A prayer for the lost

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you that you are the Source of all life and light and goodness.  Thank you for your beautiful creation, and thank you for creating us in your image.  Thank you most of all that you never give up on us, and that you have a perfect plan that you will bring to pass.  Hallelujah!  No power can stop you!  Thank you for your mercy, your grace and your unfailing love.

I thank you and I praise you that you have already decisively won the battle against our enemies, the powers of darkness.  You've already won!  You sacrificed your precious life to pay for the sins of the world, and then you rose again, triumphant.  It is finished.  The victory is already in the book.  Death could not keep you down.  You came to give us life and joy to the full, and you have already done everything necessary to accomplish this.

You came to seek and save the lost.  You came to gather the scattered sheep.  You came to give sight to the blind, to make the deaf hear and the lame walk.  You came to set the captives free.  You came to deliver us from evil.

Yet, evil still lurks in our world, and the deceiver is powerful and adept at deceiving us.  He wants us to remain ignorant of your mighty victory, and when we learn about it, he wants us to disbelieve, to misunderstand, and to forget.  Dear Lord Jesus, we need your truth.

Lord Jesus, I pray for the power of your Holy Spirit to flood this world with the illuminating light of Truth.  You are the way, the truth and the life.  You are the only way to eternal life with God.  Help us to see the beauty of what this means.  Illuminate your beauty for us.  Show us your goodness, your love, your joy, your perfect peace.  Help us to see, understand, believe and rejoice.

You know, dear Lord, that the enemy wants us to believe that what is good is bad, and what is bad is good.  The enemy wants us to pursue darkness, thinking it will lead to joy, although he knows full well it is a trap.  The enemy wants us to think that his chains of sin will bring us freedom, and that your perfect freedom is a prison.  Oh, dear, sweet, almighty God please enlighten our hearts and minds so we can see the truth and pursue the good.

You, Lord, are the only one who can enlighten our minds and replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.  You are the only one who can write your laws on our hearts and move us to desire righteousness.  You are the only one who can expose the lies of the devil and offer the power of truth in their place.  You are our only hope, but that hope holds like a solid anchor because you are perfectly faithful, perfectly able, perfectly willing to help us.  In fact, you long to gather us under your wings and comfort us.  Thank you, Jesus.

We all need you, Lord.  But for those who don't even know that they need you, who are deceived into believing that they don't want you, who are set against you, I pray your mercy and enlightenment, your teaching and patience.  I pray a miracle of faith planted into inhospitable hearts, faith that will grow and flourish and actually change the nature of the ground wherein it is planted.  Lord Jesus, only you can do these things, but nothing is impossible for you.  Everything is possible with God.

You are the God of miracles.  I pray that you will pour out miracles of glory.  Show us your glory, Lord Jesus, in the hearts you resuscitate.  May we see your glory and give praise to your holy name.

Show us where we can cooperate in your kingdom work, Lord Jesus, but may all the glory go to you.  Help us plant seeds, and then delight us when you make the seeds grow.

Show us your glory and delight us.

Amen