Jeremiah 15:15-21 is a heartfelt Prayer from a man of God who accused God of not helping him when he really needed it. Like most of us at some time, Jeremiah too his eyes off God’s purposes and began to feel sorry for himself. He became angry, hurt, even afraid. Yet in response, God was not angry at Jeremiah. Instead, God answered Jeremiah by rearranging his priorities, as He often does for us to, if we but have the spiritual eyes to recognise it. Jeremiah was God’s mouthpiece, and as such, he was to influence the people; not let them influence him!

From this Prayer passage we can learn three important lessons:

1) Through prayer, we can express all to God, all our deepest thoughts, all our deepest longings,
2) God expects all Christians to trust him, no matter our circumstances, and
3) Our duty as Christians, is to influence others for God.

The original Modern King James Bible text reads:

“You who know, O LORD, remember me, take notice of me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; know that for Your sake I endure reproach.
Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation.
Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable? Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you – Before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them.”
“Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” declares the LORD. “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”

May we now pray Jeremiah’s Prayer in a different format:

Dear Heavenly Father,
You are my Lord and God and there is nothing which you do not know about me. I know you remember me and I know you visit me during the times of my struggles to uphold me, for my life is a testimony to Your abundant mercy and grace.
Forgive me Lord, for the times I have relied on my own abilities and in ignorance, sought independence from You, my Sovereign King. I humbly repent of this.
Thank You for the solid food of Christian maturity which You have fed me, and the training which You have provided for me. Thank You that I am now moving toward a Godly unity in the faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as I begin to a attain a fuller measure of the fullness of Christ.
Lord, as I walk closer in Your will, I find it harder to walk and talk with those who still clothe themselves in worldly matters and march to the beat of an ungodly drummer. Yet, Lord, in the name of Jesus, I humbly ask You to bless them all with the Love and Peace of Jesus, and I pray that Your Holy Spirit will hover over all of them, bringing them all to Christ.
I recognise Lord, that You have put me in this place and this position for just a time as this. I pray that You will bless me and empower me to complete that which You have called me to, such that Your glorious Kingdom and Your name will be glorified.
Please grant me the patience and the endurance to keep doing Your will and Your works, and doing them all Your way. Jesus endured the worst kind of reproach for me. With Your help Lord, I too shall endure the reproach which come upon me. Should I lose friends or family over for the sake of the Truth of God’s Word, let it be, for Oh Lord, I can do no less.
Help me Lord to heartily consume the Word of God. Help me to digest it with joy, and to live on it with delight in my soul. Help me to keep it always before me, and meditating on it.
Teach me Lord, the hidden truths of Your Word, so that others may be enlightened and souls saved from hell.
Grant me Lord the ability to recall all of your Holy Bible such that Your Word will always be on my lips and available for others. For Lord, I know Your Word is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work!
I know Lord, that you have called me to you. I therefore willingly lay down my will before You and ask You to please take charge of my life. Let Your will, and only Your will, be done in my life; and let Your will, be my will. Use my body Lord, as a living sacrifice for Your use.
Lord, I no longer sit with the merrymakers or those who pridefully exalt themselves, and I repent of the times when I did. But now, thanks to Your hand on my life, I sit alone and am filled with indignation at all worldly things and the things of my past. Oh how You have healed me from the wounds of my past and those which the enemy has inflicted upon me. Oh You Lord, are truly worthy and dependable!
Finally Lord, You have refined me in the fires of affliction and I praise You and thank You for this! Please continue to refine me, such that I may be perfected for your purposes in my life.
Let no one prevail against me Lord, for I stand on Your word that You will deliver me from the hands of the wicked and will redeem me from the grasp of the violent.
Heavenly Father, Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever.
Amen.