Eugene Peterson on Prayer

Rick Ianniello posts this.
At the National Pastors Convention, Eugene Peterson spoke of the prayer he begins every day with. It is Zechariah's prophecy recorded in Luke 1.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Here are 10 verbs in which God is the object. It is about what He does in the world. There is only 1 verb where man (John) is the object. John will go to prepare the way of the Lord.

To quote Peterson, "I live in a world dominated by the verbs of God. I only get to serve."

Too many are making "I" or "me" the object. God is at work in the world. Our role is to serve Him first and others as the result of that.