A prayer to be led before the contribution...
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Lord, reveal to us those things of this world that we have not yet surrendered to you, those things that we grip tightly in clenched fists. Whether it’s our houses, our cars, our technology, our savings, our jobs, our reputations. Search our hearts, Lord, and reveal to us those things that we rely upon instead of You to bring us our peace, our joy, and our fullness of life. Show us those things that are unsurrendered, and then gently pry open our clenched fingers, Lord, so that we hold the things of this world in open palms, ready to share them, ready to lend them, ready to give them away at a moment’s notice, ready to write them off without flinching if they are taken from us.
For those things of this world that we grip too tightly, that we refuse to hold in an open palm, we ask that You take them from us, Lord, so that those things will not prevent us from placing our full trust in You and from looking to You alone for full and abundant life.
And for those things of this world that have become so much a part of who we are, so deeply ingrained in our souls that we are completely unable to release them, for those things of this world that are poison to our souls, we ask that You refine them from us with holy fire. Place our hearts, Lord, in the crucible of grief and trials to burn away all those things in us that are not of You. Whatever it takes, bring us to our end, until we are desperate for only You. Purify our hearts, Lord, in the all-consuming fire of Your Spirit until only You remain.
Amen.
For those things of this world that we grip too tightly, that we refuse to hold in an open palm, we ask that You take them from us, Lord, so that those things will not prevent us from placing our full trust in You and from looking to You alone for full and abundant life.
And for those things of this world that have become so much a part of who we are, so deeply ingrained in our souls that we are completely unable to release them, for those things of this world that are poison to our souls, we ask that You refine them from us with holy fire. Place our hearts, Lord, in the crucible of grief and trials to burn away all those things in us that are not of You. Whatever it takes, bring us to our end, until we are desperate for only You. Purify our hearts, Lord, in the all-consuming fire of Your Spirit until only You remain.
Amen.
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