Prayer Against Our Feelings

Father in Heaven, it is a struggle and sometimes a place of defeat when praying to You for what is right when everything we are feeling at the time seems just the opposite. It is our own version of the Garden of Gethsemane. In the same manner as our Lord, we are tempted and tried to give into the pull of the flesh against Your known will. In our hearts we want to do what is right and well pleasing to You, but it seems in those times we come to the end of ourselves, and all is left to do is to call upon You to help us. Lord our mouths are saying the right words, but in those times all we can do is cry out to You for the strength in the inner man to do Your will and not ours. We give thanks and praise to You because, over and over again, You are there to be found, though we may not immediately feel great about going through the test of obedience that has been set before us, we surrender because we know Your ways are always right and glorifying to You through Your people. We have learned, and sometimes the lessons have been hard and painful because we said no to You or used some version of procrastination to subtly resist doing the right things You expected of us. Our Father, some of us have had to learn through Your corrective chastening and the allowed painful consequences of our preferred way that seemed right, that Your way and will are always our best choices in life. Though we cannot see the end, You teach us to trust that Your guidance will always leads us to what You have determined to be good (Romans 8:28).
We thank You for the many resources that You provide to guide us and help us in what we should know and the way we should go (Psalm 32:8). Thank You for the Holy Spirit who indwells and helps us (I Corinthians 2:9- 10). Thank You for the Son of God who intercedes and aids us (Hebrews 2:16-18). Thank You for the assigned ministering angels that help us in ways we may not ever fully understand (Hebrews 1:14). Thank You Father for the spiritual sons and daughters that You send to us to teach, admonish, and support us as we go through our own Gethsemane experiences (Colossians 3:16). We offer this prayer in Jesus’ name, amen and amen.
Pastor Wayne Cockrell