A Prayer about Really Knowing God

by | Apr 18, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Scripture, Theology

A Prayer about Really Knowing God

Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me… Jeremiah 9:23-24

Gracious God, 

May we learn to boast in the wild reality

that by your grace 

we do have the understanding to know you.

 

What indeed must we know about you?

It is true, 

we need to know about you, 

that you are  

all-knowing, 

all-holy, 

all-powerful, 

all-loving, etc.

 

But we also need to know you, personally. 

Theologian J.I. Packer taught us how we could know you personally in his book, Knowing God. 

He explained that 

if we were to meet the Queen of England or the President of the United States,

they would have to be willing to be known by us 

in order for us to get to know them. 

If they didn’t share much about themselves, 

we wouldn’t feel we had the right to complain. 

But you, oh gracious God, 

you initiate the conversation, 

you “start at once to take us into your confidence, 

and tell us frankly what is in your mind 

on matters of common concern…

you invite us to join you 

in particular undertakings you have planned, 

and ask us to make ourselves permanently available 

for this kind of collaboration when you need us….”*

 

When we think of it this way, kind Lord, 

how we see your grace, 

how we see your love.

 

We can know you 

because you have allowed us 

and invited us

to know you. 

We can know you by meditating on your Word, 

not just reading it and studying it, 

although those are good things, 

but by engaging our imaginations and intellect.

 

We can know you 

by asking Jesus, 

you-in-the-flesh, 

to help us know you. 

Through him we see 

that knowing you is 

like knowing a good Father, 

like “a wife knowing her husband, 

a subject knowing his king 

and a sheep knowing its shepherd”*

 

Lord, slow us down 

that we might spend time getting to know you, 

That we might discover one of the 

most life-changing truths ever, 

which we will pray about tomorrow: 

you have known us. 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Read Jeremiah 9:23-24; 1 John 2:1-11; John 17:3; Psalm 100:3

*This prayer inspired by reading the introduction to J.I. Packer’s great book, Knowing God. Quotes from pages 36-37.

A Prayer about What to do When We’re Afraid

by | Apr 17, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, kingdom living, Suffering

A Prayer about What to do When We’re Afraid

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

Faithful Lord,

Thank you for your compassion for our fearfulness.

Today, we bring our fears to you:

When we are afraid that we will fail 

at work, at school, as caregivers 

[name any failures you fear], 

we put our trust in you.

When we are afraid that we have made the wrong decisions 

for our children, 

for our loved ones, 

about our work,

[name any wrong decisions you fear], 

we put our trust in you.

When we are afraid that our health 

or the health of a loved one will not improve 

[name any health fears you have], 

we put our trust in you.

When we are afraid that we will lose our job 

or won’t find one soon 

[name any fears about provision you have], 

we put our trust in you.

Father, you know all of our fears, 

and you invite us to bring them to you.

As we do so, calm our hearts and minds 

in the hope of your kind provision. 

In Jesus’ trustworthy name. Amen.

Read Psalm 56:1-13.

A Prayer about Bearing One Another’s Burdens

by | Apr 16, 2023 | Church, Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Merciful God,

How exquisitely you have designed your church, 

the body of Christ. 

You have called us to share our weakness 

with you and with one another, 

and you tell us that in that weakness 

we find our greatest strength

—strength in dependence on Christ, 

strength in dependence on one another (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). 

Today, I pray especially for those in our body who are weak—

the bereft grieving the loss of a loved one, 

the caregiver serving a loved one through many hard days, 

the sick and frail struggling with illness, whether physical or mental….

[Name some weak people you would like to pray for….]

May we truly lift them up, not only in prayer but in service, by bearing their burdens—listening without trying to fix, bringing meals or mowing lawns, forgiving their irritability…

[Name some ways you might bear the burdens of someone who is weak….]

We pray too, that you would empower the weak 

with the humility and grace required 

to receive the loving care of the body of Christ. 

In Jesus’ burden-bearing name. Amen. 

Read Galatians 6:1-10.

A Prayer about Answers to Prayer

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Prayer

A Prayer about Answers to 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.

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

A Prayer about Missing the Obvious

by | Apr 10, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, gratitude, Scripture

A Prayer about Missing the Obvious

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27

Risen Lord,

This story reminds us that William Shakespeare 

was not the first person to use dramatic irony to humorous effect. 

You walked along the road with two of your followers all the way to Emmaus. 

They thought you were really out of it 

not to have heard anything about 

“Jesus of Nazareth, 

a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word…

and how our chief priests and rulers 

delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him” (Luke 24:19-20).

What did your heart feel 

when you heard their aching disappointment: 

“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21)?

We don’t know, but we do know you gave these two followers 

the best Bible study ever, 

showing them how all of Scripture 

pointed to your redemption of not only Israel 

but of every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group (Luke 24:27).

You arrived at the village, 

accepting their invitation to dine with them.

You “took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them” (Luke 24:30). 

Only then were their “eyes opened and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31).

Lord, we have been given so much more opportunity 

to see you than these two followers. 

May we never be blind to your risen presence 

among us through the Holy Spirit. 

May we seek you in the Scriptures morning by morning, 

day by day, knowing the truth about you 

flashes at us from every direction like the neon signs on Broadway. 

And may we, in recognizing the reality of your resurrection, 

worship you by telling others this profoundly good news. 

In your ever-present name. Amen.

Read Luke 24:13-35.

A Prayer about Dying to Bear Fruit

by | Mar 31, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Lent, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Dying to Bear Fruit

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:24-25

Lord Jesus,

I’m not much of a gardener, 

but I do know that you begin by burying a seed in dirt, 

and then, if all goes well,

a few days or weeks later, 

something green starts to poke out of that dirt. 

I also know that if properly nurtured, 

that green poke 

will turn into a stalk 

and eventually bear the fruit 

of a cherry tomato 

or a mammoth sunflower 

or a juicy piece of corn. 

As we approach the days 

when we celebrate your death and resurrection, 

may we remember our calling 

to be buried with you 

that we might rise with you. 

May we learn to let go of the things 

we think are so precious and necessary in our daily lives 

in order to discover 

the precious and necessary life you have for us, 

a flourishing life of bearing fruit, 

an eternal life of joy and glory. 

In your fruit-bearing name. Amen. 

Read John 12:20-26.