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I come as myself. Just as I am. This moment, my feelings, my fears, my joys, my sadnesses.
You see me as I really am.
You know me through and through.
You see all, all that I am, or ever have been.
Every experience in my life is laid before you.
Every image I have seen.
Each touch, each sensation.
Every word I have ever heard or spoken.
Each word, each idea.
Each thought which is imprinted on my soul.
And it is all known to you.
You know me better than my closest friend.
You know me better than I know myself.
You know, and because of who I am.
and in spite of what I am,
You love me.
I am of inestimable value to you.
You love me through and through.
Nothing, nobody can remove me from your love.
Nothing, nobody can separate me from your love
or your presence.
You knew me at the moment of my creation.
And even then you loved me.
You knew me and loved me in my Mother's womb.
My nature was known to you.
You called me by my name.
You held me in your arms.
You embraced me.
You breathed upon me.
You gave me your life and your love.
You watched over me from my earliest childhood.
You were present at all times and in all places.
My unseen playmate, schoolmate and workmate.
My unseen guest at every meal.
You shared in every encounter.
You watched over me silently.
Even in the long hours of the night.
You shared in every journey.
You travelled with me.
You were at the beginning of each journey.
You were my companion on the way.
Without you I lose my way.
My journey has no purpose.
I become exhausted on the way.
But you are my alpha and my omega.
You are my way.
You are the way itself, the way of life.
So Lord I lay before you my life.
All my yesterdays,
my todays and tomorrows.
I praise and thank you for your presence in my life.
I lift up in gratitude all the goodness and all the joy.
I now offer you all my hurts, my bruises, my rejections.
I offer you all those things of which I am ashamed.
What I have said and done and thought.
All that has brought hurt to you and to others.
Lord, pour your cleansing streams of living water all over me.
Make the parched deserts of my being spring to life.
Refresh me, renew me.
Lord, breathe on me afresh now and I will receive your life.
Lord, reach out and touch me and I will receive your healing.
Empty me utterly of all the rubbish within me.
This moment Lord, take away all distractions,
all temptations, all evil thoughts and desires.
Remove me from all my anxiety
Take away every hidden fear.
Help me to know that you perfect love casts out all fear.
Bring me now into the deep silence of your presence.
I give you my body and ask that it may become your dwelling place.
This moment may every part of my being be at peace.
Let my heartbeat be in harmony with your heartbeat.
Let every part of my body be filled with your Spirit.
Take each blood vessel.
Take every part of my nervous system.
Take each muscle, each organ, each cell.
Fill me now with your stillness,
with the reality of your living presence.
Help me now to pray, even without words.
Help me to pray with my breathing.
To breathe in of your love and your peace.
To breathe out of my pain and my sadness.
To breathe in of you cleansing and forgiveness.
To breathe out of my guilt and impurity.
So in my breathing may my body and soul be at one with you.
In harmony with you, at ease with you.
May I be still and know that you are God.
May I be still and know that you are the Lord that brings healing.
Help me to hear your still, small voice Lord Jesus.
May I now hear your words "peace, be still”.
May all my storms subside as I accept your real presence.
As I kneel before you, I give you my heart and all my emotions.
All my deepest feelings that lie hidden within me.
I give you my stillness.
But I also give you the turbulence,
the cross currents of my life,
my feelings of failure and rejection.
I give you every relationship, every situation in my life.
All my reactions, all my outbursts of joy and of anger.
All my moments of elation and despair.
Lord, I give you my intellect.
I lay before you all my frail thoughts and ideas.
I give you all my searching and striving.
My grasping after truth.
I give you all my ignorance and confusion.
I give you all my questions and doubts.
I acknowledge you to be truth.
Truth in its entirety.
Total truth in all its purity.
The truth which can set me free in my body, my mind and my spirit.
Free me from all the bondage.
Free from all the lies and deceit of the world.
Free from my own selfishness, pride and greed.
Break the chains which hold me back Lord.
Fling open the door of my prison,
that I may pass from the darkness of this world, my world
and walk out into the bright light of your presence.
Father, may I now feel the radiance of your love upon my life.
May I feel the warmth of your fatherly love upon me, your child.
Trusting, depending, loving.
Help me to know what joy my response brings to you.
Give me the grace in my weakness to cry, Abba, Father.
Help me to know that beneath me are your everlasting arms bearing me up.
Lord Jesus, be the Lord of my life.
Be the Lord of my thoughts and feelings,
my memories and hopes.
I accept your authority over everything I have been, am or will be.
I bow down before you, as I see you on your cross.
Held down by cruel nails.
I see your arms stretched out, seeking to embrace the whole world.
Seeking to embrace me, seeking to love, seeking to forgive,
seeking to make whole.
I praise you that you died for me.
Help me to know that because your love for me was so great,
I too must love myself.
I must recognise my great worth to you.
Holy Spirit, source of all truth, giver of power.
Come upon me now, as gently as a dove,
or like tongues of living fire.
As quietly as a summer breeze,
or as a mighty roaring wind.
Come and dwell within me.
Enable me now to do those things which before were impossible.
Unworthy as I am, Holy Spirit of the living God,
give me those gifts which I can use to your honour and glory.
That I may show forth your fruit, even in my life.
Glory be to you Father.
Glory be to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory be to you Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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102 Irlam Road, Flixton, Manchester, M41 6JT
Tel: 0161-748-4858: Fax: 0161-747-7379
Email: info@maranathacommunity.org.uk
Web: www.maranathacommunity.org.uk