A Prayer
I'm not sure if this is acceptable in the posting protocol, but I'd just like to pray over this sub and Reddit in general.
Heavenly Father, the blessings of this world are innumerable and it confounds me sometimes to think You would ever wish to share it with us, such a fallen, wretched cast of characters. There are times I doubt that you could love me for the things I have done, or thought, or witnessed even after You called me out of my iniquity. I pray frequently that I feel the reverence, the weight of all those burdens I put on myself lifted by your loving grace, and the tremendous thanks for saving me from my sin, and that I would feel that all the time.
I suppose it's not practical to live life in reverent awe every moment, tears streaming down our faces in praise of You. And so we stand up, or leave wherever it is we choose to pray to you and praise you, and we go back to the world, residents of it but belonging to You. It is there that the feeling leaves me, and only a rational acceptance of what You sent Your son to do for us sits in me. That has always been a weakness for me, Father. I rationally know many things and yet I don't act properly given what I know. I pray You encourage us in the mundanity that life in a fallen world can sometimes be because there can be temptation and forgetfulness in that. I pray You encourage us when our flesh calls us towards evil, especially as the world has been designed to pump temptation directly at us all the time. It is so easy to make bad choices, Father.
I pray you give us patience for each other and help us forgive. We need to be bold, we need to stand for the truth, we can't always be nice, but we can be patient and we must forgive - look what You forgave of us, Father. Remind us of that. Your word tells us of perilous times when children will stop obeying their parents, and when parents will lose affection for their own children. That time appears to be now. Father, it always struck me that that prediction didn't address why it has happened. Of course it is because we forgot You; of course it is because the enemy is always working to destroy us. But on a person to person level, we have failed each other. Parents have failed to protect their kids, failed to live well for you, failed to learn discipline from You, and so kids have stopped respecting their parents. But the system of the world has also lied to the youth, encouraging more rebellion and harder hearts, often using the internet and Reddit itself to help divide families.
I trusted my parents and the people before me to direct me well, but they directed me into debt and into medications that have hurt me when the truth is all the pain we were trying to heal would have been better addressed by turning to You. It is hard to become an adult and learn how much your parents failed you and to think we must forgive them. But Father, thank you for showing me the enemy's schemes - that he attacked our forebears and lied to them and attacked them as well. Help us see those schemes. Help us forgive each other.
Evil has seemed to increase the past 100 years or so, Father. The systems in place that lead to temptation and fleshly distractions are worse than ever before. And yet I know that your grace abounds. You know what is happening to us and that the enemy has been planning and scheming forever to destroy. Thank You for Your grace. Thank you for reminding me that it is not I who saves myself from my sin, it is Your Son and it is ultimately You, Your plan, Your wisdom, Your beautiful creation. Our ultimate freedom from sin was Your wonderful plan.
I pray for this sub, Father. I pray that Your wisdom pervades and your patience persists among your followers, be they Biblical Unitarians or any visitors who wish to converse with us. I pray You wash over Reddit with the spirit of humility so that truth is spoken and that that brings people to You, the author of truth.
I pray You expose evil influences on Reddit so that we may see how we are manipulated. I pray You destroy the high places as your most faithful servants did for Israel and Judah and that we begin to claim this territory away from the enemy and relinquish it to You.
I pray that the evil that flows from computer to computer, user to user, I pray you slow it down and that you prevent any demonic activity from benefitting from these systems. Please embolden your followers to speak of You, to pray for each other, to encourage each other, to treat this online space as a real church, because it is one. In these spaces, our spirits reach out with these words to each other and to You. There is a nakedness we have when we use these spaces that is unlike the real world. That has been used for evil for far too long, Father. Let the good of these places compound by letting Your truth and the glory of You and your wonderful son Jesus Christ resound loudly and openly. Let it flow over the bots and the influence and the money. You are above it all anyway, let the people in these spaces see it.
There is a feeling in the air that something big is on the horizon, Father. I felt evil blanket us when Covid started. While there has certainly be respite from that evil since then, it still feels like something has changed. I pray for Jesus' soon return if it is time for him to gather us, but regardless, I pray you give us courage, that you make sober our minds so that we may face whatever is to come with clarity and wisdom. I pray that elections, and conflicts, and all the turmoil in the world go as You would have them go such that You glory is seen by all.
Father, I pray for our enemies. I pray for them most of all. I pray for those who haven't yet known Your love and that they would hear You, that they would turn from their wickedness. I pray for Xi Jingping and Vladimir Putin, and I pray for the people around them, that any of them who might have ears to hear will finally hear You. I pray for the IRGC that they meet You and that they lay down their arms. You have turned evil men good, Father. I pray that those who might turn to You, those who might be deeply entrenched in these regimes, that they have the courage to speak and change what is happening, or the means to escape. I pray for those here in our country who hate us. Please speak to their hearts, send Jesus to them and help us welcome any into the body with love.
You are the God above all gods and Your name sits highest in my life. Never let me forget where you are in my life. Thank You for your glorious son. Thank You for giving him to us and for teaching him the greatest love that has ever been, and that he would call us friend and lay down his life for us. Thank You.
In Jesus' blessed name, I pray. Amen.