Prayer for Greater Faith to Live for God

Eternal God, our Father in Heaven, You have determined that we cannot have a personal relationship with You that is real without true faith.  To live in this world with You as an ever-present reality is at times a challenge to us that often results in failure because what we see means more to our decisions than what we believe.  It is when I am in Your presence, either in prayer before You or when I am reading and meditating in Your word, do I then realize the difference.  I see that my faith is measured when I am reminded of the position You are to have in my daily life.  You have taught us that without faith it is impossible to please You.  It is true faith when it is my desire to please You.  Oh God, my Father, is not that one of the major reasons that You saved me and then called me to live for You in this world?  We can realize that our faith is where it is supposed to be when we have placed Your desires and Your interest on the pedestal of our pursuits, ambitions, and the activities of our daily lives so that it becomes our habit to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
But as we are mindful of You as our priority, it also becomes clear that our faith is where it is supposed to be when we believe that You are real, personal, everywhere, all I need, and You can and will be everything to me that You said You would be to all who believe in You.  Is this not what You teach us through the testimony of the Psalmist when he says, “You are his portion” or “You are fully mine” (Psalm 119:57)?  The faith You have given us enables us to embrace You and fully possess You as our own personal God.  It is this place that I am often convicted, because You make it so that I can have the full inheritance of You in my heart and I can lose sight of that in the many distractions and temptations of my life.  Forgive me, I pray for so great a carelessness as this in my faith from time to time.
Have You not given us the promise and have proven it over and over in great ways and small, that You are a rewarder to those of us that make it our earnest efforts to pursue the fullness of all You desire to give us (Hebrews 11:6)?  The words of the Psalmist again speak so directly to this when he says to You, “with all my heart I want Your blessings”, or “I sought Your face with all my heart” (Psalm 119:58).   We want a living faith that has no resting place until it is entrenched in the certainty of what You have promised can be ours now in our walk with You.  In Jesus name, with thanksgiving, amen and amen.
Pastor Wayne Cockrell