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A Prayer about Waiting for Redemption

by | Jan 1, 2024 | Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Waiting for Redemption

And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36

Heavenly Father,

What an attractive old woman Anna was. 

She was widowed young, 

after only seven years of marriage, 

and then she spent the rest of her life single. 

It would have been so easy to become bitter, 

especially in a society in which widows 

and single women were often outcasts. 

And yet, you gave Anna the gift 

we all most desire in this Christmas season, 

the gift of believing redemption would come 

in the midst of the broken story 

of her life, 

of the lives of her people. 

She spent years waiting for redemption, 

watching for you, 

waiting at your “home,” the temple, 

believing you would show up there one day. 

And she didn’t hide, 

keeping her hope to herself—

she was a prophetess, 

sharing the good news about you with others. 

Lord, would you make us like Anna 

as we await your second coming? 

Would you transform our vision 

so that what we solely seek 

is your arrival? 

Would you transform our tongues 

so that what we simply speak of 

is your salvation? 

Would you even allow us today 

to receive our King as Anna once did long long ago? 

In Jesus’ returning name we ask. Amen. 

Read Luke 2:36-38. 



 

A Prayer about the God Who Hears Our Groans

by | Mar 5, 2023 | Daily Prayer, gratitude, Lent

A Prayer about the God Who Hears Our Groans

Exodus 2:24–25 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

All-knowing God,

We are so grateful that we know 

that you know our very groans. 

When you hear our groans, 

whether over grief due to a loved one’s death 

or the suffering of mental illness 

or the sorrow over wars and strivings. 

We who belong to you know 

that you have rescued us already from the worst slavery, 

the slavery to sin and death. 

But you don’t stop there. 

You continue your redemptive work 

in this hurting world, 

all the way till our Savior returns 

to fully establish his kingdom of shalom 

right here on this groaning earth. 

We are so grateful—

you never never forget 

your covenant with your people, 

sealed through your Spirit, 

kept through your faithfulness in your Son. 

And we are so grateful—

as you remember, you rescue. 

In Jesus’ hope-bringing name. Amen.

Read Exodus 2.

A Prayer about Waiting for Redemption

by | Jan 1, 2023 | Christmas, Christmas, Daily Prayer, kingdom living, Seasons & Holidays

A Prayer about Waiting for Redemption

And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36

Heavenly Father,

What an attractive old woman Anna was. 

She was widowed young, 

after only seven years of marriage, 

and then she spent the rest of her life single. 

It would have been so easy to become bitter, 

especially in a society in which widows 

and single women were often outcasts. 

And yet, you gave Anna the gift 

we all most desire in this Christmas season, 

the gift of believing redemption would come 

in the midst of the broken story of her life, 

of the lives of her people. 

She spent years waiting for redemption, 

watching for you, 

waiting at your “home,” the temple, 

believing you would show up there one day. 

And she didn’t hide, 

keeping her hope to herself—

she was a prophetess, 

sharing the good news about you with others. 

Lord, would you make us like Anna 

as we await your second coming? 

Would you transform our vision 

so that what we solely seek 

is your arrival? 

Would you transform our tongues 

so that what we simply speak of 

is your salvation? 

Would you even allow us today 

to receive our King as Anna once did long long ago? 

In Jesus’ returning name we ask. Amen. 

Read Luke 2:36-38.

A Prayer about Remembering Redemption Stories

by | Dec 3, 2022 | Advent, Christmas, Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering, worship, gratitude

A Prayer about Remembering Redemption Stories

And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. Luke 1:36

Lord God,

Thank you for this wonderful story of redemption. 

Even as the angel Gabriel revealed to Mary 

an incomprehensible promise: 

she would conceive and bear a son, 

the Son of God, Jesus our Savior, 

who would reign on the throne forever (Luke 1:31-33), 

he shares a story of redemption to show her, 

“For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

Father, even today, as we rush 

to finish our giving and our buying and our wrapping, 

or as we miss the days 

when we made all those preparations 

for a typical Christmas, 

press pause in our hearts. 

Help us to sit before you 

to remember our own stories of redemption, 

of the times you came through with the money 

when we didn’t know how we would get through the month, 

of the ways you healed a relationship 

that we thought was irrevocably broken, 

of the baby you brought into our lives 

after we had long given up hope of having a family, 

of how you burst through suffocating darkness

with the light and hope of Jesus.

As we remember, 

may we hope and pray again 

that you would do the impossible 

in this broken and hurting world.

In Christ’s redeeming name we pray. Amen. 

Read Luke 1:31-38.

Image courtesy of Good News Productions International and College Press Publishing at FreeBibleimages.org.

Get Elizabeth’s Advent devotional for free here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/34no8c805q.

A Prayer about Signs of Redemption

by | Feb 6, 2021 | Bible study, Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Signs of Redemption

Almighty and Everlasting God,

Who has ever seen a rainbow 

and not dropped their jaw in wonder at the gleaming glory, 

the bright beauty emerging from the dark clouds of storm? 

As we read this true story in Scripture about how sin had gotten so bad 

that you flooded the earth and took the lives 

of those who rebelled against your loving provision, 

our jaws should also drop. Because you didn’t stop there. 

You provided a way out, the ark for Noah and his family and all the creatures. 

You provided a way out for us, our Savior Jesus Christ, 

your glory bursting into the dark hearts of our sin. 

We thank you and praise you for your undeserved grace, 

for rainbow signs of redemption 

and for every other sign 

that you are conforming us 

to the likeness of your Son by your Holy Spirit. 

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen. 

Read Genesis 9:1-17.

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