Pray with Jesus by Elizabeth Elliot

I've been working a lot on prayer and devotion in my Christian walk. I know I'm coming through a spell where I have been more distant from Christ than I should be. 'Stuff' was piling up and I tried to handle it all on my own instead of giving it over to God and letting him be in control. I guess I figured that God was busy taking care of the worlds troubles so he didn't need to be bothered with my issues. (This is something I struggle with from time to time.) You would think that I would learn that I am no good at juggling...that when I try to do it all, 'keep all the balls in the air' as it were, I fail and it all comes falling down. THEN I run to the feet of God, throw myself at his mercy and sob, 'Hi God...it's me. I screwed up, again. Help?!' Maybe not the most eloquent or theological of prayers but it is honest. And God is faithful, isn't that just like him?, and he rescues me...He helps fix the mess. His mercy knows no bounds.
Speaking of 'mercy', Nancy Kennedy (a PCA author) lives in my area and writes a weekly column in our local paper (The Citrus County Chronicle...check it out!). She wrote about mercy this past weekend (well, it was more than that but mercy was part of it) and talked about how she misspelled mercy 'mecry'. That sometimes mercy does that to us...puts us on our knees and we cry. Her words really hit me. It was as if God was speaking right to me. His mercy know no limits. How could that thought alone not bring me to tears?
The below devotional came across my path today. Isn't it amazing how God sends us just what we need?
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Because I am "of the earth, earthy," I find that my prayers for the people I love are mostly bound by very earthy concerns--Lord, help P. to find a good wife, show G. which college to attend, provide money for W.'s house and E.'s car, help T. with his book, give X. a better job. It is meet and proper to pray for such things, but not to pray only for such things. There are prayers of far more lasting import which we must also learn to pray. We can find words for those in the prayer of Jesus for the people He loved:

1. that they may be one;
2. that they may find his joy completed in themselves;
3. that they may be kept from evil;
4. that they may be made holy by the truth;
5. that they may live in Christ;
6. that they may grow complete into one;
7. that they may be with him;
8. that the love which God has for Christ may be in their hearts.

If we learn to pray that kind of prayer, it will perhaps amend the "lesser" prayers.

Lord, teach me to pray. Open my eyes to see beyond the earthly to the heavenly. Let my primary concerns be heavenly ones, that your kingdom may come on earth, your will be done in me and in those I love. Teach me to pray with Jesus, for his sake. Amen.