Pastoral Prayer - Lord of Our Hearts
You are Lord not only of the surface but of the heart. You know us in our deepest being. You call us to righteousness in every part. You exhort us not simply to actions but to love, not simply to perseverance but to hope, not simply to duty but to joy.
Father, we give You thanks that You have worked salvation in our inmost beings. We have been born again by Your Spirit. You have taken out our hearts of stone and given us hearts of flesh. You have breathed the breath of life into us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Teach us, Lord, to follow You not simply in word but in truth. Conform our affections and passions to Your design. Transform our minds. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew our spirits in steadfastness. Give us holiness in our inward places, that from the overflow of that change our mouths would speak and our wills would move.
Wed our hearts to Yours, that we might be more like You. You tell us that You delight in obedience; give us this same delight. You tell us that You have compassion for the least and lowliest; give us hearts that break for them. You tell us that the spirit You desire is one of humility, gentleness, and patience; give us such virtues as the fruit of Your Spirit’s working.
Grant us the confidence that comes from realizing that You are the God who reigns over the inward person. Calm our anxieties about the world by reminding us that the hearts of kings are streams in Your hand. Make us bold in proclaiming the gospel as we realize that You are the one who calls and brings repentance. Let us have a posture of courageous victory as we confront the flesh and the devil, not because we are mighty but because You have begun a good work in us and will carry it on to completion.
As we come to You in prayer, hear the longings of our hearts for those close to us. Be near to those who mourn. Heal those who are hurting. Restore those who have wandered. As You have saved us, so work salvation for them, we pray.
We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who has won our hearts by His cross and intercedes with them now before Your throne.
AMEN
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