Author: Sahed

A Prayer for Fresh Endurance and Encouragement  

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Rom. 15:5– 7)  

Heavenly Father, I’m like a hungry little bird with my mouth wide open this morning. I’m glad you’re the God who gives endurance and encouragement, for I’m starving for both. Bring an abundance of both, Father— “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 6:38)! 

I praise you for these twin sisters of grace. One without the other would simply not be enough. Endurance without encouragement can atrophy into heartless stoicism. Encouragement without endurance can wither into short-lived enthusiasm. Give us both, bunches of both. 

Father, I’m not just praying for me but for the whole family of believers with whom I’m so privileged to walk. Along with endurance and encouragement, I ask you to give us a fresh supersized order of unity. How else will we be able to glorify you with one heart and one mouth? How else will we even want your glory above our own preferences and priorities? 

Our church family is so much like the churches Paul was addressing in Rome. We come from many different backgrounds. We’ve been rescued from non religion and gospelless religion. We have different perspectives and varying passions. We are at different stages in knowing how to follow Jesus and knowing what following Jesus actually means. All in all, we are prime candidates for a fresh visitation of the Holy Spirit, for he is the true Spirit of Unity. 

Father, whether or not we actually get to experience a full bore revival, help us to accept one another just as Jesus has already accepted each of us. This brings you great praise. The gospel we already have is all the gospel we actually need. Our city and the nations of the world are desperate to see Christ followers who know how to love one another when it’s easy and when it’s not. Let us be just such a people. We pray expectantly, in Jesus’ mighty and merciful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Brokenhearted Friends  

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. (Isa. 61:1)  

Dear Jesus, I’m numb with sadness for a few friends this morning. I’m not sure what to do for them, but I do know I haven’t done enough until I’ve prayed. The Father sent you to bind up the brokenhearted, and that’s why I come to you. You are meek and gentle of heart, and yet you have the power to keep the planets in orbit and the authority to command sea creatures to dance. Your mercy and your might are my great hope. 

I pray for my friend who just lost a job. She’s sixty four, a widow, and undone. The betrayal she feels is so deep. The uncertainty of where to go next is paralyzing. Her family offers no solace. She loves you so much, Jesus, yet this has rocked her world. By your Spirit, bring the peace you alone can give. Help us, as a community, to know how to come around her. Far more than I worry for her financial needs, I’m concerned about the pain of betrayal. Help us to know what to say and what not to say, Jesus. Bring your tear-wiping hand to bear through us. 

I pray for the couple who just miscarried for the third time. This story is one of the hard ones to accept in this broken world of ours, Jesus. It just doesn’t make sense. With all the abortions and abandoned children, it’s hard to understand this heart-crushing providence. Jesus, I cannot imagine a better home for children to grown up in— help me know how to pray and to love well in the confusion. I’ve got theological categories, but I don’t have much emotional currency right now. Help me love my friends with the kindness you alone can give. Help me resist trying to explain anything. 

In such heartbreaking situations, give freedom for tears, space for grief, room for anger. I praise you that the gospel alone offers such gifts when we walk through these things together. You give and you take away—blessed is your name, O Lord Jesus.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Feeling Scattered  

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment— to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Eph. 1:9–10 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, there are times when I am, as one of my favorites hymns says, “prone to wander . . . prone to leave the God I love.” When I get lulled and dulled into that place, it’s usually because I haven’t been spending unrushed time with you— gazing upon your beauty and bounty, reflecting upon your glory and grace, listening for your singing and rejoicing over me in the gospel. That’s when I get enamored, then hammered, with the illusion that you’re not enough— that someone or something else might make my life more complete. What a maniacal myth. 

But that’s not at all what I’m feeling today. I see your beauty in the gospel, and I do not doubt your love for me one bit. Right now I’m just feeling scattered, splintered, discombobulated, pulled in a myriad of directions with a big school of little piranha nibbling away at my soul. I’m not feeling tempted to do something crazy; I’m just feeling a little crazed. 

I so long for the day when “all things in heaven and on earth” will be brought together in you— that is, “summed up,” integrated, reunited. No more discombobulation, just combobulation! In light of that day, please meet me in this day. Center and settle me, Jesus. Help me to take my thoughts captive; help me to reel in my fluctuating emotions; help me to still the clatter and remove some of the clutter from my spirit. 

You are my head and I am in your heart, and that is enough. I love being loved by you, Lord Jesus. I love you only because you first loved me and gave yourself as a sacrifice of atonement and propitiation for my sins. I am presently and eternally grateful. I pray in your name, and for your glory.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Toasting Jesus  

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father— to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Rev. 1:5–6 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, John’s words have the feel of a toast to them, as though we’ve just finished a great banquet and have risen to our feet with glasses hoisted to honor you, “To him who loves us . . .” That’s really not very far fetched. 

Indeed, there’s no date on the calendar of my heart more anticipated and longed for than the wedding feast of the Lamb— the banquet of all banquets, the mercy meal by which we will celebrate your marriage to us and the inauguration of our shared life together in the new heaven and new earth. Even so, hasten that day, O great bridegroom; hasten that day. 

Until then, please help me grasp the implications of that one enormous little phrase, “To him who loves us. ” Though every page of Scripture either shadows, suggests, or shouts it, to my knowledge this is the only verse in the whole Bible that actually says that you love us. How fitting that this kiss of grace would be found in the opening words to the concluding book of your whole revelation. What a glorious summation of your work on our behalf, and what a magnificent affirmation of the central theme in the history of redemption: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” 

Keep me from taking your love for granted. Humble me over the cost of your love— the cross. Rescue me when other loves seem more appealing or satisfying. Open my heart to the immeasurable dimensions of your love. Focus and free my heart for living out the radical implications of your love. 

To you be the glory and power forever and ever, Lord Jesus! Your bride awaits your return. I pray in your matchless name.

Amen.

A Prayer about Wholly Holy  

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)  

Gracious Father, it’s a source of incredible comfort to know that you are tenaciously at work in changing us— in making us more like Jesus. For you’ve promised to bring to completion the good work you began in your children. 

I’d despair if this wasn’t the case, for the disparity between Jesus’ beauty and my brokenness is overwhelming to me at times. The thoughts I think, the things I feel, the choices I make are so unlike Jesus. I could never be my own savior, and only a great Savior like Jesus is sufficient for someone like me. 

But as the God of peace, you’re making me wholly holy, changing me through and through. You’re freeing every part of my being— spirit, soul, and body— from the effects and affects of sin. You’re not anxious about the process. You’re at peace, even when I’m not. You don’t roll your eyes, furrow your brow, clear your throat, or show any signs of a nervous twitch when you think about me. O kind Father, you rest in your love toward me in Jesus. 

I will be wholly blameless and shameless at your second coming, Lord Jesus, only because you took my blame upon the cross and despised its shame for me. Even now, my life is hidden safely in you, and when you do return, I will appear with you in glory, for you are my life— my righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:31; Col. 3:4). I boast in you, for I have nothing in myself in which to boast. My hope is built on nothing less, nothing more, and nothing other than your blood and righteousness, Lord Jesus! 

So I will actively trust in the righteousness I have passively received in you, Jesus. And I will actively surrender to the very active ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whom I’m sealed, with whom I’m indwelt, and through whom I will be safely delivered into your presence. I pray in your faithful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Good Food and Glad Hearts  

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
(Acts 2:46–47 NIV)  

Jesus, I just got home from a feast. The food was amazing and the fellowship was priceless. I’m not sure when I’ve been as glad to belong to you and your people. The music almost made even me want to dance. Deep-dish apple pie never tasted so good. Multiply these precious, holy, joyful moments. Surely it’s to your praise when we can put aside the busyness and madness of our schedules and simply enjoy enjoyment and enjoy one another.

And to think, I almost didn’t go. Forgive me, Lord. I repent of not wanting to go before we went. I repent of being such a stick in the mud toward my wife. I repent of thinking about the three people I was most dreading being there. I repent of being so small hearted. Grow me up in the gospel, Jesus. Expand the chambers of my heart to take in more of your grace. Free me to be genuinely intrigued with other people. Jesus, that kind of freedom was a sure evidence of your Spirit’s work in the early church. 

Indeed, Jesus, this little taste of rich community tonight has me thinking about our church. We’ve become so good at talking about and defending the gospel, but we don’t really seem to be enjoying it right now. We’ve run off the legalists and moralists, but have we simply become “grace legalists”— self-righteous about the gospel? How could that be? 

Restore to us the joy of your salvation, Jesus. Bring us back to the childlike wonder of our early days of knowing you. May your welcoming heart once again be ex- tended to stranger and friend alike. Oh, to enjoy the favor of those around us sim- ply because you are so clearly in our midst. I pray in your welcoming and renewing name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Teaching Ministry of Grace  

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, up- right, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)  

Jesus, if there’s one teacher I want to excel under, if there’s one curriculum I need to master, if there’s one school I want to do well in, it’s the academy of grace. In the past I’ve either taken education too seriously, turning grades into idols, or I’ve not taken learning very seriously at all, doing only enough to get by. Please help me to become a student of grace, to your glory and for my transformation. 

Your grace first appeared to me like a longed-for sunrise after the bleakest night of darkness. It came quite literally bringing salvation to me, for I could never find it on my own, earn it through my efforts, or even desire it, left to my own sin and foolishness. 

And this is the grace of your gospel, Lord Jesus: you gave yourself for us on the cross to redeem us from sin, to purify us for yourself, to make us eager to do good. Anything less is not the gospel. Anything more is not the gospel. Anything other is not the gospel. If I’m not being challenged and changed by the power of your grace, then how can I say I have ever been sought and saved by the riches of your grace? 

So as one under the pedagogy of your grace, Lord Jesus, help me learn to say an emphatic “No!” to everything that robs you of your glory and an enthusiastic “Yes!” to everything that promotes your honor and reveals your beauty. May my repentances be more notorious than my sins.

May the blessed hope of your future return motivate me toward a greater obedience in the present moment. Jesus, continue to teach me the difference between an uptight life of rigidity and an upright life of holiness. Continue to free me from my unrighteousness and my self righteousness. I pray in your loving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Those Who Wrestle Wild Beasts  

And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day— yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Cor. 15:30–32 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, I have no clue what kind of wild beasts Paul wrestled with in Ephesus, whether they were of the four legged or two legged variety or if they were simply demons. It makes absolutely no difference. For Paul, all of life became a journey and adventure of living out the radical implications of the gospel. Because of your resurrection, he would be resurrected; therefore death held no threat. Because of your resurrection, all “beastliness” will be ultimately eradicated; therefore, he would wrestle anything for your glory. 

Jesus, this moves me to pray today for friends who have taken on various “beastly” callings. I praise you for my friends who have gone to work for the International Justice Mission— for their willingness to work in the seedy, dark world of human trafficking. I thank you for these servants, many of whom endanger themselves every hour. I bless you, Jesus, for the women and children they have already rescued, and I pray for thousands more. Keep them resourced, wise, and filled with the hope of the gospel. 

I pray for my friends living in AIDS colonies in the mountains of Uganda. Jesus, it is so encouraging to know that the percentage of those infected with HIV has decreased in Uganda. Much of this progress has come through the care of your people: good scientists, health care personnel, politicians, and missionaries. Bless their efforts even more. They often get weary in well doing, so bring the grace and truth of the gospel to bear in supernatural ways. Refresh them with your grace. Renew their heart affections for you. Keep their relationships oiled with the Holy Spirit, as sometimes it gets very hard to love one another in such demanding and draining circumstances. 

Jesus, don’t let us sin against these by failing to pray for them. We don’t understand all the mysteries of prayer; we just know you have taught us to pray. Shut the mouths of the beasts by the power of the gospel, for the glory of your name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Refreshment  

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. (Jer. 31:25 NIV)  

Gracious Father, I am like a baby bird in a nest before this promise, with my mouth wide open. I am weary. I haven’t fainted yet, but I am weary. 

It’s heartening to know that I don’t have to pretend around you. I don’t have to feel guilty, feign strength, or make excuses. You meet me in my weariness to refresh me as a loving Father, not reprimand me as a disgruntled coach. You meet me with the gospel, not a scorecard. 

So what am I weary about, Lord? I’m not really sure. I need you to help me sort all that out. It’s probably a combination of things. Though I hate to admit it, I am getting older, and my energy level’s not exactly what it used to be. I know I must make more time to relax, rest, and replenish. And then there’s the “wars and rumors of wars” thing. I never saw the day coming when walking people rather than flying planes would be the delivery system for bombs. 

My weariness probably also has something to do with the energy it takes to stay connected to family and friends. Relationships are so complex, Father. No one knows that better than you. How I long for the day when all brokenness will give way to the perfect blessedness of loving well in the new heaven and new earth. That day cannot come a day too soon. 

We look forward to an eternity of no more pettiness or petulance; no more hardheartedness or fragile heartedness; no more hurt feelings or bullying egos; no more communicating in part or conflicting to win; no more passive aggressiveness or active indifference; no more innuendo or bravado or anything else that hides the beauty of Jesus. 

Indeed, Jesus, there’s no refreshment apart from you. You still cry out in a loud voice for the thirsty ones to come to you and drink. You still call to the weary and heavy laden to come to you for rest. Kiss my heart today with the Good News, the fresh news of the gospel, and it will be enough. Not for a month, or a week, but just for this one day, help me to love others as you love me. I pray in your faithful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about True Blessedness  

Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. (Rom. 4:7–8 NIV)  

Loving Father, I’m thinking about the word blessings today and how this perfectly good word seems to have been taken hostage. There are all kinds of books, DVDs, blogs, broadcasts, podcasts, tweets, and chirps calculated to help me know how to get more “blessings” from you—telling me how to live a life that you reward, decorate, and “bless” or giving me formulas for gaining more of your favor and getting more “favors” from you. 

Though I feel the cynic in me rising, I confess that I’m just as selfish as anyone, and just as committed to a life of personal peace and affluence. Have mercy on me, dear Lord; have mercy on me. 

Like all words, categories, and concepts, true “blessedness” is defined only by you, heavenly Father. You alone have the right to define blessing, and you’ve done so. In the words of a broken king, David (Ps. 32:1–2), and a humbled Pharisee, Paul (Rom. 4:7–8), you’ve made abundantly clear what a “blessed life” is all about. 

I am a most blessed man, for you have completely forgiven all my transgressions, once and for all. You have thoroughly covered my sins by the blood of Jesus. You will never count my sin against me because you counted my sin against Jesus and you now count me righteous in him!

Abba, Father, whether I live in a penthouse or an outhouse, drive a BMW or pedal a bicycle, feast on caviar or munch on a crust of bread, have a retirement fund or live from paycheck to paycheck, wear updated fashion or hand-me- downs— am a blessed man, a truly blessed man. There is no greater state of blessedness than simply to be in Christ. And in those moments of insanity when I’m tempted to think otherwise, bring me back to gospel sanity. I pray in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.

Amen.