Matthew, chapter 5 is known as The Sermon on the Mount. I urge you to re-read this sometime today. It is powerful and it touches your heart and spirit. Here is my prayer after reading it:
Loving Lord, Your reflections and prayers reflect Your love and concern for our human condition. Your knew the heartaches and pains that life sometimes causes us, and to the points it sometimes leads us, and You say, "You are blessed, and You are made whole." I rejoice in the beatitudes and what they convey from You to us. You have shared with our spirits that which the world has tried to take away; to the point of no-return that we think we sometimes reach, You reach out with love and compassion and say, "Keep going."
Lord, You called us to be salt and light of the world. Let us by our actions truly be the positive flavor that life needs. May our lives brightly reflect Your light shining on me. Let me be the beacon of hope to those who are still in despair.
Lord Jesus, make me holy and pure, with Your wisdom, strength, and courage, to honor You and the way that I live my life. Make pure my relationships with those whom I love and who love me back, but teach me to love those who hate me and seek to make my life uncomfortable or miserable. You have called us to love all people, no exceptions. You have called us to love and pray for those who don't even think about us, and let us pray for them right now; "Lord, bless those who hate me and seek to ruin me, protect them and guide them to know Your love, amen."
Jesus, help me move steadily toward perfection in this life, not only in love, but in all things. You are perfect and I seek to model my life after You. In Thy name I pray, amen.
