Dream Prayer Challenge: Day 21

My Good Shepherd,

I know your voice. When you call me, I know it's you. When you direct me, I know which is The Way. You have nurtured me and raised me to want to be close to you. 

And yet I turn away. I don't always choose to respond immediately to your call. Somehow the innocent things that distract me seem to become entanglements as time goes on. And the longer I indulge my whims the harder it is to hear you. 

Use my dreams tonight to alert me to the fruitless seeds I've allowed to take hold. I never intend to grow deaf to your voice, I want to hear you. But somehow it happens. Your voice seems so hard to discern when I've grown too fond of other things. And when that happens, life gets hard. Those things I pursue for fun lead me to a joyless life. 

Show me which pleasures need to be rooted out or contained so they can't spread like weeds, taking my energy from good things, stealing the attention that belongs to you. Please, Lord, if I wander, let the end of every entanglement come quickly and bring me back to you for help.

Keep me in the fold of gentle sheep who follow you closely enough to know your moods. I want to feel it when your head turns and I want to look where you look, to see what you see. 

Use this prayer journey to connect me with other sheep who love you. AMEN.

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. 
Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. 
Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.
2 Timothy 2:22