Six Prayers of Renewal 

Note: Read Part One, Six Prayers of Repentance. 

In chapter twenty-seven of Soul Physicians, I outline a biblical theology of putting on the new person we already are in Christ (compare Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:1-11). I embed within that theology a “Prayer of Renewal” related to each of six areas of our spiritual life:

• Our Relationship to God

• Our Relationship to Others

• Our Relationship to Ourselves

• Our Rational Beliefs/Mindsets

• Our Volitional Behaviors/Motivations

• Our Emotions

Today’s post shares these six prayers.

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My Spiritual Relationship to God

“Father, I long for You more than gold or silver. Nothing else could ever satisfy my soul. Reorient my affections toward You and what You choose to provide. May my nearness to God be my Chief Good. Show me the beauty of Your holiness so that in worshipping Your loveliness, I exalt You. Empower me to enjoy You so that the universe marvels in amazement at how fulfilling You are. Silence all the clamoring of false lovers of the soul who would seek my attention. I want to worship You with everything I am, with undivided adoration. Give me a heart for You. A constant longing after you. Incite within me a deep passion for You.”

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My Social Relationships to Others

“Father, Oh to be like You. Oh to be like the Trinitarian community. Mold me and make me, scour and shape me. Empower me to love like Jesus. Spirit, empower me to shrink not from the scars of death-to-self relating. Through my communion with You, enable me to give others a taste of Your grace love. More than anything, I want to give sacrificially like Jesus. You made me, recreated me, to give—to love with agape love. Thank you!”

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My New Identity in Christ

“Father, I choose to live according to the peace that I have with You in Christ. I recall that one of Satan’s primary tools is the power of his false accusation that You are not generously accepting and that, therefore, I am Your enemy. The power of the Gospel renews my mind to the assurance that I am Your child, Christ’s bride, and the Spirit’s best friend! I put on wholeness, consciously reflecting on and resting in who I am in Christ. I put on my new identity in Christ. I enjoy who I am in Christ and who I am becoming through Christ as I become like Christ. I renew my mind to my new core identity in Christ. I reckon on this, and I reignite and fan it into flame. I clothe myself in my new peace. I cover myself in my new cleared, cleansed, and good conscience. I envelope myself in contentment with who I am in Christ.”

A Prayer of Rational Renewal: Putting On My New Beliefs and Mindsets

“Father, I surrender my mind to You. I consent to the truth of Christ’s grace narrative. I allow You to transform me by the renewing of my mindsets. Moment by moment fill my thought life with images of God-reality. Enlighten me to know You and the power of Your resurrection and the fellowship of Your suffering. Enlighten me together with all the saints to grasp how high and deep and wide and long is Your love. I commit to being a spiritual mathematician, adding life up from Your perspective. When I face suffering, I promise to believe that though life is bad, You are my Supreme Good. When struggling against sin, I promise to believe that even when I am sinful, You are gracious. And I promise not to take Your grace for granted, for though I know that it is wonderful to be forgiven, I understand that it is horrible to sin. Empower me to gird up the loins of my mind, to aim my mind toward heavenly things, to reckon on my new mindset, and to rest in my new mindset in Christ.”

A Prayer of Volitional Renewal: Putting on My New Behaviors and Motivations

“Holy Spirit, I yield to You. I consciously choose to admit that I’m a coward without You. With You, I can do all things. With You, no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. I put on choosing to depend upon You. I put on choosing to live for You. I put on seeking not only Your power to do right, but also Your guidance to know what is right. Step by step please lead me, all of the days of my life. In each relational interaction, empower and enlighten me to know what other-centered living looks like. Flow through me so that the disciplined, habitual passion of my soul reflects Your fruit. Show me how to connect to You, how to depend upon You, how to be nourished by You. Then let my greatest purpose be being like You, like Jesus.”

A Prayer of Emotional Renewal: Putting on My New Mood States 

“Father, thank You for feelings. Thank You that You have them. Thank You that I have them. Sometimes, many times, I feel like wishing them away. But then I would be a shell of a person. A Stoic, not a Poet. I don’t want that. What I want is heaven—no more cryin’ there. No more tears. No more looking in the eyes of a hurting loved one and feeling more pain than I ever thought possible. But until heaven, I want to be real. Raw. Honest. I want emotional integrity. I want emotional maturity. Help me to bring spirituality, rationality, and volitionality to my emotionality. Help me to be as emotional as King David, as Jeremiah, as Job, as Asaph, as Jesus, as You, as the great saints throughout Church history. Help me to feel life fully. Fortify me to feel the feelings of others. Deeply. Sincerely. Accurately.”

Join the Conversation

Which of the six prayers hits home the most for you today? How would you word your prayer in that area?