Maybe the Hardest Prayer You’ll Ever Pray…
The Covenant Prayer was adapted from a Puritan tradition by John Wesley and is still prayed in many churches on the first Sunday of a new year. Some people don’t go to church on that day because they don’t want to pray the prayer!Â
When you read the words of the Covenant Prayer carefully it is indeed a big commitment. But that is what Jesus asks of us: ““Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9: 23. So perhaps the prayer is not just for the start of a new year, but for the start of every day.
The Covenant Prayer describes a missional life with Jesus. A Way of Life that is only possible in a community centred on Jesus. Inspire fellowship bands and house fellowships are such communities, where we help one another to live that Way of Life, abiding deeply with God and living as everyday missional disciples.
There are lots of versions of the prayer but here is one that we adapted for Inspire that simplifies the language whilst maintaining the magnitude of the commitment.
Join us as we pray together…
Dear Father God,
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Your will be done, not mine, in all things:
Wherever you may place me,
And among those you put me,
In all that you call me to do, or to endure.
Let me be put to work for you, or laid aside for you;
Let me be praised for you, or despised for you.
When I find fulfilment, and when it is lacking;
When I have all things, and when I have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly give you my life,
All that I have and all that I am, for your pleasure and purpose,
To serve you, as you choose.
Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours.
May it be so for ever.
AMEN.
