Personal Time with Jesus - A Prayer

Matthew 6: 25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are you afraid to declare good things over your life in the name of Jesus?  Think about it.  Do you often declare goodness and success over your life with the name of Jesus?  How about daily – do you announce God’s favor over your household? Are you afraid to use the name of Jesus for your own personal reward and for good things on earth?  I think you are afraid.  I think I am afraid.  Why?  I feel we tend to shy away from proclaiming God’s goodness and favor over ourselves because plain and simple: we are sinners!  I don’t care how much we love and worship God, we are all still sinners on earth.  It is a fact of life, each one of us has sin.  Although we may strive for obedience to God, none of us is without sin.  We know that.  I think that is why we feel unworthy to declare the full goodness of God over our lives.  We know Jesus died for our sin and He was our guilt offering.  However we still struggle with obedience and feeling adequate for God’s favor and blessing.  What did David declare in Psalm 23?  He said,  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  David had sin in his life but did not let it stop him from declaring boldly God’s goodness for him.

Okay you sinners lol (me too) let’s get to work.  God forgives you.  God loves you.  God loves you unconditionally.  You are forgiven by the blood of Jesus.  Now that we have that out of the way, let’s write a prayer to declare God’s goodness over our lives.  Let’s obey the words of Jesus.  Begin by reading Matthew 6:25-34.  When you read it imagine Jesus is speaking to you directly.  Listen for Jesus’ voice in that scripture.  Don’t read it hearing your voice, imagine His voice.  Step out of the box, as they say, and use that creative brain God gave you.  Read Matthew 6:25-34 like a book when you hear a character speaking.  You can hear a character’s voice in your imagination.  You can do it in the Bible also.  It is not disrespectful.  It is loving to make an effort to hear the voice of Jesus, the one you love.  The disciples heard his voice.  Thousands upon thousands of followers made every attempt to hear his voice.  Why not you?  Seek his voice.  Jesus spoke these words from the Bible to real people with human voices.  I did not say this would be easy, but it is certainly possible.  You only have to try.  Put yourself in the story.  Read the words of Jesus and insert your name in the blanks.  Let Jesus speak to you. 

Matthew 6: 25-34
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you ________, do not worry about your life, what you ________will eat or drink; or about your body, what you ________will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you ________ not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can you ________ by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you ________worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you________—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you ________ need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you ________ as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

After you have read and listened to the voice of Jesus speaking directly to you, write your response to him.  This will be your prayer of the week.  If Jesus was sitting across from you (as if you were sitting among the disciples) and telling you these words face to face, what is your response?  Jesus your Savior just spoke your name and told you “do not worry about your life.”  He looked into your eyes and said, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”  With a loving, tender tone Jesus tells you “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”  After he has finished speaking to you by name, looking into your eyes and gently loving you – he stops and waits.  Jesus has finished speaking the words of Matthew 6:25-34 to you and now he waits for your response. 

Read the verses and then respond to Jesus.  Imagine he actually just spoke them to you and now he waits for you to speak.  This response is your prayer for the week.  I just adore this approach that God gave us this week.  God gave it to us.  I had no idea where this writing was going in the beginning.  I love this approach because it allows us to get personal with Jesus, it opens our imagination to the voice of our Savior and it refreshes our prayer life. 

Thank you Father God for another opportunity to speak to you in a new and exciting way.