Being Transformed

BEING TRANSFORMED

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Remind me who I am.

I am loved. I am known. I belong to you.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

God is at work within us. He did not come to earth, save us, and decide to leave us as we are, stuck in our old, dying selves. He is working to transform everything that distorts and destroys. He is restoring and reconciling all things to himself through Jesus—right now. This includes our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. Nothing is left as is. Every shattered heart, open wound, selfish part, and broken relationship is being transformed, healed, and restored. Even now. And what we can imagine God is doing in and through us pales in comparison to what he’s actually doing.

• Reflect on the prayers you bring to God each day. What do they reflect about your belief in his power to transform?
• What hurt, disappointment, betrayal, brokenness, compulsion, addiction, or hang-up in your life seems beyond restoration? Spend a few minutes bringing whatever you identified into God’s presence—boldly and confidently—for restoration and healing. What is your prayer? What do you long for God to do? Who can you ask to join you in your prayer?
• Take a moment to quiet yourself in God’s loving presence. Ask him to open your eyes and heart to the ways he wants you to live more fully into the truth that his power is at work within you to transform and restore you. What did he bring to mind?

Father, my view of you is too narrow, my imagination too small. Your ways are so beyond what I am capable of dreaming up. Yet I tend to think of you as having only a little more perspective than I do, a little more love than I do, and a little more capacity than I do. Forgive me. Forgive me for drawing a box around you in my own mind and heart, as if this could contain you. Remind me of your majesty, greatness, and work in every part of me to heal, restore, reconcile, and make whole. Keep transforming me. Amen.