A prayer for life

The prayer below is taken from the baptismal service, which we participated in this morning:

Heavenly Father,
we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit
you bestow upon your servants the forgiveness of sin,
and raise us to the new life of grace.
Sustain us, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit.
Give us an inquiring and discerning heart,
the courage to will and to persevere,
a spirit to know and to love you,
and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.
Amen.

After reading this prayer together as a congregation, the minister re-read the second part (which is italicised) and made the comment that it should be a prayer for all our lives. For me, what impressed me about this prayer, was how succinctly it asked God for what I need on my life's journey. As I have vowed to God that I will follow Him wherever He leads me and will do whatever He asks me (no matter what!), this prayer seemed so fitting because...

To follow God and to do what He asks... I need an inquiring and discerning heart to perceive what this is.

To follow God and to do what He asks, no matter how risky or radical that might be... I need the courage to will and to persevere.

To follow God and to do what He asks... I need to love Him more than anyone or anything else... therefore, I need a spirit to know and love Him

And to follow God and to do what He asks... I desperately need Him to sustain me.

P.S. One of my assignments during the last couple of weeks, has been translating John 15 from the Greek. A number of things have struck me as I've been doing that, and I hope to share some of these things soon.