A Prayer about Confessing Our Sins

by | Oct 8, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Confessing Our Sins

Do you need help confessing your sins? 

Let your ear be attentive, and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night…confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Nehemiah 1:6

Great and Awesome God,

Again we come to you with the words of Nehemiah, 

who is teaching us to pray.

We, like Nehemiah, 

answer you with your assuring Word, 

reminding you of your covenant promises 

of steadfast love. 

Like Nehemiah, 

we need to confess our sins to you, 

our own sins and the sins of “the people,” 

which belong to us as the body of Christ.

Unlike Nehemiah, 

we who are covenant-breakers 

have even greater assurance 

of your forgiveness for our sins—

“how much more will the blood of Christ, 

who through the eternal Spirit 

offered himself without blemish to God, 

purify our conscience 

from dead works 

to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).

Because of our covenant-keeping Savior, 

we have the confidence 

to approach your throne of grace,

to find the mercy and grace we need (Hebrews 4:16). 

As we name your steadfast love 

and confess our sins, 

may our hope swell 

and our vision of redemption sharpen, 

sending us out to love 

all who are in “great trouble and shame.”

In Jesus’ atoning name. Amen.

Read Nehemiah 1:1-11.

A Prayer about Praying Our Emotions

by | Oct 7, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Praying Our Emotions

Do you pray your emotions?

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:4

God of heaven,

Thank you for how your Word 

teaches us to pray. 

I confess, I don’t know where I got the idea 

that prayer needed to be formal and stiff 

and even a little stoic, 

because the Bible is full of people (including Jesus) 

laying their emotions before you in prayer (see Psalm 22, Psalm 88, Luke 22:39-46). 

May we not merely observe Nehemiah’s prayer, 

may we enter it, 

engaging you with the cries of our heart 

for the people we pray for, 

including ourselves. 

May we sit down (stop our busy rushing here and there) 

before you, the God of heaven. 

May we weep and mourn, 

not just for five minutes but for fifty days. 

May we focus our prayers 

through fasting, 

whether giving up food or phones or shopping or TV. 

As we still ourselves before you, 

may we hear your voice speaking 

confidence and comfort over us. 

As we get rid of the things we think are essential to our lives, 

may we see you, 

the maker of heaven and earth, 

at work even now, 

bringing your heavenly kingdom to bear 

on the trouble and shame of this broken world. 

In Jesus’ compassionate name. Amen.

Read Nehemiah 1. 

A Prayer about Great Trouble and Shame

by | Oct 6, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Great Trouble and Shame

What do you do when you are in trouble and shame?

The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. Nehemiah 1:3 

For the next few days, we’ll be praying one of Nehemiah’s prayers. If you’d like to hear the sermon that inspired these prayers (preached by our pastor at Pinewoods, Joel Treick), click here. It will be the first one in a series called Gospel Rebuild. 

Redeeming Lord,

As Nehemiah prayed for hurting people 

he had never met in a place he had never visited, 

we lift up hurting friends, neighbors, strangers, 

and even enemies.

Many are in “great trouble” in this world,

as in the last couple of years, 

it feels like we have been pounded again and again 

by waves that knocked us down every time we almost stood up. 

Some suffer the loss of jobs or health or even relationships to Covid, 

others suffer the loss of homes and livelihoods 

to devastating natural disasters 

like hurricanes and earthquakes and wildfires. 

Still others suffer the ache of a lifelong dream 

seemingly stolen by circumstance. 

If “trouble” weren’t enough, 

there’s also the shame that plagues many.

Some suffer the shame 

of having sinned against people they loved; 

they wonder if they can ever repair 

the relationships they’ve severed. 

Some suffer the shame 

of having rebelled against you, 

thinking they knew better, 

and now they wonder if you’ll even have them back. 

Others suffer the shame of insecurity, 

thinking they’ll never win 

the spouse 

or promotion 

or the battle with infertility.

Lord, in the midst of “great trouble and shame,” 

we cry out. 

We remember your redemption and rescue 

throughout biblical history,

your redemption of the Israelites at the Red Sea, 

your return of the exiles to Jerusalem, 

your rebuilding of the walls there. 

But most of all, we remember 

your redemption on the cross, 

which is the very reason we can cry out 

with the “assurance of things hoped for, 

the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). 

Restore, renew, rebuild, redeem. 

For that is your way. 

And even as we pray for this restoration 

in our world today, 

we long for the day 

when we will no longer cry out 

about trouble and shame, 

because there will be no more crying or mourning or shame 

when you return. 

In your hope-full name. Amen.

Read Nehemiah 1:1-11.

A Prayer about Not Wearing Purple When We’re Old

by | Oct 5, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Not Wearing Purple When We’re Old

Do you need help resisting self-indulgence?

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

Holy God,

With all due respect to the delightful poet Jenny Joseph, 

who wrote the humorous poem, “Warning” 

about how she would become a rebel when she was old 

and “wear purple with a red hat that doesn’t go,” 

help us to resist the temptation 

that often faces us as we age. 

We are told by our culture 

that we should relax and take it easy. 

While there’s nothing wrong with 

relaxing or enjoying life or even slowing down a bit, 

what we must resist is, to quote 87-year-old J.I. Packer, 

“practicing self-indulgence up to the limit….

[filling [our lives] with novelties and hobbies, 

anything and everything that will hold [our] interest.”*

Indeed, our spiritual gifts and calling to minister the gospel 

do not “wither with age.” 

You have called us to live each day to the full, 

going where you call us to go 

(even if it’s to a hospital bed to pray), 

doing what you give us to do. 

Until the end, we are called to present our aging bodies 

as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you….” 

Until the end, we must “not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by the renewing of our minds…” (Romans 12:1-2). 

Help us, Lord, to fight the good fight and to finish the race well.

In Jesus’ ancient name. Amen. 

Read Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 4:6-8. 

*Quote is from J. I. Packer’s book Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

A Prayer about Encouraging the Faint-Hearted

by | Oct 4, 2025 | Daily Prayer

A Prayer about Encouraging the Faint-Hearted

Are you feeling faint-hearted, or do you know someone who is?

Encourage the fainthearted, and help the weak… 1 Thessalonians 5:14

Heavenly Father,

At times, our burdens become so great 

that we struggle 

to pray, 

to believe, 

to hope. 

At such times, 

we thank you for the church, 

the community of believers 

called to bear our burdens with us (Galatians 6:2). 

I remember when my kids were small 

and we had to walk a long way, 

my husband would sometimes lift them on his shoulders to give their weary legs a rest. 

From high above, 

they gained new perspective 

and a much-needed rest. 

In the same way, 

as we “encourage the fainthearted and help the weak,” may we give them 

the rest they desperately need. 

May we believe for them 

when they are struggling with doubt. 

May we hope for them 

when they are weary of waiting for redemption. 

May we endure hardship with them 

as they suffer. 

Lord, if we are the ones 

needing a rest, 

may we reach out for it 

and receive it. 

Lord, if we are the ones called and strengthened 

to give that rest, 

lead us to your weary ones who need it.

In Jesus’ burden-bearing name. Amen.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 1 Corinthians 13:7; Galatians 6:2. 

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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.