⁴ “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶ And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

Dear God, I just heard from a pastor friend that his church baptized 11 people last night. How great is that? I mean, really. What a thing to celebrate! It’s not just a number. Those are 11 individual lives who have decided to submit themselves to you in the same way the Moses exhorted the Israelites to submit themselves to you thousands of years ago. The way I have submitted myself to you.

So as I sit here this morning, I feel compelled to pray for the protection of those 11 people, the pastor at the church and his staff, and the rest of the congregation. I know how pendulums can swing, and how an emotionally charged event can dissipate like a hangover. So my prayer for everyone at that church as well as myself and my wife (who are not at that church), is that you will help us all to start with this passage and use it as our foundation: We will love you with all our heart, soul, and strength. For those 11, strip everything else away and help them, Holy Spirit, to love the Father, the Son, and You with all of their heart, soul, and strength. Help the pastor and the church staff to start everything by loving you with all their heart, soul and strength. Help the church members turn loose of the idols that they create–that we all create–and simply love you. Turn loose of politics. Turn loose of the things the media and social media tells them to fear. The idols of the wrongs that have been done to them that they are holding on to and not forgiving. Let this church be about becoming more and more Christlike so that they might display the fruits of your Spirit to the community and our world.

And I pray the same things over my wife and me. Help us to love you with all our hearts, souls, and strength. Help us to make that the foundation of our lives. Help us to turn loose of the idols we’ve created that we think will give us comfort and peace. Help us to reject all of them and simply embrace you. Help us to forgive and turn loose of the wrongs we perceive have been done to us. And let your will be done and your kingdom come onto this earth. Do it through your Church.

I pray all of this in Jesus Christ, with your Holy Spirit,

Amen