Daily Gifts

“Every morning, Lord, I lay my gifts before you and look to you for help.  And every morning you hear my prayers.” ~ Psalm 5:3, ERV

It is the fifth day of January in a brand new year.  And this morning found me doing what I normally do in the morning – laying in bed, reading through the daily allotted Scriptures on my reading plan, trying to stay awake.  It was terribly normal.  And yet it didn’t remain normal.  Because today, in a translation I had never read it before, I stumbled across this verse – Psalm 5:3.  And something in me jumped, startled.  Did you hear the prayer in that verse, the passion, the intentionality and the desperation for God to move.  The psalmist writes, “Every morning, Lord, I lay my gifts before you and look to you for help …” 

Everything I’ve been hearing about lately has been about identity, about knowing who God created you to be, about looking at the talents and the passions God has laid on your heart and growing them with discipline for the glory of God.  Everything I’ve been praying about has been that God would show me who He created me to be specifically, to show me how to feel more like myself here in this new land where I am so often lonesome and tired instead of fully engaged with those around me and passionate for Christ … And then came this verse.  What if I really prayed like that?  What if I really woke up every day and went to God immediately saying, “The gifts you’ve given me – my writing, my knowledge of the Scripture, my passion for children, my heart to give and provide the resources people need to grow in your plan for them, my passion to work with criminal offenders, and every other gift I possess – I’m laying all these gifts out before you like an arsenal of weapons on a day of battle.  Help me to know which one of these gifts you would have me utilize most passionately throughout today.  Help me to know which gift will bring you the most glory, which will bring the most freedom in Christ to those around me.  Train my hands for every situation this day will bring, to use my gifts wisely; train my eyes to see the opportunities to use them; and train my heart to go boldly into each moment, willing and ready to obey.  I cannot do this alone.”  What if you prayed that way too?  What if every day you immediately sought God about what gifts He would have you use throughout the day and begged His help in following through?  And then, what if we believed the last part of this verse, that every single morning He would hear our prayers and give us guidance and transform our lives and our gifts into instruments of His glory?  Wouldn’t that be remarkable?  Isn’t it an amazing prayer?  Doesn’t it inspire the imagination?  All day long, I’ve found myself thinking and wondering what realms of possibilities I have yet to explore because I have not prayed this way, because I have not so intentionally sought God and His will for my daily activity.  And I thought I’d share it with you – as raw as the idea is, as unpolished and perhaps vague, because maybe it will stir something in you as well.