Lord, give me ears to hear –

to hear Your gospel proclaimed – Your living words reigning down from heaven –

rising up from the deepest deep

echoing from mountain top to mountain top –

Your living words whispered in the morning mist –

sung by every star that fills the universe.

give me ears to hear Your Holy Spirit speak   . . .

give me ears to hear the cries of those You would have me serve.

Lord, give me eyes to see –

to see the beauty with which You have surrounded me,  to see

Your Presence in my every circumstance,

to see You when I am surrounded by darkness,

to see the people you put in my path, to see those individuals invisible to this world but known so well to You, because You count them precious in Your sight,

to see You above all else.

Lord, give me a mind –

to learn Your living words and thereby learn of You,

a mind to study and gain understanding from Your word,

a mind that seeks Your wisdom.

Lord, give me a heart –

a heart ready to receive Your words,

a heart willing to embrace You –

a heart where Your word can live and grow down deep,

give me an undivided heart, a heart wholly Yours –

a heart healed by Your sacrifice on the cross,

a heart made clean and new by Your blood, the blood You bled on that cross for me.

Lord, give me feet –

feet firmly fitted with the message of Your gospel,

feet ready to run, carrying Your Good News to those who have never heard,

feet ready to stand firm against the devil’s schemes,

give me feet that are “swift and beautiful” for You, as the hymn says.

Lord, give me hands –

hands that move only “at the impulse of Your love”, as I have sung so many times –

hands of healing, hands that reach out to others, hands that hold onto others’ hands even as they hold out Your hope to those who are hurting –

let me be Your hands to this wounded world, even as You hold me fast in Your own tender, Almighty hands.

Lord, give me a voice –

a voice that praises You all day long,

a voice that shares Your message of life with each and every soul,

a voice that encourages, a voice that comforts, a voice that proclaims Your love to the lost, Your hope to the hopeless –

a voice that gives You “thank offerings” without pause,

a voice of contrition, a voice of confession, a voice of repentance, a voice of compassion, a voice of rejoicing,

a voice that never ceases to lift up Your name.

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”   (Psalm 150:6)

“Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy.”  (Psalm 107:22)

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”  (Psalm 51:10)

“Stand firm then,   . . .  with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”  (Ephesians 6:14-15)

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ ”     (Isaiah 52:7)

“Ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.”  (Proverbs 20:12)

sincerely,            Grace Day