Daily Prayer
A Prayer about Our Shepherd’s Care
[Note: Often the best prayers come straight from Scripture. Over the next three days, I am taking the simple language of the NLT translation of Psalm 23 and making it into a personal prayer. Please join me]. Lord, You are our shepherd; I have all that I need. [Name...
A Prayer about Seeing My Own Sin and God’s Grace
Merciful Lord, It’s impossible to read the list of sins describing people who don’t “see fit to acknowledge God,” and not see ourselves somewhere in it— have I ever gossiped, speaking ill of people behind their backs? Have I ever been boastful and haughty, ...
A Prayer about Being Kind to One Another
In our world, kindness is not the norm. Rather, people seem to enjoy and even feel entitled to “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice” (Ephesians 4:31). And yet, you have clothed us in a new self, created after your likeness, in “true...
A Prayer about Protection from Enemies
God of Justice, We join David in Psalm 17, asking you to hear our prayers against the enemy and any tools he may use on this earth in his plans of attack. For those who have been betrayed, marginalized, treated unfairly, you have given us words to pray: ...
A Prayer about Resisting the Enemy
Lord of Angel-Armies, May we never forget or discount the spiritual battle that rages right here right now. The evil one prowls around like a lip-licking lion, drooling over our vulnerability and frailty. He is a liar, a tempter, an accuser, and an adversary. His...
A Prayer about Our Adoption
Abba, Last week I enjoyed joining our son for “gotcha day” for his sweet new puppy. This day culminated years of longing for a furry friend of his own, of saving money for that friend, of planning the right time, of choosing first the parents and then a...
A Prayer about Admitting Our Need
Dear Father, What do a persistent widow, a shamed tax collector, and a blind beggar have in common (Luke 18)? No, Father, I am not writing jokes into my prayers, I am just enjoying the connections your Holy Spirit makes as I read through my Bible. Each of these...
A Prayer about Being Homesick for Heaven
Heavenly Father, Loosen our grip on this world. Make us more like Paul, more torn between remaining on earth to share with more people the good news of your grace and going to heaven to be with Jesus. In a word, grow in us a “homesickness for heaven,” as Derek...
A Prayer about Expressing Our Grief Honestly
Lord, God, So many people I know right now are grieving— Grieving deep disappointments over lost hopes and dreams; grieving divisions in friends and families as well as in our nation; grieving the death of loved ones. In such a season, we are grateful that you...
A Prayer about Listening to God
Speaking Lord, as we begin this week, many of us think about the work we need to do. What if we began instead by thinking of prayer as our most important work? And then, what if we began our prayer by listening to you rather than listing our many needs? Not that...