Abiding Prayer – Psalm 40
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, take me up into the Dance. Teach me how to love You the way that You love me.
Psalm 40
I intentionally place my hope in You, Papa, and wait for You to move toward Me. You hear my cry and pitch Your tent next to mine, setting Your tent pegs firmly in the soil of my heart.
You have already lifted me up and out of the empty cistern where I stood imprisoned, up to my knees in the muck and the mud.
You have set my feet upon solid, dry ground. My every step is now secure because I stand upon the Rock of Your salvation.
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Help me to hear these songs in my heart, and return songs of praise to You, my Lord, from this moment on into eternity. Many others will see and fear; considering all that You have done, they will declare the mighty works of Your hands. And I will confidently place my life in those same hands.
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I am filled with happiness, contentment, and peace because I have placed my trust in You, Papa. I have not looked for counsel or direction from those who are filled with themselves or who have constructed their own reality from false premises.
Papa, Your wondrous works are displayed all around me. Your thoughts toward me are more numerous than the stars in the sky or the sand grains on the shores of all the oceans. No one and no other god can stand beside You. I have eternity to declare Your goodness, and I will not run out of words to describe Your Holiness.
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You have never desired me to perform for You. Instead, Papa, You have driven another peg through my ear to receive the mark of a bond servant. You desire me to present myself to You as a living sacrifice—to love you with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength. You no longer judge me according to my sins.
I acknowledge Your unfathomable goodness, Papa, and declare that You have written my name in Your book of life. There You have written out my life story and numbered my days.
It has become my utmost joy to run on the mountains with You, leaping as a gazelle. I am my Beloved’s and You are mine. I carry Your Law of love within my heart.
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O Papa, help me to proclaim Your goodness and faithfulness to the world around me. Grant me boldness to talk openly of the mystery of Your plan to reach down to Earth and lift Your children up into the heavenly realm with You.
Help me to display the light that You have placed within me as a city set on a hill. I am one of many lights that You have placed within the world. Help me to let my light shine that many may see Your good works and glorify You. Help me to speak of Your faithfulness, Your lovingkindness, and Your truth.
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Papa, You love me with an everlasting love. You are compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, full of lovingkindness and truth. Your faithfulness will ever preserve me.
Evils beyond number have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me. I am not able to see past them all. My troubles are more numerous than the hairs on my head. My courage has fled.
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Be pleased, Papa, to deliver me. Come quickly, Holy Spirit, to help me.
Let those who seek to destroy my very soul be ashamed and humiliated all together. Let those who delight in my distress be dishonored and turned back.
Let them be rendered joyless and abandoned because of their shameful accusations against me.
Let all who seek You receive the strength of Your joy and be glad in You. Let those who love their new found life in You say continually, “The Lord be magnified.”
I am yet afflicted and needy. Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You, Papa, are my deliverer. Do not delay to come to my aid.
Adapted from Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
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