14 Honest Prayers for Mama BearsSample

Day 12: When I Feel Like I Have Let God Down

God, I feel like I am constantly letting You down. My prayers have a theme. I come and confess the same things over and over. I struggle with recurring emotions. But then I look at Your Word: “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10).

Lord, You wooed me with Your unfailing love. That love was made available to me while I was still an enemy. What in the world makes me think You are constantly disappointed or angry with me now that I’m Your child? How much more pleased are You with me now as Your daughter than You were when I was a rebel? Lord, I reject the enemy's lies that take my self-judgment and project it onto You. I again submit myself to Your lordship, knowing that becoming like You through sanctification is a difficult process. I doubt I’ll ever have a day when I don’t have to submit some aspect of myself to Your perfect law of love, which casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

I refuse to allow the enemy’s condemning words to beat me into submission to my sin. And I refuse to allow his hiss of condemnation to prevent me from pursuing You. I reject shame. I reject unhealthy striving. I release my imperfections and start afresh. I reject complacency and condemnation, for “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). I am resolved: “Forgetting what is behind and straining on toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).