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LORD as the day ends, my worrying begins.  As the sun sets, my stress rises.

My heart is racing and my mind is filled with thoughts of the bad things said to me and the bad things done to me.

So here I am, LORD, on my bed wide awake.  Calm my trembling mind.  Fill my heart with joy.  Let me rest in you and sleep in peace.

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Today is the 18th day of Lent, a 40 day season of spiritual reflection, repentance, and renewal.  During these 40 days we’ll explore the prayer life of Jesus, walking chronologically through every mention of Jesus’ prayer life and prayers in the Gospels.

Here is today’s prayer event: 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27-28 ESV).

As with all of the prayers for which we have Jesus’ actual words, this one is prayed in the cold shadow of the cross.  Here, Jesus lays out the two options we have when faced with pain and suffering: “Father, save me.” or “Father, use me.”  The prayer, “Father, glorify your name,” is a plea for God to use the cross and Jesus’ suffering for His purposes, to reveal something about Himself.

Save me.  Use me.

Take a few moments right now to identify a circumstance in your life that brings you pain or suffering.  Rather than asking God to save you from that circumstance, ask Him right now to use you in the midst of that circumstance.

SHARE WITH READERS BELOW A DIFFICULT TIME WHEN GOD USED YOU  OR THE CIRCUMSTANCE FOR GOOD.

[image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grujbarova/3323702112/]

Today is the 17th day of Lent, a 40 day season of spiritual reflection, repentance, and renewal.  During these 40 days we’ll explore the prayer life of Jesus, walking chronologically through every mention of Jesus’ prayer life and prayers in the Gospels.

Here is today’s prayer event:  33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”  38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:33-42 ESV).

Timothy Jones (“Praying Like the Jew, Jesus” (70)) points out that Jesus did not speak this prayer of thanksgiving after Lazarus has been raised from the dead.  Jesus speaks this prayer of thanksgiving while Lazarus is still decomposing in a tomb.  Jesus is not thanking God because he is certain God will raise Lazarus.  He thanks God simply because God hears him.  What did God hear?  Jones argues that God heard Jesus’ tears: “When [Jesus] found himself in the shadow of his friend’s tomb, he couldn’t put his prayers into words, so he put them into tears instead.  And his Father heard his cries.”  Jones concludes: “Perhaps it’s because at the heart of all our prayers, what we really want is not an answer but an assurance—an assurance that our Father is listening.”

Jesus thanks God simply because God hears.  Even in the midst of a painful time, Jesus believes that God hears.  And here, that’s all Jesus needs.

Is it enough for you to know that God hears?  Why?  Why not?  Take a few moments and just thank God for his open ears, for the way his door is always open, for how God is always willing to listen.

[image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggiupponitn/3358862103/]