A Prayer Thanking God for Rest

by | Jan 29, 2021 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer Thanking God for Rest

Father,

I opened my iPad this morning to a kind gift sent by a friend, 

an elegantly designed image  of the verse, 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 

and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. 

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-29).

Father, you have been so good to us. 

Still us and stop us in our striving, 

and return us to our one and only rest, 

the gentle and lowly Jesus. 

He has given us rest from the heavy guilt of our sin; 

he has given us rest from our fear of man; 

he has given us rest from our fears of harm. 

In him we find the only true rest for our souls.

We thank you and praise you, Lord, for rest.

In Jesus’ beckoning name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 116.

A Prayer about Seeking Peace and Pursuing It

by | Jan 28, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Seeking Peace and Pursuing It

Peacemaking God,

Make us, like David, people who seek peace with our enemies. 

We desperately need your intervention to live out these words,

“Keep [our] tongues from evil

And [our] lips from speaking deceit” (Psalm 34:13).

“If possible, so far as it depends on [us], 

[may we] live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18).

Help us to remember that your eyes are 

“toward the righteous and [your] ears toward their cry” (Psalm 34:15).

The fact is, we’re really no good at revenge, 

but the day will come when you will 

“cut off the memory of [those who do evil] from the earth” (Psalm 34:16).

Help us then, to follow our Lord Jesus, who leads us 

to “turn away from evil and do good, 

to seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14).

In Jesus’ peace-bringing name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 34:10-22.

A Prayer about Deliverance from Fear and Shame

by | Jan 27, 2021 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Deliverance from Fear and Shame

Oh Father, 

How grateful I am for the true stories 

you tell in your Word about men and women 

who felt fear and shame.

In Psalm 34:4, the man “after God’s heart,” young David,

cries out after what might have felt like 

a very fearful and shameful experience: 

pretending to be mad in front of King Achish of Gath 

as he hid from King Saul (1 Samuel 21:10-15). 

Thank you, Lord for this truth—

whether our fear stems 

from our own foolish acts 

or from danger from an enemy, 

you answer us, you deliver us.

David goes on, “Those who look to him are radiant, 

and their faces shall never be ashamed” (Psalm 34:5).

Today, may we remember the freedom from shame 

bought by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 

and may we remember that we reflect your glory 

in our radiant faces. 

In Jesus’ delivering name. Amen.

Read Psalm 34:1-10.

Change of Plans: How God Works by Changing Our Plans

by | Jan 26, 2021 | Gospel Coaching, Weekly Gospel Meditation

Change of Plans: How God Works by Changing Our Plans

As we come to the end of this month of focus on setting goals and making plans, I want to encourage you that even when things don’t go as planned, God is at work redeeming us and his cosmos. Enjoy this excerpt from The Waiting Room: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in a Health Crisis. 

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11, NLT

  • I was planning to write a devotional or perhaps a book on how to keep a prayer journal.
  • Our son was planning to move to Ithaca, NY to begin a master’s program in vocal performance.
  • My husband and I were planning to travel to New York City to celebrate our 35th

Before the CT that changed everything, we had plans, and they weren’t bad plans. But God had something different in mind. There is nothing like a health crisis to redirect our attention from our plans for life on this earth to God’s plans for our eternal lives, starting…now. As 88-year-old J.I. Packer, renowned theologian, affirmed after learning that he had macular degeneration, “God knows what he’s up to…. And I’ve had enough experiences of his goodness in all sorts of ways not to have any doubt about the present circumstances…. Some good, something for his glory, is going to come out of it.”[i]

I’m afraid we too often quote Jeremiah 29:11 and its hopeful note of “plans for good, plans with a future and a hope” without considering the context in which it was written. The Israelites, God’s people, have been exiled to Babylon from their home in Jerusalem after repeated disobedience and multiple warnings to repent. The Lord directs the Israelites to seek and pray for the welfare of Babylon, to build houses and marry and have children there, even as they wait for the Lord to return them to their home. The stint in Babylon was all part of God’s greater plan to bless the Israelites and to bless the world.

Just as God planned redemption and restoration for the Israelites, he has worked his redemption plan for Christians. The plan is for our Christlikeness to be magnified and for his gospel to be multiplied. If we trust in God’s plan, we have hope when disaster apparently befalls us. We are to continue seeking his face, even in the exile of the waiting room. As we wait, we know that God is completing the good work that he has begun in us (Phil. 1:6), and that one day soon Christ will return and restore all broken things. Such are God’s glorious plans for a future and a hope that we are looking forward to as we wait.

Prayer

Lord, help us to understand that our plans too often focus on building “houses” here: careers, families, wealth. Your plans far exceed ours, as you are intent on building us into a temple, a people who glorify you in all that we are and all that we do. Thank you that you have a better plan for us. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Jeremiah 29:1-11; Philippians 1:6; and 1 John 3:2.

For Reflection

What plans of yours or a loved one have been disrupted by this season in the waiting room? Ask God to help you trust him to work his good plan in your life.

 

[i] J.I. Packer, in interview with Ivan Mesa, J. I. Packer, 89, “On Losing Sight But Seeing Christ,” Gospel Coalition, January 14, 2016, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/j-i-packer-89-on-losing-sight-but-seeing-christ/. Accessed May 2, 2018.

 

Affiliate link above to The Waiting Room. 

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A Prayer about God’s Best Plan for Us

by | Jan 26, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel Coaching

A Prayer about God’s Best Plan for Us

All-seeing God,

It is near the end of January, 

and many of us have already seen good plans 

we made through prayer and counsel, disrupted.

Whenever our plans on this earth are disrupted or diverted, 

help us to remember what a great promise you gave the Israelites, 

even as you sent them into captivity:

“You will be in Babylon for seventy years. 

But then I will come and do for you 

all the good things I have promised, 

and I will bring you home again” (Jeremiah 29:10).

“In those days when you pray, I will listen. 

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 

I will be found by you,” says the Lord.

“I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. 

I will gather you out of the nations 

where I sent you and will bring you home again 

to your own land” (Jeremiah 29:15).

Lord, even as you promised to return the Israelites 

to the land you created for them, 

you promise to take us out of the captivity of our sin and sorrow 

and return us to the new heavens and the new earth, 

to restore our fortunes beyond our wildest plans or dreams. 

In the day when Christ returns to take his people home to you, 

we will truly be home forever. 

May we look and lean toward that wonderful day.

In Jesus’ hope-full name. Amen. 

Read Jeremiah 29:10-15; Revelation 21:1-5.