When my prayers feel thin, Lord, it is You who accepts them anyway. When the troubles of my heart mute my coherent praises, it is You who sings over me Jesus. What mercy is this that I can fall upon my knees in wordless lament and You hear me? What tender compassion accepts my meager offering of unworthy petitions on a daily basis? Your love astounds me, Lord. Your strength enfolds me in my weakness. I am often enlightened in retrospect when I realize that my unutterable desires were heard and responded to. Forgive my distracted ponderings, Lord. You are worthy of undivided attention. Yet I easily become consumed by my own thoughts and concerns when I am bowing before You. Let me not want what You can give more that I want to give my self entirely to You. Forgive me, Lord, for seasons of distance between us when my heart has grown cold and my words of prayer are empty of Your Spirit. Why is it that I only seek You in earnest when I am in great need? Let me come to You in gratitude consistently and whole-heartedly. For You never leave me even though I have wandered from You. Thank You Lord God, merciful and kind, for Your blessings despite my intermittent spasms of selfish distraction amidst my pressing concerns. Thank You for listening even when I don’t deserve to be heard. Make me a child of prayer, filled with the Spirit, not so I can have my wants addressed but solely in order that I can draw closer to Your ever-loving heart. Under the blessed Word of James 4:3 and the authority of Christ, I bow in humble prayer.

You ask [God for something] and do not receive it,
because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda],
so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.
James 4:3, AMP