Lord, may I not be a stranger to vital godliness. Awaken me to the snares that cause my soul to perish. Quicken me with revelations of heaven’s wisdom. The reward that awaits the righteous shimmers with a warm glow on the horizon of eternity. May the devotion I offer You be fervent as I contemplate the Day of the Lord. Your love constrains me. The imminence of Your judgment motivates me. Let me not sit at the foot of the cross with carnal distractions beckoning me. With fervency and zeal, I meditate on the wounds that brought me salvation. Let me consider all Your ways, Lord. Let me consider and walk in them. Turn my eyes away from evil. A true abiding relationship with You is my protection and my delight. Keep me from being a mere professor of belief, a religious hypocrite who lacks the happiness and joy of one whose love runs deeper than a spring stream. With holiness and delight, sift the moments of my days. Your servant longs to be blessed and united with You in the constancy of the ordinary. Truly, Your ways are pleasant and Your path is peace. Under the sobering truth of Isaiah 59:1, 8 and the authority of Christ I bow in prayer.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or His ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God.
The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
    no one who treads on them knows peace.
Isaiah 59:1, 8, ESV