A Prayer about Being Permanently Justified

by | May 8, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Being Permanently Justified

We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials.    Philippians 3:3-4

Justifying Lord,

How I pray we can really and truly grasp 

once and for all, 

the profound peace 

that comes through being justified by Christ, 

being robed in Christ’s righteousness. 

I don’t know for sure, 

but I’m guessing the internal dialogue in my friends’ minds 

may go something like mine:

Oh I feel bad for not going to the women’s event. 

but I had to go to my son’s award ceremony.

Oh I wish I hadn’t said that. Now she’s going to think I don’t care about her. 

But I did send her a birthday text.

Oh why didn’t I hang my keys on the hook so I wouldn’t lose them?

But I did keep up with my phone all weekend.

It can go on and on like that, 

all day, 

all of our lives: 

we accuse ourselves 

and then we justify ourselves 

in an endless internal monologue.

Lord, spare us from this miserable guilt.

Your Word “accuses” us of actual sin clearly: 

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). 

That is the truth about us outside of Christ.

But thanks be to God, your Word also tells us 

the source of our justification, 

and it’s not in ourselves: 

“And to the one who does not work 

but believes in him 

who justifies the ungodly, 

his faith is counted as righteousness…” (Romans 4:5).

Oh, Lord, we are free at last, 

free at last.

Make us certain of this glorious reality: 

our righteousness is in and through Christ alone. 

Now, robed beautifully in his righteousness, 

we can run to tell others, 

we can live to love the God 

who ended this dreadful internal monologue 

with Jesus’ words from the cross,

“It is finished” (John 19:30).

In Jesus’ righteous name. Amen.

Read Philippians 3:1-14.



A Prayer about De-Selfing

by | May 2, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about De-Selfing

….who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:4

Lord Jesus,

Grow our awe—

You gave your-self: your fully divine, fully human self…

For what?

For my sins, for our sins…

Our sins revolve and evolve 

from our selves:

I am/we are

self-seeking,

self-promoting,

self-conscious,

self-pitying, 

self-protecting, 

among many other self-centric behaviors. 

You are 

self-sacrificing, 

self-lowering, 

self-emptying, 

self-less. 

Through your sacrifice for our sins,

we are delivered from the present evil age—

That is, we are 

redeemed, 

rescued, 

saved, 

from our self-centeredness 

and all of the self-seeking attitudes 

this fallen world promotes.

You obeyed the will of your Father, 

that he might be glorified, 

lifted up, 

praised, 

and in you, 

we too are transformed 

from self-centeredness 

to other-centeredness,

empowered 

to glorify God 

and glorify you, 

to love you 

and love others.

Indeed, in you, 

we have every reason to hope 

for freedom from self. 

Amen. 

Read Galatians 1:1-4; Philippians 2:3-11.



A Prayer about Wise Tongues

by | May 1, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Wise Tongues

Do you see someone who speaks in haste?

There is more hope for a fool than for them.

Proverbs 29:20

All-Wise God, 

Forgive our foolishness. 

Heal our tongues, 

which often speak “rashly, 

like the thrusts of a sword” (Proverbs 12:18).

We have become deeply enculturated 

in a world that is quick to speak 

and slow to listen

when you have called us 

as citizens of your kingdom 

to be “quick to hear, 

slow to speak, 

slow to anger” (James 1:19). 

Lord, we confess to you some of the sins 

that slip off our tongues: 

comparison, 

envy, 

judgment,

gossip, 

criticism, 

slander, 

to name just a few.

Change us, Lord, 

so that “no evil talk come(s) out of our mouths, 

but only what is useful for building up, 

as there is need, 

so that our words may give grace 

to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Grant us 

the loving wisdom, 

extraordinary patience, 

and sacrificial forgiveness 

of your Son

who taught us to love our enemies 

and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 4:43-44). 

In Jesus’s all-wise name. Amen. 

Read Proverbs 29. 



A Prayer about Our Reasons for Rejoicing

by | Apr 30, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Our Reasons for Rejoicing

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Steadfastly Loving Lord,

How many are our reasons for rejoicing!

This very day, and every day, 

is the day you have made!

As we look around, 

many of us see green sprigs shooting out of the earth, 

smell new blooms of jasmine scenting the air around us, 

and hear the gentle hum of birds chirping 

about their new babies nesting in the trees. 

Indeed, what great cause we have for rejoicing in your creation!

But even more, we rejoice in our Savior, 

the “stone the builders rejected” 

who has become our cornerstone, 

the building block that ensures our firm foundation, 

that gives us hope for new life today and every day (Psalm 118:22).

You have made us new again, 

part of your new creation. 

You have saved us and blessed us; 

you have made your light to shine upon us (Ps. 118:25-27). 

You are our God, and we will give thanks to you, 

for your steadfast love endures forever! (See Ps. 118:28-29). 

Amen!

Read Psalm 118. 



A Prayer about Grieving with Hope

by | Apr 29, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Grieving with Hope

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Comforting Lord,

How kind your Word is—

you know that we will grieve when we lose loved ones, 

and you don’t tell us not to grieve.

and yet, you remind us 

that your return gives us every reason to hope for a brighter day 

even as we grieve. 

For we know that our loved ones lost to death 

are now with you if they trusted in you in this life. 

You told the thief on the cross, 

“Today, you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). 

Not only that, but you tell us that one day, 

you will return from heaven, 

“with a cry of command, 

with the voice of an archangel, 

and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). 

In that day, you will raise the bodies of those who died before your return (4:16). 

In that day, you will raise the living, 

who will oddly (to us) enough, 

escort you back to earth to establish your kingdom, 

the new heavens and the new earth (4:17). 

On that day, we will live in the unbroken presence of eternal glory.

For this reason, we do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

In your name we pray. Amen.

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.



A Prayer about Waiting with Hope

by | Apr 28, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Waiting with Hope

We too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:23

Gracious God,

Thank you for giving us every reason to hope, 

even as we wait in difficult circumstances—

Some of us are waiting for healing of our bodies, 

others are waiting for healing of relationships, 

others are waiting for healing of injustice.

The clock is ticking, 

and redemption seems to take forever 

in this fallen world. 

And yet, you have promised us 

that one day “the sufferings of this present time” 

will not be “worth comparing 

to the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). 

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, 

you have secured that promise. 

One day, indeed, all suffering will cease, 

and we will be like Jesus, 

because we will see him as he really and truly is (1 John 3:2). 

May we savor this hope 

even as we “wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:25).

In Jesus’ hope-giving name. Amen.

Read Romans 8:18-25.