Depths Prayer – Colossians 2

Depths Message (Colossians 2)

Here’s what I’ve heard the Holy Spirit say to me lately, “Deep calls to deep.” “Dive deeply into the glory, majesty, beauty, and mystery of Abba Father Yahweh’s heart.” “Let your Faithful Father minister his love, peace, and wisdom to your troubled soul.” “God doesn’t love you because you work hard or achieve great things; he loves you because he made you, and because you said ‘yes’ to Jesus.”

So much of life & leadership is filled with a thousand distractions and ten thousand options every day. Just making it through one day can sometimes feel overwhelming, suffocating, and by day’s end, defeating.

Jesus meant what he said, “Seek me first, my kingdom & righteousness, and then all else that you desire will be added to you.” I can tell you after 27 years of following Jesus and 13 years of attempting to make disciples, I still experience mornings where I don’t want to get in the Word, and where I just want to make it through that day without giving up on life.

The Holy Spirit’s remedy, his divine daily dose of soul medicine, is to abide in Jesus’ presence and dive deeply into who God is. Our time with the Lord tends to be contractual. We confess our sins so he forgives us, and then he’s supposed to answer our prayers and bless us because we did the right thing according to the Bible.

The more I follow Jesus, the less daily abiding feels like what I was told it’s supposed to be like. Abiding in Jesus is really about friendship and rest, not getting the day’s marching orders as devoted soldier in a king’s army.

To know God more, to experience him consistently through changing seasons and on bad days, we’ve got to keep diving deeper into who he is and let him be in charge. He’s the One who needs to speak; he’s the One who needs to move in us. We desperately need him, and we don’t ever need to move on from that Truth that we will always need him to help us.

Depths Passages

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me. The LORD will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of My Life.

Psalm 42:7-8 CSB

My prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time. O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the Truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwaters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me.

Psalm 69:13-15 NKJV

Now that you have welcomed the Anointed One, Jesus the Lord, into your lives, continue to journey with Him and allow Him to shape your lives. Let your roots grow down deeply in Him, and let Him build you up on a Firm Foundation. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always spill over with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7 VOICE

Depths Prayer

Abba Father, thank you so much for teaching me how to dive deeply into your heart. I want more of you God, and I want less of me in my life. John Baptizer said it best, “I must decrease; He must increase.” Increase in me Holy Spirit; have your way in all that I am.

Keep burning away within me whatever doesn’t belong, whatever can never bring you glory. Align my desires with your ways & wisdom. Change my heart and direct my thoughts so that I can live in the beautiful freedom you paid for me to enjoy right now and forever through your suffering & death on Golgotha’s cross.

Take me to deeper places than I’ve ever been. Increase my stamina and cultivate my endurance. Help me to see my self, family, future, struggles, and generation the way that you do. I don’t want you to help me only when I’m aware that I need it; I want you to help me all the time. I want to remain in a place of humility, surrender, and dependence upon you Holy Spirit.

In the depths of your heart, there’s grace, mercy, abundant life, unquenchable hope, and a forgiveness that enables to me to do the impossible: reconcile with those who hurt me. In the depths of your mind, there’s understanding on how to live my life, serve my family, and bless my neighbors and all nations. In the depths of your presence is a peace beyond measure or comprehension, a peace that baptizes every problem & fear in my life and restores my soul to a place of total trust in you.

Father, I don’t know when you’re sending Jesus back to get us. It could be tonight or in a thousand years. When I watch the news today, it feels like the firstfruits of Armageddon, but I can’t predict the future, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. What I do know is that you’ve already given me and my generation a clear mission:

Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

So Father, I praise you for your presence. I treasure your love, and cherish your faithfulness. I’m following your Son Jesus every day the best I can. Help me Father to see the nations; really see and love them the way that you do. Help me to do whatever I can to help them find their way into our eternal, global family of all nations, tribes, peoples, languages, and cultures. Help me to be an advocate for the nations rather than an accuser or adversary. Help me to be generous with my potential for love, grace, mercy, compassion, and empathy.

It’s in the mighty, matchless, marvelous name of Jesus I pray, trust, and believe, Amen, Shalom, Maranatha, Hallelujah.