Praying the Both/And Life
I’ve been encouraged by several of the prayers I’ve seen and read already today, both in my JC2033 feed, where friends around the world are lifting us Americans up today in fervent prayer, and even on my Facebook feed.
So I’ll add mine to the mix:
Precious Jesus, You said that when we pray, we should pray for Your Kingdom to come and Your will to be done on earth as in heaven. And you told governmental leaders that Your Kingdom is not of this world. Help us to believe both, Jesus. Protect us from veering toward either truth while denying or ignoring the other one. Help us to anchor in both - that your righteousness and justice is desperately needed in our broken world, and that this world is not our home. Help us to pray and work diligently and tirelessly for the under-resourced, the overlooked and the unseen, and to do so from a place of rest, not striving. Help us to not grow weary of doing good, and to experience Your peace that transcends the world you created.
Rabbi Jesus, You said that we are both the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Help us to function like salt today and in the coming turbulent days, working behind the scenes, not drawing attention to ourselves, living out Your Spirit’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and following You without seeking attention. Just like salt. And help us to function like Light, not hiding our Peace and our Kingdom values under a bushel, but pointing to a deeper identity, an unshakable Kingdom, a perfectly righteous and endlessly merciful King whose position of authority is not up for election. Help us not be ashamed of You, to love like You loved, to move toward those we are tempted to withdraw from, to love and pray even for our political enemies, to be Light like a City on a hill.
Incarnate Jesus, You entered our broken humanity full of both grace and truth. Oh Jesus, we humble ourselves and figuratively cloth ourselves in sackcloth and ashes for how poorly we have practiced the Jesus way in a so-called “Christian” nation. Jesus, we are so sorry for the countless examples of graceless “truth” that we have spewed from our pulpits, our Facebook posts, and our own thoughts and attitudes and words. King of Kings, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we are equally repentant for the landscape we have polluted by our truthless “grace”, remaking You in our own image, practicing chronological arrogance by proclaiming yesterday’s Truth outdated. Plant us on the road less traveled, the narrow way, the Way of graceful Truth and truthful Grace, so that all those living within our borders might once again encounter a Jesus who is 100% grace and 100% truth 100% of the time.
Eternal Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, You both wept with the mourners and raised Lazarus from the dead. Help us to humbly grieve where we are today as a nation. Keep us on our knees as long as necessary, come what may in the days ahead. And no matter what tomorrow brings, the joy of the Risen Lord is our strength. Death itself cannot hold You. Fill us with unshakable Peace, unquenchable Love, and unending Patience and resilience, knowing that Your position is entirely secure, and that the end of the Story has already been written.
May Your Love fill us, settle us, and enable us to love all those we encounter in the same way You love us, and as You continue to pray that we would.
Dave Drum, Founder