Prayer is pivotal. Not only does it provide an opportunity for us to partner with the Spirit for the advancement of the Kingdom, but it is a precious place of communion and encounter with God’s heart. Nothing delights the Lord more than the prayers and praise of His people. It is for this reason that Jesus affirmed His Father’s house is a house of prayer.

The topic of prayer is a common one here on Katherine Chrisman. Among other posts, we have looked at praying for the nations, interceding for the impossible, and simply saying ‘yes.’ Bringing our requests before the Lord truly does usher in transformative breakthrough.

We talked about this type of transformative power when we looked at prayers of confession a couple years ago. These structured prayers give us a guide to help re-align our hearts with Truth that leads to powerful transformation. A similar pattern can be seen in as we consistently pray the same thing time and again. Repeated praying a specific prayer – or crafted prayer – can be an effective tool in our practice of intercession and conversation with God. (See 1 Kings 18:41-45 for an example.) Of course, it’s important to be weary of simply “running through the motions.” By praying the same prayer again and again, we invest fierce determination and keen focus into our dialogue with the Lord. Moreover, on the days where prayer seems difficult, dull, and dry we can take comfort in knowing that we already have the words to pray. Acting as a scaffold, crafted prayers can lend tremendous strength to both personal and corporate intercession.

The Year Ahead

For this reason, we’ll be digging into a crafted prayer here on the blog. This prayer will serve as a starting point for much of the blog’s content over the next year. At its core, the prayer seeks after the deep things of God. Hope, desire, and struggle are brought before the Lord along with edifying declarations of His nature, His character.

Pursuing greater depth – in intimacy, knowledge, experience, love, community, heart posture, ministry… – will be at the center of many of our conversations this year. Some of this conversation will take shape in a quarterly mini-series on Psalms that relates to going deep in God. Every three months, we’ll take a look at four different chapters and dive into the insight they hold for journeying with God. It’s our hope that, come December, there will be a multitude of stories and testimonies pointing to God’s faithfulness in leading our hearts from depth to depth.

If you haven’t tried using a crafted prayer before, this might be a good opportunity to give it a go. Consider printing the prayer out and placing it in an accessible place like a bulletin board near your desk, the back of your Bible, or inside a kitchen cabinet. You could also paste the words into a recurring calendar reminder. (A weekly or monthly cadence might work well; you can always adjust it as you go.) Pray through the words when you come across them and trust the Lord to meet you right where you’re at. Maybe you’ve used crafted prayers before; if so, consider praying through this one along with the rest of the community. Choose an option that works best for you, even if that looks like passing on crafted prayer at this time.

Should you choose to join us in using this crafted prayer, carve out some time with God to talk about what “going deep” means for you. Ideas may come to mind immediately – share those with God and ask Him to broaden your vision for what depth could look like. Make some space for Him to show you places where He’d like to take you deeper, too. Allow promises of His transformation, power, and freedom to encourage you during this time. He loves to lead your heart – especially when it’s further into His Truth, His heart.

The text of the prayer is listed below. May it be a helpful starting point as you seek the Lord for greater depth and breakthrough in the year ahead.

The Deeps

Lord Jesus,

Give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach; help me chastely to flee it, and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Yours alone.

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in You, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of You as Savior, Master, Lord, and King.

Give me a deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Your Word, more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action; let me not seek moral virtue apart from You.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly Husbandman, that my heart may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until You alone are seen in me – Your beauty golden like summer harvest, Your fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but You, no law but they will, no delight but You, no wealth but that You give, no good but that You bless, no peace but that You give.

I am nothing but what You make me, I have nothing but that I receive from You, I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with Living Water.