From My Prayer Journal

“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil.” Jeremiah 29:11

“Agree with God and be at peace.” Job 22:21

I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Romans 12:1

“. . . Become a living sacrifice in response to all Jesus has done for us. Living sacrifices have died to their own interests and agendas. Their focus is on what God wants to do through them. To be a living sacrifice is to be set apart to God for His service. . . .

            “The presentation of our bodies and the transformation of our minds require a continuous process of yielding to the Holy Spirit through obedience to His Word. It is a daily lifestyle of surrender and thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.” (One Year Alone with God, Ava Pennington)

My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways. Proverbs 23:26 (another focus verse)

“sine cera. The word from which we get our term sincere. Without was; unmixed; unalloyed.

            “It is the same sincerity that Paul advocates in Philippians 1:10: ‘. . . that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ’ (kjv). But such flawlessness cannot be accomplished on our own. That’s why I’ve come to welcome the spotlight of heaven and the heat of trials.

            “God only reveals so He can heal. He doesn’t fill my flaws with wax or hide my sin. He removes my transgressions, and as I allow Him, He makes me new. Faultless. Blameless. Waxless.

            “Sine cere—through and through. A piece of marble He can sculpt into the images of His Son. Which means my part is fairly simple, and yet incredibly difficult. To lie still, be quiet, submitting to the hammer and the chisel—as well as to the sometimes accompanying pain of letting God have His way.” (Joanna Weaver, At the Feet of Jesus: Daily Devotions to Nurture a Mary Heart, WaterBrook 2012)

O Father, I want this kind of faith—to be like Christ, without wax, sincere in my entire life. It’s what being a living sacrifice means. Placing myself on the altar—and staying there, even when life is so difficult I want to crawl off the altar and hide. The fire of the altar reveals my flaws, and then You go to work re-forming, reshaping me so the flaws are removed and the hole is repaired, made holy. But none of this could happen without Christ’s ultimate sacrifice—for me—on the cross. By His resurrection, I now have the power to stay on the altar, to endure, to patiently wait on Your purifying work in me. What more can I render to You who has done so much for me? It is my reasonable service when I weigh that matchless cost to redeem me from Satan’s marketplace of sin, never to be sold again.

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

Father, You have my heart, help my eyes “keep to Your ways,” for Your path is the best one for me. I love You. I praise You.