A Prayer about the Words We Speak

by | Oct 25, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about the Words We Speak

One who has a pure heart and speaks with grace will have the king for a friend. Proverbs 22:11

Author God,

Your Word flows with words about our words. 

Because we are in Christ, 

we pray that the words of our mouth 

will bless and encourage and lift others up. 

Today, we pray about our words:

“A person’s words can be life-giving water,

words of true wisdom 

are as refreshing as a bubbling brook” (Proverbs 18:4).

Lord, make my words life-giving; 

make my presence as refreshing as a bubbling brook.

“Gentle words bring life and health; 

a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).

Lord, make my words full of life and health; 

guard my tongue from ever speaking deceit 

or crushing another’s spirit.

“Kind words are like honey – 

sweet to the soul and healthy for the body” (Proverbs 16:24).

Lord, make my words kind, 

flowing over others like sweet honey, 

giving them hope and health in truth and love.

Thank you, Lord, 

for redeeming our hearts, 

our tongues, our words. 

Send us into your hurting world today 

to bring words of encouragement 

to all we meet.

In Jesus’ transforming name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 22:11, 18:4, 15:4, 16:24.

A Prayer about Being a Sheep

by | Oct 24, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Being a Sheep

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

Good Shepherd,

Wrap our minds and hearts 

around this profoundly good news. 

We are like sheep, 

and sheep are prone to wander. 

Sheep tend to get themselves in mucky ruts, 

forget to eat, 

stumbling down wrong paths 

right into predators’ jaws. 

We, like sheep, 

were stuck, belly up in our own sin, 

helpless to right ourselves. 

Into our helplessness, 

God sent a Lamb, 

his own Lamb, 

to be our spotless sacrifice. 

On you, the Lamb of God, 

our sin was laid: 

“Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, 

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so [you] opened not [your] mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). 

Now you are our faithful Shepherd, 

and you lead us beside “waters of rest,” (Psalm 23:2), 

on “right paths,” 

turning us away from the sin-ruts 

we would dig for ourselves. 

Now you lead us in paths of righteousness, 

and you receive the glory (Ps. 23:3). 

Faithful Shepherd, 

thank you for your perfect sacrifice for us, 

and for restoring our sheepish souls.

In your sacrificial name we pray. Amen.

Read Isaiah 53:6-12; Psalm 23. 

A Prayer about the Lord’s Generosity

by | Oct 21, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, gratitude, kingdom living, worship, gratitude

A Prayer about the Lord’s Generosity

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. Proverbs 3:9-10

Generous Father,

How kind and generous you have been with us! 

You have [blessed us in the city, 

blessed us in the field,

 blessed the fruit of our womb 

and the fruit of our ground 

and the fruit of our cattle…

You have blessed our basket

 and our kneading bowl. 

You have blessed us 

when we came in 

and when we went out.] (See Deuteronomy 28:2-6). 

Protect us, Lord, from the temptation to believe 

that our money belongs to us. 

Help us to remember always 

that you are the giver of all good gifts. 

Help us to return to you 

a healthy portion of what you have first given us. 

In so doing, 

we may find our barns filled with plenty 

and our vats bursting with wine, 

or we may not. 

But we will most definitely know 

the profound joy of being freed 

from the “love of money,” 

which can lead us 

to greediness and self-destruction. (See 1 Timothy 6:10). 

Even more, may we treasure most 

the inheritance of grace we have in your Son, 

our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

In his sacrificial name we pray. Amen. 

Read Proverbs 3:9-10; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; 1 Timothy 6:10. 

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A Prayer about the Impossible Woman

by | Oct 17, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, kingdom living

A Prayer about the Impossible Woman

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Jesus, our True Wisdom,

We thank you for your Holy Spirit, 

who gives us wisdom 

to understand life 

and to understand 

that this woman in Proverbs 31 is meant to be an ideal, 

a composite of various features 

that make a godly woman. 

As I was reading about her the other day, 

I thought of the high expectations placed on women in American culture: 

we are often expected to have highly successful careers 

while at the same time being highly successful mothers 

raising highly successful children. 

Lord, we pray for women in our world, 

that we might turn away from both cultural expectations 

and some supposedly Christian expectations 

that are not your expectations. 

Help us not to worry too much about charm and beauty, 

or other things that will fade away.

Help us to be wise women, 

and to know what work you have called us to do, 

whether that be 

running a business (Proverbs. 31: 18), 

being a realtor (Prov. 31:16), 

sewing quilts (Prov. 31:22), 

or raising children (Prov. 31:27). 

Help us to clothe ourselves in strength and dignity, 

not in comparison and competition. 

Help us, most of all, 

to live in awe and gratitude of you, 

to “fear the Lord,” 

to enjoy you and glorify you 

as the women you have called us to be. 

In your gracious name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 31.

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A Prayer about the Saddest Verse in the Bible

by | Oct 15, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Saddest Verse in the Bible

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Genesis 3:7

Lord God,

These are some of the most painful verses in the whole Bible 

(right up there with Jesus agonizing in the garden and dying on the cross). 

Just a few verses before, we were told, 

“The man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). 

You had created them in your image, 

formed their exquisite bodies from the dust, 

giving Adam just the perfect complement he needed. 

And now, in one instant, as Adam stood silently by 

while Eve listened to the words of the serpent, 

the man and the woman had committed treachery. 

They had turned against you, 

doubting your goodness and generosity to them. 

Forever, they would know shame, 

and their descendants with them. 

Today, we feel it, the shame of sin, 

and shame over our bodies. 

Like Adam and Eve, 

we often reach for frail fig leaves 

in efforts to cover our shame, 

but we know they can’t fully cover us, 

and besides, they wither and dry up and fall apart. 

Like Adam and Eve, we often try to hide from you. 

What wretched people we would be if not for your pursuing love!

You refused to leave Adam and Eve 

lurking in the bushes; 

neither do you leave us there. 

You cleansed us from our sin through Christ’s death; 

you sent us the covering of Christ’s righteousness, 

which we wear now as your new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). 

By your mercy, 

we are freed from living in the shadows of shame. 

By your mercy, 

we can celebrate again the bodies you have given us. 

In Jesus’ atoning name. Amen. 

Read Genesis 2:24-3:7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. 

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A Prayer about Living Well and Wisely

by | Oct 12, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, kingdom living

A Prayer about Living Well and Wisely

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. James 3:13

Wise Lord,

Yesterday, we prayed for help with our tongues. 

Today, we see that our words and our behavior 

can reveal your wisdom, or they can reveal the world’s wisdom. 

Foolishness comes from “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” (James 3:13).

When we try to show off how great our kids are, 

how great our vacations are, 

how great our homes are, 

or when we want to have what someone else has,

we’re living out of the world’s wisdom. 

There’s nothing wrong 

with enjoying the good and perfect gifts 

you give us to enjoy in this life, 

but when we consider these gifts essential or earned,

when we forget to be grateful 

and instead become demanding, 

we are living out of the world’s wisdom. 

Wise people, you tell us, 

speak and live differently: 

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, 

then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, 

full of mercy and good fruits, 

impartial and sincere.” 

Wise people are at peace and seek peace.

Lord, by the mercy and grace of your Wise Son, 

please fill us with your wisdom. Amen. 

Read James 3:13-18.