A couple weeks ago we hosted our annual Men’s Conference. Pancho Juarez, pastor of Calvary Chapel Montebello, taught the after-lunch session, and his opening prayer has been running through my mind ever since he said it.
Check it out, especially if you weren’t there:
“Father in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth we come before you. We ain’t nobody Lord. We’re just broken, perforated men. We’re poked, messed up, tore up. But, Lord, it is You who have put us back together.
It’s nothing that we’ve done, other than just recognize that we’re broken. And You came and helped us.
For me, Lord,
what my mother couldn’t do,
what the P.O. couldn’t do,
what the police couldn’t do,
what juvenile hall couldn’t do,
what jail couldn’t do,
what the Marine Corps couldn’t do,
Lord,
in one day, You did it.
And Lord I still believe in You; and I trust in You. But Lord, we know that we are living in some troubled times. We’re living in uncertain times, and Father being a Christian is going to get tougher and harder. So be with us. May Your Holy Spirit saturate each and every one of us individually. Speak to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Isn’t this the sort of spirit we want to reflect? And isn’t this the sort of conversion we want to see in the lives of the non-believers around us?