“Fill me with compassion for the person who frustrates me.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – April 15, 2026
[Jesus] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:7-8
During this recent Lenten season, my wife Rita and I began praying a simple three-part prayer together: “Lord, empty me. Lord, fill me. Lord, use me.” It was short enough to memorize, honest enough to connect us, and deep enough to change us. What we did not fully anticipate was how much God would take us at our word. This is a prayer that engages the Lord’s heart.
Lord, Empty Me
Emptying is rarely comfortable. We tend to fill our lives quickly, with noise, achievement, self-protection, and the slow accumulation of opinions about ourselves and others. But Paul tells us that Jesus, who was God, “emptied himself” (Philippians 2:7). He set aside the privileges of heaven not reluctantly, but willingly, to take on the limitations of human flesh. This was not loss, it was love in its most radical form. When we pray “Lord, empty me,” we are asking for the same costly grace. Empty me of my pride, my need for control, my carefully maintained image. Empty me of the bitterness I have held onto, the fears I have mistaken for wisdom, the busyness I have used to avoid stillness. Lent is a season that invites us to stop pretending we are full when we are, in truth, cluttered. The first movement of transformation is always subtraction.
Lord, Fill Me
But God does not leave us hollow. Emptying is never the end of the story. Into the space that surrender creates, He pours something better: His own presence, His Spirit, His peace that surpasses understanding. Jesus took on the form of a servant, and in doing so, He was filled with a purpose greater than comfort: the redemption of the world. To pray “Lord, fill me” is to make room at the table of your own heart. It is an act of expectant faith, trusting that what God places in you is infinitely more nourishing than what you chose to carry before. Fill me with compassion for the person who frustrates me. Fill me with courage where fear has the upper hand in my heart. Fill me with Your love, which is patient and kind and does not keep a record of wrongs. Rita and I found that this middle prayer was the most quietly moving, because God always answered it, often in ways we did not expect.
Lord, Use Me
Jesus’ emptying and filling had a destination: the cross. He was obedient, Paul writes, “to the point of death.” His surrender was not just an inward spiritual exercise; it moved outward, into the world, on behalf of others. That is always where genuine transformation leads. We are not emptied and filled simply for our own benefit, but so that we might be available, truly sacrificially available, to the purposes of God around us. To pray “Lord, use me” is an act of surrender that keeps its hands open. It means saying yes before you know the assignment. It may look like a conversation you did not plan, a need you did not expect, a calling that asks more of you than you thought you had. But a person who has been emptied and filled is a person God can work with. That is the quiet miracle of a prayer of surrender, and of every season in which we dare to pray honestly.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Prayer
Lord empty me of all that is not of You. Fill me with Your Spirit, Your love, and Your purpose. And use me, however You choose, for the sake of others and the glory of Your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Application
Pray this prayer daily over the next week: “Lord empty me, Lord fill me, Lord use me.”
Related Reading
Isaiah 53:3; Mark 10:45; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 5:8
Worship Resource
Elevation Worship: Keep On
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