A PRAYER for 2021

A PRAYER FOR MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR 2021
By Terri Tidwell

December 26, 2020

As you all know, I believe we are headed for hard times in the coming years. I wrote about it on December 23rd, “A Word for 2021.” There are things happening around us that none of us can change, so I asked God, “What do you want me to do?” His answer was, “Pray.” It is funny what He wants me to pray for, though. He wants me to pray for me - not for other people. Say what?!?! And my prayers have nothing to do with my circumstances; they have everything to do with my heart. I am asking God to do for me things that I cannot do for myself. If God does not do these things, they will not happen. So I pray. For me. A lot.

Then a month ago, God gave me a word out of Romans that said that not all of Abraham’s children were children of promise. That rocked my world. Until that moment I could quote you every promise God has made for my children, “All my children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be the peace of my children.” “The words that are in my mouth will not depart from me nor my descendants, nor my descendant’s descendants from this time and forever more.” When God told me that not all of my natural children may be children of promise, my heart caught. I had depended on the promises my whole life, but God is not going to hold my children or my grandchildren to the promises He makes for them. He is going to let them all choose. They get to choose the world and all the world has to offer, or they get to choose God. They cannot have both. It doesn’t work that way. Our back is always toward one and our face is toward the other, so we choose. Life or death. Blessings or curses. Each day we choose. Each minute we choose. In this time of great darkness, we choose.

So once again I asked God, “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Pray.” Then scripture after scripture flooded my heart and my mind. The LORD said that human effort accomplishes nothing, only the Spirit brings life. Then He said, “The words that I speak are Spirit and they are Life and they will set captives free.” Everything I pray is scripture, so I know that my prayers will bring life. Then He said, “Where two people agree as touching anything it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. So I know that if the person who reads this prayer will face Jesus with his heart wide open and truly ask Him to do all these good things for them, He will. So I am praying that everyone of you who read this prayer will not just read it, but embrace it. I am praying that you will embrace the God who is so wonderful that He could and would do these kind things for us. I am praying that there will be such an intense hunger and thirst for God and for righteousness that enters your heart that you will never ever be able to get away from it again - a longing - an intense longing for something real, something good, something right. I am praying that you will be able to see clearly all the world has to offer, and you will see it for what it really is - nothing. I am praying that you will you will finally see what God has to offer so that you can turn your face toward Jesus and live. I am praying that you will want to embrace Jesus with every fiber of your being, that you would seek Him like you would seek pure gold or silver or precious gems. I am praying that this prayer that you pray today will echo inside of you in the morning and the evening and that parts of it will rise up within you all throughout the day. I am praying that these words will be planted in fertile soil that will bring forth a harvest of righteousness, fruit so big that it would take two people to carry it. Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulnesss and self-control. Grace and mercy. Light and truth. Wisdom. Understanding. Unfailing love.

So I pray. For you and for me.

LORD, I am asking that You would give us all eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand what the Spirit is saying. Send out Your Light and Your Truth. Let them lead us, let them bring us to Your HOLY hill and to Your tabernacle. Expose the lies that we have been believing our whole life. Bring them to the surface so that You can heal them. Let everything that is hidden be made known. Let a lie not have dominion over us any longer. I am asking that You would search our hearts and know us. Try our anxious thoughts and see if there is any wicked way inside of us, and lead us in paths of life everlasting for Your namesake.

LORD, I am asking that You would take out this heart of stone, and put in a heart of flesh. Sprinkle us with clean water so that we can be clean. Tear down every idol and every “High Thing” that is inside of us that gets in the way of us knowing You. Pour Your Spirit inside of us. Make us a well watered garden and a fortified city for Your glory. Dry bones, hear the WORD of the LORD. Breathe O’ four winds on these slain that we may live. Graves, open wide. Live. Open up you gates, you everlasting doors and let the King of Glory in - the LORD mighty in battle, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies! Come and do battle for us, LORD. Destroy every one of our enemies. Put them under our feet so that we can crush them.

LORD, I am asking that You would take every one of our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. Tear down strongholds. Turn our eyes from unclean things. Guard our ears that we may no longer listen to unclean things. Give us the strength to turn away. Let us no longer tolerate the things we have tolerated in the past. LORD, forgive us for what we have allowed ourselves to see and hear and do. We are sorry.

LORD, cast out imaginations and every “High Thing” that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Wipe the slate clean. God, create in us a clean heart and an upright spirit. May every thought that we think and every meditation of our heart be pleasing in Your sight. Teach us Your ways and show us Your paths so that we may walk it them. Give us godly desires - desires that will please you. Let our heart long for something different.

LORD, I am asking for wisdom, not the wisdom of this world that is selfish ambitions and bitter envies, but the wisdom that is from above. The wisdom that is pure, peace loving. The wisdom that is gentle at all times, willing to yield to others, full of mercy and good deeds. The wisdom that shows no favoritism and is always sincere. LORD, You said that those of us who are wise are peacemakers who will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. Let us speak the truth to others and love them. It is only the truth that will set people free. Give us boldness to stand up for what is right and true and just and fair. Give us courage and strength to do what You are asking us to do - speak the truth. Deliver us from the love of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Forgive us for wanting to fit in. You said that if we want to be friends with the world, we have just made You our enemy. LORD, we are guilty, and we are sorry for wanting to fit into the world, for wanting the world to like us. Forgive us, LORD. We do not want to be Your enemy.

LORD, we need Your strength in this hour. Strengthen us in our inner man by Your Holy Spirit. Root us and ground us in faith and in love. Help us all to know the height and depth and breadth and width of the love you have for us. That love is past understanding, but when we come close to knowing it, we will be filled with all the fullness of God. LORD, You said that the joy of the LORD is our strength. Then You said that when troubles of any kind come our way to consider it an opportunity for great joy, because our faith is being tested, and our endurance has a chance to grow. Then You said that when our endurance is fully developed, we will be perfect complete, needing nothing. So God, we are asking that You would place in our hearts a Spirit of thanksgiving and praise and joy. No matter what happens. Please LORD, I am asking that thanksgiving and praise be our response. Let joy come to strengthen us and give us endurance.and keep us safe. Let us in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.

LORD, teach us to be content. You said that if we have food to eat and cloths to wear, to be content. Forgive us for complaining. Forgive us for wanting more. Forgive us for not being satisfied. You also told us to not worry about anything, instead pray about everything, to tell You what we need and to thank You for what You have done. Forgive us for worrying. We are guilty. Now we refuse to worry anymore. Instead, I am going to tell You what I need and thank You. Then You said that the peace of God which passes understanding will guard our heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So LORD, send peace. Let this peace guard us as we choose to follow you. Thank You for teaching us to trust You. Thank You for showing us Your ways. Thank You for letting us get to know You.

LORD, forgive us for trying to control our destiny. Forgive us for relying on our own strength. Forgive us for eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is not what we do that matters. Human effort accomplishes nothing. It is only the Spirit that brings life. It is ONLY what You do that matters. Forgive us for worshiping the work of our own hands. Forgive us for trying to save ourselves and others. Teach us how to lay down our pride and our power and to let You have control. Teach us to trust you with all of our heart, to lean not on our own understanding, and in all our ways to acknowledge You so that You can direct our paths.

Finally, LORD, teach us to fear Your Holy Name. You said that the fear of the LORD is the BEGINNING of wisdom. Help us to see and hear and understand that You alone are God, and You do whatever You please. Everything that is happening in this world right now is because You allowed it. Our sin opened the door for so much to happen, and now the world is groaning under the weight of that sin. Judgment is upon us. Help us to understand that although Your very nature is love, that that love is just. You cannot let us get by with what we have been doing, so you discipline us because You love us. LORD, please let our heart yield to that discipline. Let us not continue to resist you. Forgive us LORD for not turning back to You the first time. We are sorry. Now LORD, help us all to understand that even though this is the year of the LORD’s favor, it is also the Day of the vengeance of our God. Let us see and hear and understand that if we continue in our own willful, self-centered, selfish ways, we will die. You cannot relent in Your punishment until we turn. You love us that much. You want us to live.
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LORD, we love You and we thank You for Your grace and Your mercy. Thank you for not giving us what we deserve, but instead, You give us Your unmerited favor. Grace. Mercy. Peace. Joy. Unfailing love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Continue to work on us until we look like Your Son. Holy. Completely separated unto You. Continue to work on us, LORD, until love is our only motive. This is the highest calling of all - to love You and to love others. Only You can turn this heart into a heart that is full of love. I am asking You to do this great work in me. I am asking this in the mighty name of Jesus. AMEN