Ah, Lord God, you, are my warrior who keeps Satan away, my priest who presents me to yourself, my king who welcomes me into your kingdom. You are my shepherd who feeds me, my Creator who gives me life every day, my sun to bring me light. You are my guide, my love, my savior, my friend. You are my Lord whom I adore. I fall at your feet overwhelmed with your love.

Take hold of me, God, shake me, and make me learn once more to let people persecute me if it is your will.  You are in command.  Love is in control. Forgive my weakness and be my strength.

Thank you, God of mankind, God of angels, God of all inanimate things. You created beauty for me and music. Oh, music with its sounds high and low, fast and slow, rhythmic and steady ~ all orchestrated to be your song to me. For colors. Oh, colors! dark and light, meshed and singular, flowing in and out of each other, painted by your finger as a gift to me. For touches soft and rough mixed and alone, fast and slow, all put together to form your embrace. You delight in me and how I adore you for it.

Always I praise you, Lord God. You are in all I see and hear and touch in nature. But you are more. You are Truth and Life and Love and Justice and Mercy. You touch my life with tenderness. You forgive so easily and hastily. How you love me and love to watch me. You spared nothing to bring me close to you in ways I do not begin to comprehend. Your mind and your ways are so far above mine.  I cannot laud you enough.

Lord, yesterday I let someone believe a lie. They believed I had done some good thing but I had not. Further, I did not set them straight. By my silence, I let them go on believing it. Make me go to that person and tell them the truth. If I am embarrassed, so be it. I should not have perpetuated a lie by my silence.

Ah, Jehovah God of the universe, thank you for loving me and caring about me. If I go to a wilderness of apathy, you guide me out. If I climb mountains of egotism, you bring me down. If I dive into the deepest ocean of self-pity, you bring me up. You watch me every moment, not just to protect me from others, but protect me from myself. You never tire of me. I never tire of you. You are my joy, my king, my hero, the lover of my soul.

I lift up my praises to you, God of the universe and Lord of my life. You are my priest and king. You lead the way where ever I go. You pull me back whenever I wander astray. You are might and power far beyond all that is wrong, constantly overpowering and overcoming. Always making sure that right and mercy and love and life remain to conquer again. With adoration in my heart as strong as the wind, you are my Lord and the love of my life.

Satan has such a hold on me when I begin to fear what others say against me and do to me. Help my ego die so that only Jesus lives in me.  Help me be grateful that I am counted worthy of such things.

Ah, how can I thank you, God, for all you have done for us through all the ages? You never stopped trying You have stuck it out with us though we offend you every day.  What love. It climbs to the highest peak and plunged to the core of the earth. It soars to the stars and it crawls into every atom. It transcends your world into ours and overwhelms my heart. Jesus, you faced Satan in my place. You overcame who and what I could not overcome. I fall at your feet with gratitude I cannot express.

I praise you, my Lord and my God. You are so much loftier than I.  I look to the day when I can walk the streets of heaven with you, when I can sing to you, see your smile, bow at your throne. You are so good and I am not. How can you love me? But you do. Ah, yes. how you do! It is beyond my comprehension. But I am trying, Lord. I keep trying to understand your love. Sometimes would you give me an extra peek into your realm so I can, for a moment, be a little closer to you than I was before?

I am so selfish and weak. When someone offends, I run from them in fear. Oh, God, I am useless when I do that. I wasn’t easily offended as a child. Help me be more childlike, not hear their hurtful words or actions, and think only the best of others. Perfect love casts out fear. Help me overcome this and be as you have said.

Thank you, Lord God of all heaven and earth, for being all might and glory. Thank you for stopping at nothing to snatch me out of the clutches of Satan and save me from an eternal living death with him. You love me so and I am so unworthy, swaying back and forth between you and Satan. But you never give up. You follow me and snatch me away from him whenever necessary. Nothing stops you, God. I am so blest to have you.

God, if I had a voice that was strong enough, I would declare your glory to the stars. If I had feet that were robust enough, I would climb the tallest mountain and raise a banner of love for the world to see.  If I had arms that were long enough, I would embrace the world with your magnitude. Give me eyes that see you in everything. Give me ears that hear you in all things. Though the world rebels against you, not wanting anyone to tell them what to do, I will defend you and reveal the part of you they do not understand ~ that you, their Maker, loves them so much you will spend their life running after them. They are falling into the mire and do not know it. They are obeying Satan and do not realize it. Waken them, Lord, with your magnificence and envelop them with love that goes deep into their souls and will not let them go. Give them new eyes to see you, new ears to hear you, a new heart that loves you back.

Lord, as hard as I try, sometimes I begin to doubt you. I think I am not the only one who goes through this. I suppose if Satan weren’t afraid of me and my relationship with you, he wouldn’t attack me with doubts. Forgive me when I succumb to the doubts he puts in my mind. Though sometimes he kidnaps my mind, keep him from having my heart and soul too. At such times, help me to at least hope. Hold me up until my faith in you returns.

Thank you for opportunities to suffer for you. Your Word says the righteous will always be persecuted. Take me down paths where I know persecution will travel toward me. May I never “play it safe”. Open up doors where Satan thinks he rules so I may have the privilege of proving him weak and wrong. Lord, you made me your bride. How blessed is that! Oh, the depths of the relationship you want with me. Thank you, my Lord, my God, the reason for my being.

Lord, reach down and show your tender power in a special way to your children who are being severely persecuted for worshipping you. They face loss of jobs, loss of homes, loss of freedom, loss of life rather than deny you. They are heroes and do not even know it. Their courage in weakness declares your glory to those who degrade them. Their determination to never deny you declares your love to those who hate them. You are the one who gives them strength. You are the one who overcomes Satan through them. They are your hands and feet, their unwavering voices, their stubborn wills. To you belongs all wisdom and glory here on earth now, and in heaven forever.

The other day I declared something that is controversial and does not really matter. Why did I do that? All it does is promote factions, former friends turning against each other. Forgive me, Lord. If only I could take those words back. Forgive me, Lord.

Oh, yesterday was so beautiful and wonderful. The breezes were warm with the door to spring opening up to my part of the world. The sun shone bright in a deep blue sky. The cottony clouds bumped playfully into each other.  Even the fish in the pond nearby wiggled their way around each other while the ducks paddled their little webbed feet just as fast as they could in celebration. Ah, spring. The awaking time. The rest of winter is about over now. Time to plant and go for walks and enjoy the breezes wafting around me. Thank you, Lord, for springtime.

The children, Lord. Make today’s children rebellious. Make them tell their parents and grandparents, “No more. You do not want rules, so I will find the rules for myself and live by them.” Make this young generation light the torch and carry it high so the world will see that Satan will not and cannot win. Help the teenagers of today do what they so naturally want to do. Help them rise up in rebellion against the immorality and lack of ethics that have raised their ugly heads in society. Help them find out who the only true God really is ~ not some high-minded imagination of people who make themselves gods by promising a religion full of emptiness.  Help these teenagers light the torch that reveals you to the world of their grandparents, their parents, their peers, and the next generation. May you be magnified and glorified through this next generation.

Lord, forgive me when I become suspicious of people’s motives. Why do I do that? You are the only one who can read hearts. I try to give a dollar here at there to beggars on the street and never question how they will use it; I just tell them they need to go home. But other people I do question. It is not up to me. That is up to you. No matter who does what, make me assume their motives are good, encourage them, and put my mind at rest.

Thank you, Lord God, for loving everyone, even my enemies. You give me courage when I have no courage. You give me strength when I am weak. You give me love when I do not feel it.  I am weak and sinful. Yet you love me and stay with me in your patience. I do not deserve you. I can only whisper over and over, thank you.

Ah, my Lord God, you are the highest and greatest above all others. You are the epitome, the mountain peak, the inner depths of all.  You are so much more powerful than Satan. May you be now and forever. You alone are worthy of the world’s honor. You alone are true glory ~ on earth and in heaven. You alone are my Maker, my Sustainer, my Savior. The stars race through the firmament to be the first to magnify you. The oceans soar to the depths to be the mightiest to magnify you. The new-born baby basks in the memory of seeing you face to face and being rocked by you in the cradle of a womb. All things praise you. And I cannot wait to do so again tomorrow.

Help me, Lord, to find a balance. Help me not be judgmental and just not have an opinion as though nothing truly matters. Forgive me when I say anything that is hurtful. Help me compliment instead of complain. Help me be more like you.

I thank you, Jesus, for materializing and doing all you did to save me from my deserved punishment for my sins. You did not have to leave the comforts of your home to live in a dirty, smelly world. You didn’t have to give up being everywhere at once to be confined to a body. You didn’t have to jeopardize yourself on the cross. But you did. Such love. The agony and anguish you experienced in my place. Such love. I am not worthy. But you could not let me go. Ah, heart of my heart.

I lift up my praises to you, God of the universe. They swirl around the universe and finally to your throne. You are all might and power and everything good. You are right and just tempered with unimaginable mercy.  You alone are God. I will serve you all the days of my life. Take me to your home soon, though. How much longer will it be? A year? Ten years? Twenty? How long? Take me to your home and I will serve you there forever.

When I fear what people can do to me, I allow them to harm me a thousand times over in my mind. I allow them to overcome me. Make me overcome my haunting fears. Help me love everyone instead, no matter how unloving, spiteful and hateful they are. Their lives must be so tortured. Make me overcoming all that in their lives with love because, as you said, “perfect love casts out fear.”

Ah, my Lord God, in deep gratitude that pierces my soul, I thank you for forgiving my many sins. I sin against you daily with bad attitudes that creep in. I am so ashamed and so weak. You forgive me anyway and I am not worthy of this. I fall at your feet and perpetually I whisper thank you.

My soul magnifies you, Jehovah God. You are the Creator of my life and the Savior of my Spirit. The love you have for my soul overwhelms me. You give meaning to life when there are no answers. You help me rise to the heights of hope when nothing is working out right. You even allow me to share in a little of your glory and to show others what it is. You are my laughter and tears of joy. You are my contentment and my all.

Yesterday you made me forget myself a little while and talk to people about their problems and needs. It is still not enough. Make me reach out in more concern. Forgive me when I surround myself with my selfishness.

Thank you, Lord God of my soul, for taking notice of me, even though I am a sinner unworthy of your presence. I adore you and revere you. I fall at your feet in gratitude. You stopped at nothing to save me from Satan and hell, even though I do not always honor you. Your love is stronger than sin and Satan, danger and death. Your love transcends worlds and envelopes me in safety. And thank you, too, for my family and friends and time to use what talents you gave me to your honor and glory.