Five Daily Prayers -- Prayer Number Two

Daily Prayer Number 2: I die to myself, Lord.

Not only do I need forgiveness, I need to take a fresh trip to the cross and die out to my self-centered nature – stubbornness, waywardness, selfishness. I want what I want, when I want it. It’s my way. My heart is deceitful, and I can deceive myself. The good I want to do, I don’t do. The bad I don’t want to do, I do. It’s something more than specific sins I struggle with. It’s me. It’s my sin nature. I need to bend my will to God’s will and yield to others.

Even Jesus prayed, “Not my will but yours be done in me.” I can ask God to search my heart, to deliver me from hurtful ways, to drain every wrongful attitude, desire, thought, or motivation from me. I die daily.

Five Daily Prayers -- Prayer Number One

Five prayers have shaped my daily prayer life probably for the past three decades. Five thoughts or themes frequently dominate my first or last thoughts in prayer. And when I’m in a hurry, these five things might be my only prayers!

What are these five daily prayers before God?

Prayer Number 1: Cleanse me by the blood of Jesus.

I know I need regular cleansing from sin – things I’ve done, or left undone, or things compared with God’s holiness I have fallen short of unintentionally. I need God’s forgiveness.

My prayers will not be answered if I have sin in my life. God cannot look at my sin with favor or approval. I can only stand before a holy God when I’m clean on the inside. Sin crushes my whole being; forgiveness releases my whole being. Praise God, the blood of Jesus cleanses me from every sin. I keep short accounts with God. I pray my spirit clean.