I ran across this prayer and thought I’d share it. Sometimes, you can borrow the words of others when you don’t have words of your own to pray. Maybe some of you reading this can borrow these words to express your own deep exhaustion:

Dear Father,

On days like today when I feel exhausted

I feel like I can’t even pray.

And I don’t mean to complain.

Because there are so many who are less blessed than I am.

The time comes when a person easily recognizes

That running on empty is not a good thing.

When I have nothing left to give

And nothing left to offer,

Then I know that I’ve been using my own strength

Instead of relying on Yours.

Why do I do this when You are the God who never tires?

Help me, Jesus. I need You so much.

May I learn to lean on You consistently

So I can soar like the eagles without even a hint of weariness.

May this be the evidence of Your Almighty Power.

Amen” (Rachel Wojo).

As usual, I like to give credit where credit is due. I’m posting a link to the original post, so you can follow or read more:

A Prayer for When You Feel Exhausted

If you’re familiar with the music industry, then you probably know the term overnight sensation. Only for most of those, it didn’t happen overnight. People like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt spent years toiling in virtual obscurity before they got their big break. People may have noticed them overnight, but they put in the hours to get where they are.

The same goes for waiting on God. Most people see the miracle, but few see the years of spending every night on your knees, begging and pleading. Most never see the long stretches of faithful obedience where no one notices in places no one knows about.

Most of them will tell you that the reward was not the miracle or the sudden intervention, but simply the faithfulness of of a God who was worth serving for the joy of serving and nothing else.

No matter what, God is faithful. The Bible speaks of prophets of old who were faithful to declare what God had promised, though they never got to see the fulfillment during their lifetimes. So many others stayed true to their calling even though they saw little fruit for their efforts.

But God is faithful. If you stay obedient, He is more than able to raise you up in due season. He is more than able to keep His word concerning you. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t happen at all. No matter how long you’ve been waiting, God is still faithful.

“God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called ‘The Word.'”.(A.W. Tozer).

I think for most of us, the problem is not that God is silent, but that we don’t know how to listen. At least we never create margins in our day and set aside space on our calendar to sit still and listen. I know that my mind can have five songs and two movie quotes all playing at the same time, so I’m not always the best at making my brain be quiet. But that’s how you hear from God.

Primarily, God speaks through His word. That’s a bit Captain Obvious, but I think sometimes we’re looking for a mystical voice from God out of the ether when we have a closed Bible sitting in front of us. Often, God communicates the same thing multiple times over the course of a few days. I’ve found that to be the case when I’ll hear a verse or a song from two or more sources within the same day.

I also think that our capacity to hear is directly related to our capacity to obey. If I’m not living out what I already know to be God’s will, how can I expect to hear more? What good is it if I’m retaining information but it’s not affecting my daily life to make me more like Jesus?

My favorite prayer that I use all the time says, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”

May that be the continual prayer of our hearts every day until He returns.

“I love the fitfull gusts that shakes
The casement all the day
And from the mossy elm tree takes
The faded leaf away
Twirling it by the window-pane
With thousand others down the lane

I love to see the shaking twig
Dance till the shut of eve
The sparrow on the cottage rig
Whose chirp would make believe
That spring was just now flirting by
In summers lap with flowers to lie

I love to see the cottage smoke
Curl upwards through the naked trees
The pigeons nestled round the coat
On dull November days like these
The cock upon the dung-hill crowing
The mill sails on the heath a-going

The feather from the ravens breast
Falls on the stubble lea
The acorns near the old crows nest
Fall pattering down the tree
The grunting pigs that wait for all
Scramble and hurry where they fall” (John Clare)

So far, Autumn has come in snatches. A little fall here, a little fall there. But there is still a lot of warm weather. Right now, I live for the early mornings and late evenings when the crispness returns to the air instead of the middle of the day that still feels like summer.

I’m thankful for it all, but something in my soul awakens when the temps drop below 70. There’s a hint of sweet decay in the air from all the leaves dying and falling off the trees. I breathe in the perfumes of fall and breathe out thanksgiving.

I’m ready to break out the flannel and drink all the hot apple cider. I’m ready for pumpkins and colorful foliage and bonfires. I’m ready for all of it.

I think Rich Mullins said it best:

“I remember, you know, you go to these parties on Saturday night and people would say, about 8:00 on Sunday morning ‘Whoa, I have to go – I gotta get to church!’

People would say, ‘Why do you want to go to church, all those hypocrites?’

And I say, ‘Look, why do I want to stay here with all you hypocrites?’

I never knew why going to church made you a hypocrite. They’d say because you go to church and you’re all ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ for two or three hours, and then you go home and sin. I’d say ‘exactly!’ For two or three hours you’re doing pretty good!

Maybe the problem isn’t that you go to church, maybe the problem is that you go home!

I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite either, because nobody goes to church because they’re perfect. If you’ve got it all together, you don’t need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning

Every time you go to church, you’re confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on the way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don’t have it all together. And that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help.”

“Is anyone worthy?
Is anyone whole?
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave
He is David’s root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave
From every people and tribe
Every nation and tongue
He has made us a kingdom and priests to God
To reign with the Son

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy? Is He worthy?
Is He worthy of this?

He is!
Is He worthy? Is He worthy?
He is!” (Andrew Peterson

He is!I love the throne room scene from Revelation 5. It shows a great host of people gathered in worship. In the center stands a scroll with writing on front and back, sealed with seven seals. In that great multitude, no one is found who is worthy to open the scroll. No one until one like a slaughtered lamb shows up. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

That Lamb is the same one who was handed a scroll in Luke 4. He read the prophecy from Isaiah about the one sent to preach to the poor, free the captives, restore the sight of the blind, and proclaim the year of jubilee. The same Jesus who sat down in their hearing and said that prophecy was fulfilled is able to take and open this scroll. All of human history is in His hands, both figuratively and literally.

That’s the one worthy of worship. As a member of the triune Godhead, He’s the only one worthy of worship. Soon and very soon, we’ll be there seeing with our own eyes and worshipping with our own voices and our own lives, laying down our crowns at His feet. What a glorious day that will be!

“We do accept you Jesus. Your blood is our cleansing; your righteousness is our clothing. We stand accepted in the Beloved, all of us who have believed in your holy name. Let your people enjoy that sweet peace which comes of being justified by faith; and if any reading this who have not believed, oh that they might put their trust in Christ! May faith be wrought in them. May they cheerfully and at once receive the great atonement and be saved by it. Amen” (Charles Spurgeon).

Lord, You are our only hope of salvation. We bring nothing to You but our sin, but You receive us by nothing but Your grace that You fully displayed in Christ through His sacrifice on the cross. We receive Your forgiveness and claim our right to be Your children only through Your promise.

We pray that tomorrow through the many churches and services that multitudes might call on You for salvation and forgiveness. We ask that You speak powerfully through Your ministers that they proclaim the gospel forcefully and clearly. Deliver Your people from their addictions and strongholds. Strengthen many marriages and families and call out many people to the ministry and the mission field.

May You be high and lifted up in every church and every service tomorrow. Be glorified above all, Lord. Amen.