You are my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? You are the stronghold of my life—Whom shall I be afraid? Praise be to You, Lord, for You hear my cry for mercy. You are my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in You, and You help me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise You. The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one. Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; for You are their shepherd and carry them forever. [Psalm 27:1; 28:6-9]
Holy Spirit my freedom and my choice to serve comes from You. As Paul explained, “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness (being set apart), and the result is eternal life (life beyond this current state of life we are in). For the wages of sin is death (leads to us being in hell eternally), but the gift of God (salvation because of Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross, which now we either accept and become with God or reject and do our own thing) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 6:22&23]
Holy Spirit I seek to walk each day with You. I ask that You help me to die out to my sinful desires, sinful thoughts, my foolishness, and my pride in thinking I can control things better than You. Help me to live a life that is completely sold out to You so that people will know whom I love and whom I serve. Just as people know that my wife is the one, I am totally sold out here on the earth. I have invested my whole life into her and now I invest my whole life into You. That is how You intended for me to live. Teach me how to daily fill my mind with what is right, what is pure, what is true wisdom, and keep my whole focus on Your reputation, not mine. Renewing my mind means that I meditate, pray, read and absorb Your word, Your promptings, Your wisdom, and gain a discernment of how to navigate this broken sinful world I live in, but choose not to be like. I realize how easy it is to get distracted so make me like a dead man to the world so that I am no longer easily distracted by foolishness and death.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. Amen! (Psalms 51:10-15)