Note: This prayer meditation is first and foremost designed to be listened to, so we encourage you to listen to the audio as you read along.
WEEK 1 – REPENTANCE
For the next 10 minutes or so, we are going to turn our attention to God in prayer. He desires to meet with us today, to talk to us, to share His heart with us and for us to share our hearts with Him. Take a moment and pray this simple prayer that can be said in the span of a breath.
Teach me Your ways and I will walk in Your truth.
As I read the following passage from Mark 1:1-11 listen with the expectation that God is moving towards you, to speak to you, through His word.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight!
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
John the Baptist was called to prepare the way for the arrival of Jesus. The message was simple.
In Greek it’s the word metanoia. And translated literally it means “to change one’s mind”.
Repentance is admitting to God that you need a new way to think about life and you need His help. Some of us come to this place because our decisions have landed us in a very real amount of trouble. We come to the end of ourselves, and we have nowhere else to turn. For others it’s more subtle. Everything looks good on the outside, but inside we know something is off. We’re depressed, dissatisfied, and frustrated, wondering if this is all there is to life.
We often misunderstand repentance as a way to deal with our guilt. We just want the bad feelings to stop so we say we’re sorry. But repentance is admitting we are wrong and asking God to transform our thinking. We all need a new way of thinking and being in the world. We need what feel like mountains and valleys in our own hearts and minds to be brought low or to be lifted up. We need the Spirit to come in and do what only the Spirit can do – to change the literal landscape of our inner-life.
We are going to pray that God through the power of His Spirit, would renew our minds. We are going to be still and listen, asking God if there anything that might be obstructing the arrival of Jesus in any area of our lives. This is not a time for self-scrutiny or shame. Romans says that the kindness of God leads us to repentance. We can, in faith, open ourselves up to the work of the Spirit, knowing that no matter what, we are fully known and fully loved.
In the space between each line of the following prayer, pray in your own words or sit quietly and listen for the still small voice of the Spirit.
Lord, You have invited me into unbroken fellowship with You.
So often I forsake the good gifts You offer for lesser things. I take matters into my own hands, refusing to trust that Your commands are good.
I repent for the times I have chosen my way over Yours.
I repent for the ways I have tried to manage my life apart from You.
I don’t want to stay on the surface of my life with You, just managing the behavior and never addressing the deeper issues that produced it.
I pause now to listen for the loving voice of Your Spirit.
Your Word says I have the mind of Christ. But I still find myself falling into old, dead, ways of thinking. Renew my mind by the power of Your Spirit within me.
I receive Your forgiveness, cleansing and grace.
Hear the Word of the Lord:
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
ISAIAH 40:3-5
Amen.
test test