A PERSONAL PRAYER

God,

I’ve been looking again at how your son Jesus spoke to people. I’ve always been drawn to his words of kindness and grace. These are the words he spoke to the grieving, the poor, the outcast, the sinner. But I can’t deny that there are other times the words he spoke were harder to hear. These are the words he spoke to the religious folk of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Herodian leaders, the rich and the powerful, sometimes even to his own disciples. He called people hypocrites. He called them a brood of vipers. He told Peter to “get behind me, Satan.” He clearly was not afraid of having the hard conversations.

I know there are some hard conversations I need to have with others. There are problems I let fester, hoping they will just go away, or that you will solve them without me. There are issues that need to be addressed, but I don’t know how to fix them. There are relationships that remain shallow because I am afraid to dig into the depths where it might be unpleasant. Forgive me, God, for my lack of confidence in you. More than anything, God, I know I need to have a really hard conversation with you. I prefer to keep hidden the truth of my life, my sin, my half-heartedness, my own self-deception, and hypocrisy.

So God, today, I pray that you would give me the courage, to be honest, completely honest with myself, with others, and with you. Let me share your truth with them without reservation or fear. Help me to speak the truth in love to others. And I open myself once again to your refiner’s fire, knowing that I cannot hide from your presence, and knowing that your truth will set me free.

“Open mine eyes, that I may see, glimpses of truth thou has for me…” Amen.