Picking Apart A Prayer

Maybe it’s not ‘kosher’ to pick a part a prayer, but here goes:

For now, Oh, Lord, just for this special time, hold me steadfastly in thy grace for I am unable to give any more of my strength. I am afraid of events over which I have no control and I am tempted to believe you are not guiding this either.  Help me overcome this temptation and know that all things work together for good for those who love Thee.  Guide my responses and help those I love to have patience with me – and let me show them my love and …

Sort of pathetic, isn’t it? It doesn’t follow Christ’s example of praising God and thanking Him for what He has done, but I know the writer was aware of the examples given us in the Lord’s prayer. They are overlooked here, as for so many of our prayers when the situation appears hopeless.

Another problem is the concept that the writer has used strength alone up to this point. Frankly, whatever the burden was, it should have been given to the Lord much earlier. We never have to carry our burdens alone. We hold on to them thinking we should, but we need to trade ours for His, remember:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. [Matthew 11:28-30 KJV]

Maybe we need to hear “Come Unto Me” every single day:

Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed,
“Oh, ye heavy-laden, come to Me and rest;
Come, no longer tarry, I your load will bear,
Bring Me every burden, bring Me every care.”

Refrain:
Come unto Me, I will give you rest;
Take My yoke upon you, hear Me and be blest;
I am meek and lowly, come and trust My might;
Come, My yoke is easy, and My burden’s light.

Now, I do like the part about temptation.  Seeking God’s help in overcoming temptation is the only way to fight temptation. He will always provide a way out:

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [1 Corinthians 10:12-13 KJV]

The rest of the prayer is a decent one, but incomplete. The writer must have been interrupted and never returned. We won’t know why, though. You see, I wrote this, sometime in the last twenty-five years or so.  The little notebook showed up in a box to be cleaned out and tossed.  Obviously, it’s not tossed yet. It’s old enough to have a note in it from a Dinah Shore show of March 25, but the year is missing.

Obviously, too, my loved ones were patient with me and they still know that I love them – and that I love the Lord with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind. Still working on:

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Matthew 22:39 KJV]