A Prayer about the Treasure of Christian Community

by | Sep 13, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about the Treasure of Christian Community

Do you treasure Christian community?

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 2 John 1:2

Gracious God, 

Creator of Christian community, 

help us to marvel at the good gift 

of face-to-face fellowship 

with other believers. 

In recent years, 

we learned how privileged we are

to be able to gather safely together 

with the body of Christ. 

After the season of social distancing, 

it took some of us awhile 

to get used to being together again, 

and it can still be tempting 

to “watch the livestream” 

rather than to get up, get dressed, and get to church. 

Oh, Lord, may it not be so! 

Help us to understand 

what imprisoned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood 

when he wrote, “visible community is grace.”* 

Help us to see that face-to-face fellowship 

is a foretaste of the day 

when you will 

“gather us in…

for you have redeemed us” (see Zechariah 10:8-9). 

Help us to remember that 

“we belong to one another 

only through and in Jesus Christ.” 

Help us to remember 

that Jesus broke down the dividing wall of hostility 

that we might be united, 

as one community in Christ, 

for all of eternity. 

One day soon we will see Jesus face to face, 

but until then, 

may we enjoy your wonder-full gift 

of face-to-face fellowship 

with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

In Jesus’ uniting name. Amen.

Read Zechariah 10:8-12; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; Psalm 42:4; Ephesians 2:14-18. 

*This prayer was inspired and informed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s great book, Life Together. First quote is from p. 28 and second from p. 33.

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual

A Prayer about Clearing the Caregiver Fog

by | Sep 12, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Clearing the Caregiver Fog

Will you join me in praying for caregivers today? 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city…. Revelation 22:1

Creator God,

Today we lift up all the caregivers of hospital patients. 

You are with them, 

so you know the fog that sets in 

after days of caring for a patient 

in the hospital. 

It may feel like Pigpen’s cloud 

surrounding the brain, 

making clear thinking dusty

when it seems essential.

In the room dimly lit by fluorescents, 

the walls are two awful shades of beige, 

and before you know it, 

every thought and perspective is colored dingy beige.

Lord into this foggy space,

we ask you to send the radiating light of your Son, 

that the caregiver’s mind and heart 

might be transported 

to the glorious day to come. 

May she see the silvery river of the water of life 

glistening into this dim space. 

May she brighten at the brilliant greens 

and lemon yellows 

of the leaves of the tree 

for the healing of nations (and patients). 

May she imagine the better day, 

the eternal day 

when she and her loved one will taste of all twelve kinds of fruit, 

pomegranates and mangoes and juicy oranges and grapes 

bursting with the joy of it all.

Comfort the caregiver with this true hope, 

the hope of eternal glory.

In Jesus’ restoring name. Amen. 

Read Revelation 22:1-5.

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual

A Prayer about Flourishing in Old Age

by | Sep 11, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Flourishing in Old Age

Do you want to bear fruit in old age? 

They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green….Psalm 92:14

Everlasting God,

We live in a world that urges us to fight aging, 

We live in a world that promises us eternal youth, 

if we will only apply this wrinkle cream, 

walk 10,000 steps a day, 

and eat kale salad for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

While there’s nothing wrong 

with resisting some of the harsher effects of aging 

by exercising regularly and eating healthily, 

you have promised us something far better. 

Turn our hearts away from a narrow focus

on the physical effects of aging, 

that we might live out the righteousness 

you have imputed to us in Christ. 

For indeed, it is the “righteous 

[who] flourish like the palm tree 

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12). 

With our faith planted deeply in your Word, 

we will flourish in your eternal courts. 

With our hope firm like the roots of an ancient oak, 

we will “bear fruit in old age,” 

bringing forth new spiritual children 

until the day you call us home to you.

In Jesus’ righteous name. Amen.

Read Psalm 92.

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual

A Prayer about Praying in Stories of Suffering

by | Sep 10, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Praying in Stories of Suffering

Why should we pray in stories of suffering? 

She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. Luke 2:36 

Answering God, 

How we thank you for the story of Anna, 

the 84-year-old widow who had known deep suffering. 

In her world, losing a husband meant losing everything — 

financial provision, status, power. 

And yet, Anna, who lost her husband after only seven years of marriage, 

by your grace, 

chose not to become embittered by suffering, 

staying close to you in the temple, 

listening to your Word, 

worshiping you, 

fasting and praying, 

“night and day.” 

May we follow Anna’s lead when life seems out of control—

When our adult children make decisions we disagree with,

When our grandchildren make mayhem of their young lives,

When our bodies make a mess of our plans to age gracefully….

Let us pray.

As we pray, our faith grows: 

we remember the countless stories of your redemption.

As we pray, our hope grows: 

we envision the redemption that will come in the midst of hard stories.

As we pray, our love grows: 

we live out Christ’s love in a way that invites the hurting to come to you.

In prayer, we learn to wait well for your redemption.

In prayer, we hear your astounding answer, 

redemption in Christ,

And we begin to pray again, 

thanking you for your kindness 

sharing the good news of Christ with others. 

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Luke 2:36-38.

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual

A Prayer about How to Spend Our Last Forty Days

by | Sep 9, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about How to Spend Our Last Forty Days

Friends, today we continue yesterday’s meditation on how we would spend our days if we knew we had only forty left. 

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14, ESV 

Everlasting God,

Forgive us for “boasting in our arrogance” (James: 4:13)

for the ways we fail to thank you 

for all of the good gifts you have given us, 

including each day of our lives 

and all provision for that day. 

May we heed 87-year-old theologian J. I. Packer’s instructions:**

“First, wake each day with the question, 

‘How do you want me to glorify and enjoy you today?’

Second, “Live practicing the presence of God in Christ”

 — yes, Lord, help us to listen to less of this world’s noise 

that we may rest 

in the gentle and lowly presence of our Savior.

Third, finish the course well: 

“Our last sprint should be a sprint indeed.” 

May we not waste our four or forty or four hundred or four thousand days 

on trivialities 

but may we spend each of them 

sharing the good news 

of our hope of glory 

in Jesus Christ 

by setting our affairs in order,  

by encouraging friends, family, strangers, and enemies, 

by forgiving our enemies inexcusable betrayals, 

and by speaking and writing 

the many stories of redemption 

you have written in our lives.

In Jesus’ living and dying and resurrected name. Amen.

**I highly recommend Packer’s little book, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual

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