A prayer for your opposition
My Lord and Father and Son,
You know I’m trying to follow you.
You know the enemy is trying to trip me up,
slow me down,
take me out.
You know I’m discouraged, exhausted, afraid.
Jesus, you felt this way when you were human.
Thank you for your promises.
Thank you for your power.
Thank you for your patience.
God, you found me at the ends of the earth and called me (Isaiah 41:9).
You promise to strengthen me and hold me up (Isaiah 41:10).
You tell me that my enemies will be ashamed of their deeds (Isaiah 41:11)
and will perish in their disobedience.
I will not be able to find them,
even if I look for them,
because you are holding my hand (Isaiah 41:12-13).
I am in awe of your compassion
and your everlasting love.
So I pray for all who oppose me,
in my personal or professional life,
that they will reach out to you
because you want to hold their hands,
just like you hold mine.
You search for all of us
and love all of us equally,
and no one is an enemy is your eyes.
Teach me your grace and forgiveness
so that I feel no opposition.
Only love and compassion.
May my attitude and my actions point people back to you (Isaiah 41:20),
the Father who holds my hand.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
