A Prayer about Answers to Prayer

by | Oct 3, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Answers to Prayer

Have you ever wondered why God hasn’t answered your prayer?

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Mark 11:23

Miracle-Working Father,

We confess, 

we’re a little confused about what Jesus said 

to his disciples about prayer. 

If someone suffering from mental illness 

truly believes that you will heal her psyche, 

will it come to pass?

If someone suffering from quadriplegia 

truly believes that you will make her walk, 

will it come to pass?

What do we make of Jesus’ words, 

“whatever you ask in prayer, 

believe that you have received it, 

and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24)? 

There are no easy answers to these questions. 

What we do know is that we are called to trust in you, 

and we are called to surrender to your will (Matthew 6:10). 

We are called to believe 

that you can toss a mountain into the sea, 

you can heal a hemorrhaging woman (Mark 5:25-34), 

and you can raise your Son from the dead. 

We are also called to pray as Jesus did, 

“Father, all things are possible for you…

Yet not what I will, but what you will…” (Mark 14:36).

Help us Lord, to persist in as-yet-unanswered prayer. 

Help us Lord, to submit to your will 

in the way you answer prayer, 

knowing that you always give us good gifts (Matthew 7:11), 

even if they are not the gifts we think we need.

In Jesus’ trustworthy name. Amen.

Read Mark 11:20-25; Mark 14:36; Matthew 6:9-13.

A Prayer about Walking in the Light of the Lord’s Glory

by | Oct 2, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Walking in the Light of the Lord’s Glory

Do you know that the Lord is with you?

Happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord, they walk in the light from your face. Psalm 89:15

Everpresent Father, Jesus Immanuel, Indwelling Spirit,

We confess, 

we often walk through our days 

forgetting your presence. 

Re-orient us, we pray, 

so that we may be aware of “the light from your face” 

shining on us in every step we take, 

in every place we go, 

each day and every day, 

all the days of our lives.

Help us to not only “set our minds on the things above” (Colossians 3:2), 

but to see that you are “always before [us]” (Psalm 16:8), 

that we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, 

by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

When we become so fully aware of your inescapable presence, 

we will have peace in the midst of literal and metaphorical storms,

hope in the midst of disasters and diagnoses,

love in the midst of broken relationships,

joy in the midst of painful losses.

Walking in the light of your glory, 

we will indeed shout joyfully; 

we will indeed “spread the fragrance” 

of your sweet aroma everywhere we go (2 Corinthians 2:14).

In the name of our Lord who came near to us we pray.

Amen.

Read Psalm 89; Colossians 3:2; Psalm 16:8; 2 Corinthians 2:14. 

A Prayer about Surrendering Control as We Age

by | Oct 1, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Surrendering Control as We Age

How do you deal with your losses to aging or with your parents’ losses?

And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ Luke 1:38

Eternal Lord,

Mary was a young woman when she spoke these words. 

What wisdom and faith she had, 

even though she was “troubled” at the news 

that she would give birth to your Son. 

May we learn from her at an early age 

to surrender control of our lives to you 

so that when we move into our later years 

we are more accepting of the loss of control 

we experience.

Many of us pride ourselves on our independence, 

on not needing anyone or anything. 

And then we notice that we can’t see as well at night 

and now we can’t drive ourselves to Wednesday night church. 

Some of us have been told by our adult children, 

the very children whose diapers we changed, 

that it’s not safe for us to live in our own houses anymore. 

Lord, it is hard! 

We need your wisdom; 

we need your mercy; 

we need your grace. 

In our own strength, 

we can’t face the losses of independence 

aging requires of us. 

Only by your Spirit, 

only in the power of our Savior’s blood, 

shed for us in his weakness on the cross, 

can we accept these limitations and losses. 

Help us dear Lord, 

and shape us more and more 

into the image of your Son 

as we get closer to meeting you in glory. 

In Jesus’ surrendering name. Amen.

Read Luke 1:26-38; 2 Corinthians 12:9-11. 

A Prayer about Our To-Not-Do List for Today

by | Sep 30, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Our To-Not-Do List for Today

What’s on your “to-not-do” list today?

You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13

Lord God,

Thank you for placing these verses 

in Exodus in front of me 

and the accompanying Heidelberg catechism question and answer 105: 

What does God require in the sixth commandment?

“I am not 

to belittle, 

hate, 

insult, 

or kill my neighbor, 

not by 

my thoughts, 

my words, 

my look, 

my gesture, 

and certainly not 

by actual deeds. 

I am not 

to be party to this 

in others. 

I am to put away 

all desires for revenge.”

It’s sobering to read these words, Lord, 

to be faced with how many ways 

we murder our neighbor 

every single day all throughout the day.

We cry out, “Wretched people that we are! 

Who will deliver us from this body of death?”

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord….

There is therefore now no condemnation 

for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:24, 8:1).

Draw us to quick repentance, Lord, 

when we murder our neighbor. 

By your transforming Spirit, 

change us into people 

who “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly” 

with you and with others (Micah 6:2). 

Help us to “love one another” 

and to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10). 

In your forgiving name. Amen.

Read Leviticus 19:1; Exodus 20:1-17; Matthew 5:21-22.

A Prayer about Not Rushing Grief

by | Sep 29, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Not Rushing Grief

Have you ever felt like someone wanted you to get over your grief?

I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow.  Psalm 88:8-9

Healing Father,

We all know people who have lost people to death, 

whether anticipated or completely unexpected, 

people who have lost homes and possessions to hurricanes and wildfires, 

and people who have lost relationships they once held dear. 

At first, others may gather around 

and check on the grieving, 

but within a few weeks or a month, 

many people move on,

forgetting it ever happened. 

That’s the way it so often works with grief. 

Our loved one dies; 

our home is wrecked; 

our relationship ends, 

and we are still wounded, 

limping through our daily lives, 

but everyone else has moved on. 

Thank you, good Father, 

for giving us time to grieve. 

Thank you for not rushing us through our pain. 

Thank you for teaching us to lament, 

to cry out to you honestly 

about the agony of our loss. 

Throughout Scripture, 

you give us words to speak to you, 

unexpected words, 

blunt words:

“You have put me in the depths of the pit, 

in the regions dark and deep” (Ps. 88:6).

“Your wrath lies heavy upon me, 

and you overwhelm me with all your waves” (Ps. 88:7). 

“He has left me stunned, 

faint all the day long” (Lam. 1:13).

Lord, in the depths of grief, 

may we keep turning to you, 

naming our honest complaint, 

and may we keep waiting 

to see you shed the light of your glory 

into our darkened hearts. 

May we trust that the day will come 

when the tears we have sown 

will be “reaped with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126: 5). 

Until that day comes, 

bring us the comfort only you can bring.

In Jesus’ merciful name. Amen.

Read Psalm 88; Lamentations 3; Psalm 126.