At a Minor League Charlotte Knights Baseball Game we had a relaxing evening as a family. The first 6 innings were fun to watch, but we were losing to the Durham Bulls. The boys were there just waiting for a Home Run with the excitement that comes with watching the ball fly over that fence. It didn’t matter which team did it, a Home Run is just a neat experience to witness.
By that 6th inning, the alcohol content in the man behind us was really hitting its peak and the game went from relaxing, to sitting in front of the loudest person in the stadium who decided to make fun of every person from the other team that walked into that batter’s box. I was embarrassed to even be sitting near him and he wasn’t even saying anything mean about me.
Everyone could hear his comments, and you could see that the other teams’ dugout was looking at this man wondering what’s he going to say about me when I step up to the plate? Or maybe they weren’t, I just know that’s what I would be thinking.
I am whispering affirmation and compliments about the guys batting average on the screen but all this guy can hear is the loudest voice in the open arena.
How often I feel like that guy in the batter’s box! The voice of the worst comment seems to be the loudest and the only one I hear. I get so caught up in the one big negative that I don’t listen to the people on my team in the dugout right next to me. Their voices of support and encouragement get swamped through the sound of the one loud voice.
This reminds me of the importance of prayer. How we get so caught up in the voices around us that we can miss out on the most meaningful ones, the one from the God that knows us, the God that created us, and the God that sacrificed His Son to make a way for us to be in a relationship with Him .
Today, let’s be purposeful in our Prayer Challenge remembering that one of the aspects of prayer is to refocus and re-center our lives to the voice of God in our midst when we feel suffocated by the voices that aim to harm us, hurt us and defeat us. There is another voice that we need to pay attention to today!
Lord Jesus,
You are Lord of all the earth and yet you know my name. You are great, you are grand, you are glorious, and yet you sit by my side and care for my heart. I am thankful for you God. Not just for what you have done or what I know you will do, I praise you for being the God that you are, and the God I never want to stop drawing closer to. Bring me in closer today as I renew my heart to form it more like yours.
Infect me. May I feel your Spirit dwell in my veins. Become a part of my being. Help all that I am morph into all that you are.
Cleanse me Lord from the world that has snared me. Release me from this poison mixed in with my blood from this earthly flesh. Help me to feel the blood of Jesus cleansing the parts of my soul that are broken.
Renew me. Refresh my heart, restart my mind, and recharge my body that it be fueled with the fire of your spirit. Take reign in this place, take reign over the crevices of dirt and dust hidden in the corners of my inner being. Heal me Lord, in the way only you can.
Make me new. Make me like you. You bring life Lord, live in me!
Deliver me, every part of me. I belong to you. Rid me of all things that don’t belong here in your child. Break the bonds of forces connected to me that are not connected to you. Release me from the spirits that have no home here in your vessel.
You are my home. The authority of Jesus on the Cross and overcoming the face of death and the grave is my victory, my hope, and my proclamation today. Let the truth of who you are, and the alive presence that you have within me consume me today so that nothing can thwart what you are doing in and through me.
I am yours Lord, and I am unworthy. Consume me to be used by you, to be intimate with your love so that I don’t chase it anywhere else. I invite you into my heart, into my mind, and part of my body Lord.
You are my King. Let me feel the authority and title of what it means to be your child. To be known by you, protected by you, cared for by you, loved by you and the Daughter/Son of a King.
Remind me of who you are, I praise you for who you are. Help me to live today remembering that who you are is developing me to be who I am transforming to be. Guide my decisions today Lord that they walk in line with your truth. Let your light shine through me for the world to see more of you and less of me.
I believe in your power Lord, and I believe you are alive in me. Restore me Lord that I may reflect the image that you have created within me.
AMEN
Click the the like button on here or the like button on Facebook if that’s how you found this prayer, affirming that you are taking the 10-day prayer challenge with me! Invite your friends to do this along with us, feel free to share with them. And I’d love to hear how it shifts your heart to just pray with boldness as you start out each day!
Emily Rose Funderburk, LCMHC 
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