Crosswalk: 30 Things I Asked the Lord on My 30th Birthday

Crosswalk www.crosswalk.com 30 Things I Asked the Lord on My 30th Birthday 30 Jun 2011, 5:00 am   Last Friday, I turned 30. To mark my journey into a new decade of life, I wrote down 30 things I pray the Lord will do in my life in the coming days and years. Father Almighty, my Creator and Sustainer, For thirty years You have filled my lungs with breath, timed every beat of my heart, and guided my every step. Even so, as wondrous as the gift of life is, More wondrous still is the gift of new life, bought with the blood of Your Son, applied by the breath of Your Spirit, planned by Your unfathomable grace in the mysterious time before time. My heart is full of gratitude and joy. I once was an orphan, but now have a Father. I once opposed Your Son, but now He is my big Brother. I once knew nothing of Your Spirit, but now He lives within me. My knowledge of You as a loving Father is what compels me to come before You, to ask You, plead with You, beg of You: Accomplish these thirty things in the years to come. Take my life and shine a spotlight on the glory and holiness of Your name. Grant me single-minded devotion, that all my labors would be for Your glory alone and the fame of Your name. Awaken in me an ever-increasing sense of awe and wonder at the beauty of Your gospel. Grant me an insatiable desire to cherish Christ more greatly than before. Enlarge my heart, that my affections for Christ may grow ever stronger, and that His love for me and my love for Him may spill over into the lives of those around me. May Your work in my life be a foretaste of the day all the ends of the earth remember and turn to You, and all the families of the nations worship before You. Root out every trace of idolatry in my heart and replace it with unswerving devotion to Your kingdom. Fill my heart with passion for both public justice and personal righteousness, that Your kingdom would be on display in all my gospel-driven efforts. Enable me by Your grace to know and fulfill Your will for my life, to the resounding of Your glory and the accomplishing of others' good. Give me grace to do whatever brings most glory and honor to You, pleasure and profit to me, and life and love to others. Help me to never take a day for granted, but to see each day as an opportunity to know You and make You known. Strip away my pride, my selfishness, and self-reliance, that I may recognize my utter dependence on You. Give me neither poverty nor riches, so that I never deny You or profane You, but find my total satisfaction in the Bread of Life that gives me daily bread. O that You might thrill my soul with the gospel, so that all of life's other pleasures fade in comparison! Deliver me from obsession with personal comfort and obsession with busywork. Humble me in the knowledge of my deep-rooted sinfulness, even as You comfort me in the experience of Your far-reaching grace. Help me to walk in Your forgiveness rather than wallow in my failings. Cause me to flee from sin, not because of its consequences, but because it grieves Your heart. Help me taste the bitterness of sin, that I might better taste the sweetness of salvation. Turn my heart inside-out, that I may have a compassionate and generous spirit to those around me. Cause the fruit of the Spirit to flourish in my life as husband and father. Give me wisdom from above, that my lips might be a fountain of life. Deliver me from suffering and trials, but only after Your will for me has been accomplished in and through the pain. Remind me daily of the truth that You are totally for me because of the work of Your Son. Give me the strength to shun the whispers of the serpent and cling to the promises of the Savior. Focus my eyes on the harvest that is plentiful, so that I may be compelled by Your love to join Your mission to seek and save the lost. Fan in my heart the flame of zeal for the salvation of others. In all things, make me more like Jesus, that I might speak like Him, love like Him, see like Him, and suffer like Him. Make me an instrument of Satan's defeat, faithful in the battle against His evil onslaught until the Day when Christ returns to smash him forever. May my life resound to the praise of Your kingdom, power, and glory. Amen. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed.