare us for the decisions we make and the challenges we face: Two prayers of surrender, two prayers for strength.
Prayer of Quiet Trust [1]
My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore. Psalm 131
Prayer of Submission
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Luke 22:42
Prayer to Love
God may I, being rooted and established in love, have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Give me the Grace to love others as you have loved us. [from Eph 3:17-19, 1 John 4:12]
Prayer for Wisdom
God I lack wisdom, You give generously to all without finding fault. Give me the wisdom that comes from heaven so how I live will be pure; peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. [from James 1:5, James 3:17]
In Him,
Jason
[1] many of these key insights come from “Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice For Leadership Groups” by Ruth Haley Barton