HeartSong 102

Father God, please hear my prayer. When I cry out to You, in fear or anger, let my prayer still reach You in Heaven. You are the source of my help, health and finances. Let me feel Your nearness; don't hide away from me. I know You always answer prayers, but please answer these ones quickly!

Let me know You are there and that You are on my side.

The days flash by so quickly and I don't know which way to turn. I'm like a hamster in a wheel - constantly running, but never seeming to get anywhere. My whole life feels bitter and empty right now; I'm tired and stressed and quite simply fed up. Everyone, it seems, has a grumble or complaint. My work colleagues bicker and moan, my family fight and stop talking to each other. From the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed, it's like I don't have a minute to myself. I don't have time to eat and now I don't even have the energy to care. I neglect myself - it's like I'm a stray cat, without anyone to care if I get sick or hurt. I'm scavenging other peoples' happiness in the hope that it will make me feel better. Mindfulness. Meditation. Hygge. Self-help groups.

I've tried everything and nothing works.

I can't sleep - I spend the night tossing and turning. I shut myself off from those I love most, not wanting their company or their criticisms or their judgement thinly veiled as concern. I know they talk about me behind my back; they're spreading gossip about me and whispering lies.

When I finally force down some food, it is tasteless and utterly unappetising. Food and drink have no meaning; I'm more likely to be found bursting into tears for no reason that going out for coffee with friends. I try talking to them, but they don't understand. No-one gets that it's like You are a million miles away.

I know You sit on Your throne in Heaven. I know You are eternal and everlasting and unchanging, and all that. I know it. But right here and now, I can't feel it, so it doesn't make any difference. I know You have been worshipped for thousands of years - hundreds of generations have walked with You - and the time of Your return is nearer now that it has ever been.

But that means nothing to me in my day to day life right now. Show Yourself, Lord! Please, for my sake, make Yourself known to me all over again.

Show Your favour to the church - make us stand proud! Have compassion on us, leading us the way You want us to go. Show us where You want us to go and how You want us to get there. Make the map idiot-proof, God, because we keep getting lost. Let us shine like a guiding beacon to the whole world. Let us be the moral lighthouse that lead the nations back to You. Teach us to be the everyday leaders and helpers that show everyone around us that You are God. Develop in us the passion, the discipline and the self-restraint to be the global church that You both want and desire.
Let us become a God-back force to be reckoned with, not just another religion wracked with scandal and shame. Not another pseudo-political group of hypocrites and bigots lost in their own self-righteous lives. Let us work together to become the church Christ required from You.
You always respond to the pleadings of the destitute and You answer the prayers of the desperate. Do not let this time be the exception.
Let parents say to their children, let it be taught in schools that "God looks down from His throne in Heaven. He hears the sobs of prisoners and sees the tears of refugees. He has heard the prayers to save them." Father God, let this statement go viral throughout the globe so that even generations unborn will know to praise You.

Even when I became sick with terminal disease and was told I would die, I knew God was there. I begged Him to heal me and to make me well again. The God that can make the heavens and the earth can heal me. The God that made the heavens and earth is eternal; the planet might be overrun with war, famine, disease, and pollution, the very universe itself might end, but God will not. He is forever.
No matter what happens, God remains the same; unchanging, unbroken, and always, always relevant. Regardless of who is in power or which countries declare war, God is still in charge and He will always be with those that love Him. And this remains true for every generation; He was with our parents and grandparents, He will be with our children and grandchildren. Whatever happens, He is with us.




Based on Psalm 102
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+102&version=NIV