A PRAYER
Lord God, your goodness and patience are a constant presence in my life. I confess that I do not recognize or acknowledge that presence sometimes . . . often. That, I suppose, is why I experience you so often as Patience, though I neglect to attend to you, to your wisdom, to your urging, to your pointing, to your discipline. Lord, I am even able to refuse to attended to your thundering, to your violent in-breakings into my life, to your earthquaking in my world. I can be maliciously stubborn, mulish. While you batter the world around me, even when you have battered my own soul, I have sometimes — arms crossed, feet planted, eyes shut — refused to recognize your action and moving in my life. I have persisted in believing you to be real, while yet withdrawing to a distance, cold, abstract, uninvolved.
Of course, I have scoffed at those silly deists of the past. Such inattentive, self-satisfied, self-serving folks! But how is my stubborn refusal to acknowledge your acting, active presence really any different from their deism? Isn’t it what many have called “biblical deism”?
Yet, Lord, I don’t want to wallow in my failures. I want to celebrate your reality, your truth, your very real and very active presence and my occasions of acknowledging you. I don’t want to withhold your honor, your praise, your worthiness. But by failing to acknowledge your reality and your activeness, I do all of that.
I know you are constantly acting in my life. The simple fact that I’m alive and breathing is an evidence of your active involvement. But more and more, you help me to see your hand at work. And when I see you, I am lifted up; I am re-oriented; I am sanctified.
Open my heart, so that my eyes will be opened to see you, so that my ears will be opened to hear you, so that my soul will be opened to acknowledge you.
© 2009 Gary A. Chorpenning
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 
Amen! Thank you Pastor Gary for the resource link to deism.
Dear Lord, I wish that everyone could come to know the active presence of God in their lives and not be only dependent upon themselves. They see your spirit in others, but they do not know where it has originated – from You. They know love, oh how they do! But they are hesitant to acknowledge that it is You and from You! They will continue to fight the battles that face them, but they will lack the wisdom of the Light that will help them to see the way to the victory that has already been won. Please place in them the strong desire to seek you and know you and give credit to you BEFORE they have to face the next battle. We are easily worn down without You and so easily go astray and wander until we are lost again. If we fail to acknowledge the One who has built us back up, then the next fall will be even harder. You can give us strength, rebuild us, and sustain us. Help them to see the bigger picture – beyond themselves – beyond the power of man – Help them to see You, their Creator – the Beginning and the End. There is an end in sight. A Peace and it is You! While their wound is still so fresh, cleanse it Lord from all bitterness and anger. Fill it with faith in You and bandage it up with Your shield of faith. They need to be fitted with Your helmet of Salvation. Oh Lord my heart aches for them. I don’t want them to be blind to You forever. Oh Holy Spirit stir in their hearts, let them KNOW that there is something more. Make them want to find it. Who holds there loved ones? Who holds them? It is You lORD. Do I have to shout to them? If they don’t recognize Your voice, will they recognize mine? And when will they make the transition to hear Your voice? They are being transformed Lord. Give me the Peace and Patience to know that they are under Your wing and that You will make things happen in Your own time. But if it makes any difference, and I believe it does, hear this cry of my heart for them.
I have asked to see you. You have shown me. Sustain my sight. I ask it again. When I hear Your voice reaffirm to me that it is You. May the instinctive obedience in me be steadfast. Hold me close. Direct me. Only through Your Gift of Jesus may I say Amen.
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And to comment on the neglected piece of machinery – A well oiled and maintained machine is efficient in accomplishing its purpose.
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So the hymn that becomes my prayer this year –
Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me.
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Looking at the neglected piece of machinery being Your Word that is not being heard, not being read, getting lost among the weeds, not being used and being forgotten. We cannot let that happen. You are our source of help. With You, all things are possible. We need to use the tools that we have been given. We need to know, respect, use, and share Your Word to bring praise to You.
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