If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9
The day-to-day journey comes with a fair amount of "road wear." Our lives need upkeep; specifically, ongoing attention and maintenance to our hearts. All of us are affected by life’s drama—the cumulative affect of living in a fallen world and battling with a sinister enemy that Jesus himself said, "has come to steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10); not to mention the ongoing rivalry between our New Man/True Man and the flesh/false self that (if not attended to) will run us off-road and over what ever ditch it can in order to leave us (and anyone riding alongside) compromised and injured!
Orienting Prayer is a significant way to give attention to our inner man or woman, our inner being, and start each day prepared for what might just meet us on the path.
The challenge for me in offering myself each day is "HOW?" There is a humble way to stand, a gentle confidence that is needed in the face of my enemies, coupled with a firm resolve birthed from experience that hears Jesus say, "Whatever comes our way today, we got this." When I was growing up, grade school started every day with The Pledge of Allegiance. Orienting prayer is a lot like that … pledging myself to God once again, and declaring my love for Him again, and restoring myself to the relationship that matters most, again—the one for which I was made. Taking my place in the Larger Story that is both glorious and wonderful as God’s image-bearer, His Beloved Son, is always a good idea.
Pledging allegiance ... it has become a normal and good thing.
I have also learned that surrender is a good thing, IF whom you are surrendering to is the most loving, kind, strong, and gracious being in the universe. "Pledging allegiance" is a great way to surrender, and Zoweh's The Daily Prayer is a very oriented way to pray. It helps put first things first and allows me to at least start my day heading in the right direction.
I invite you to step into The Daily Prayer with Zoweh and our Allies every Monday on The Daily Orientation moving into this new year, 2019—declaring what is true, receiving what is ours, and aligning our hearts with God's. It is a great way to get up and clean up, pledge allegiance to our King, surrender to his love, and put on the Armor (again) for a day of battle! The road wear that can collect in our hearts, and eventually encumber us if not well maintained, becomes less and less of an issue, allowing us more and more to live free from a whole heart: living and loving well.
The Daily Prayer Paragraph 1
My dear Lord Jesus, I come to you now to be restored[1] in you – to renew my place in you, my allegiance to you, and to receive from you all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honor you as my sovereign Lord, and I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to you. I give you my body as a living sacrifice; I give you my heart, soul, mind and strength; and I give you my spirit as well. I cover myself with your blood[2] – my spirit, my soul and my body. And I ask your Holy Spirit to restore my union with you, seal me in you, and guide me in this time of prayer.
An excerpt from The Daily Prayer Memory Verse Cards.
