Below is a copy of the prayer that Nadine wrote & shared during our “Coming To The Cross” 24/2 prayer, for you to read and reflect on.
Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know the temptations I battle with, the pain I’ve suffered, the loss I live with and the sins I struggle so hard to deal with and move on from.
But what is my turmoil over temptation, and for me to ever consider it a difficult choice, when compared to Your turmoil in Gethsemane where You chose to take upon yourself the pain, suffering and humiliation of the Cross in order to save me from the times when I fall in that battle.
What is the pain I’ve suffered in life compared to the pain of beatings and torture, and of vulgar nails through weakened flesh, all that I might be spared the greater pain of a life lived without You.
What is my loss compared to the loss felt by those who watched You crucified, not knowing what I know in that You would be raised from the dead to show Your glory to the world and cement once and for all Your promise of eternal life.
And what is my struggle with the sins of my past compared to Your struggle of dragging the cross that You were to be nailed on up Calvary’s hill – the weight of the wood dwarfed by the enormity of the weight of the sins of the world, past, present and future, upon Your shoulders. Through these actions, in Your unfailing grace, You paid the price for my sins.
The debt of my sins has been cancelled by Your ultimate sacrifice; my only debt to dwell on is an eternal debt of gratitude owed to You.
So Lord, I call out Your name and pray unto You:
May the sword of Your Truth cut through the darkness of temptation. May it have no hold over any part of my life, in knowing that much harder choices have been made in order that I may be free from its power.
May Your healing wash away any pain I have, and Your faithfulness sustain me when it is present, in the knowledge that much greater pains have been endured by You in order that I may be kept from the greater pain of eternal darkness.
May the comfort of Your promises and faithfulness carry me through my loss. May the celebration of Your resurrection be an ever present reminder that Your promise of eternal life is already in action, in order that there should be no permanent loss; our losses only ever temporary until Your Kingdom is restored to Earth.
May the reminder of the gravity and grace of Your sacrifice shine its light into my darkness, and banish from me the pot-holes of shame and guilt that the enemy may seek to lead me into to make me stumble on my journey with You. May my eyes remain fixed on You, Your word steer me on my true course and Your light always permeate and illuminate those dark recesses.
May I always go equipped with the knowledge that Your suffering was a choice that You made out of profound love for us – love so strong, so faithful and so full of grace that you handed over Your own body to the torturers and experienced great agony in order that my sins be paid for and my forgiveness purchased; that we may be reconciled with God for all eternity; that we may be free.
I thank you God for the grace that is so undeserved, for the love that is so unfailing and for the promises that are themselves so generous and their fulfillment so faithful.
Lord, let Your Kingdom come and Your glory fill this place!
Let Your praises never be far from our lips, Your word never far from our minds nor Your works ever be away from our hands and feet.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and let me never forget that You commissioned us to share that same joy and the same grace that it is founded upon to all whom we encounter.
Always Your Truth, always Your way, always Your will be done.
Always in Your name,
Amen
