Praying the IOU’s, Part 5

April, 2008

by: Brodie McClain

“Satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness” (Ps 90:14)

These are the IOU’S of prayer and come in very handy anytime your heart is feeling dry or overwhelmed or divided or faithless. As you track heart-change through the wilderness of life there are many times where it seems you have lost the trail. The IOU’S are simple tools to help you get back in the hunt. We find ourselves in the midst of the “U”.

“Unite my heart” – Psalm 86:11

The word “unite” is to designate exclusively, to bring together, to concentrate or focus efforts. Power comes when forces are focused, when thousands of soldiers are brought together as one man, when a husband and wife are aimed in the same direction, when eleven players all execute their assignments, when a thousand employees form an international enterprise, when a flock of birds aligns in formation, when a hundred streams create one rushing torrent. Power comes through unity.

The word “heart” refers to the inner man, that part of you which is actually you. Not the part of you that you can dress up and paint up and fake up, but the person you are on the inside. This would include the affections, emotions, will and mind. The heart is the seat of the conscience, the center of spiritual life and the mission control center of all your thoughts and actions.

The word “my” makes it all personal. This is not an abstract concept about the general populace or wishful thinking for mankind. This is a personal plea from David to his God concerning a divided heart, and not just any divided heart, but David’s very own.

So in the combination of these three words, “unite my heart,” we find a powerful bringing together of all that we are. There is a directing and focusing of the entire inner person. But to what end shall we be aimed? What cause will bring the troops into formation? What enterprise shall we clock in for? Where does the torrent find its end?