Author: Sahed

A Prayer for Parents Learning to Love Their Gay Children  

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. (Ps. 46:1–3)

Dear Jesus, this Scripture seems appropriate in light of the phone call I just finished: a mom and dad in tears, shame, and great confusion—devastated to dis- cover their son is gay. They feel like the earth has given way and the mountains have jumped into the ocean, for the world as they know it has just been turned up side down. 

Jesus, there’s no safer or more welcoming refuge than you. You give us strength when hard stories and fresh crises sap our energy and buckle our knees. No one is better suited to provide gracious help for troubled hearts than you. 

I bring my friends to your throne of grace. They have no clue what this means or what to do next. Please keep them free from stereotypes, bad information, and uninvited helpers. Make your presence palpable to them. 

Unfortunately, like me, they were led to believe that same-sex attraction is the most egregious and twisted form of sin. Because of this, their shock and fear makes them want to assign responsibility and find someone to blame. Don’t let them turn on one another, Jesus. More than anything else, they need you and the grace and wisdom you promise. 

In the next hours and days, calm their hearts and give them kindness beyond their own— your kindness. I pray for a bridge of compassion and communication. Help them see their son not as a leper but as their son. Help them love him as a sinner-saint like they are, not as someone to fix. 

And I pray for their son, Jesus. Help me know how to best serve and care for him. He’s confused about you now that he’s convinced about his homosexuality. Bring your mercy and grace to bear in powerful ways. Keep him far from those who would try to exploit his vulnerability—especially from those with evil intent. 

Though this young man’s story, sin, and weakness are different from mine, I don’t need you any less than he does, Jesus. Help me make that clear as we lean into this next season together. I pray in your gracious and powerful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer Calling Us to Goodness  

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Pet. 2:13–17)  

King Jesus, what but the gospel can explain the change in Peter’s life? The same disciple who nervously tried to protect you from being arrested by the authorities by cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10–11), the same disciple who then fled into the night and denied you three times out of fear— this same disciple calls us to fear only God and to live as model citizens in our broken world filled with broken kings, governors, and authorities. What but the gospel can ex- plain his movement from fear and frenzy to faith and freedom? 

And who but you, Jesus, who reattached Malchus’s ear to his head (Luke 22:51); who but you, who could’ve dispatched “more than twelve legions of angels” (Matt. 26:53); who but you can give us the freedom and courage we need to “silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Pet. 2:15) as we live to your glory in our cities? 

Though your kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36 NIV), your kingdom has broken into this world and one day will utterly transform this world. Because this is true, Jesus, I need you to free me from both extremes of naive passivity and fear- mongering aggression. Very practically, show me what “obeying God and not men” looks like when the claims of your kingdom clash with the values of this world. How do I submit to the authorities for your sake while primarily only bowing my knee and heart to you as my King? 

Please, Lord Jesus, may I only suffer for doing good—not for being fearful, obnoxious, or paranoid. May I be busy with your kingdom and not simply be a busybody (2 Thess. 3:11). Keep changing me the way you changed Peter. I pray in your most glorious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Being Smitten with Jesus  

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. (Heb. 13:9–10)  

Jesus, throughout Lent, you’ve made me glad about several things. I’ve never been more grateful for the family you’ve given me. We’re a broken but beloved bunch— each of us is on the path of groaning and growing in grace. And I praise you for a handful of very good friends, a “gospel posse” with whom to share longings and laughter and the bleakness and bounty of life. We finally know how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, and not just provoke one another. 

In particular, I’m thankful for the ways that you continue to show me more of yourself, for you are the author and perfecter of my faith. I can afford to be flexible about a lot of theological issues, but I can ill afford to be wrong about you. 

Over the past four decades, you’ve been faithful to rescue me from all kinds of “strange teachings,” especially from gospels that are no gospel at all (Gal. 1:6–9). You’ve rescued me from illusions such as graceless legalism and obedience less grace, from politicized gospels and sentimental gospels, from gospels that privatize knowing you and gospels that compartmentalize serving you, from gospels that despise the poor and gospels that empower the rich.

Lord Jesus, well beyond this current season of Lent, continue to smite my heart with more of your glory and your grace. I want to boast much more in your righteousness than in my being right. Strengthen my heart with your grace. Continue to feed me from the altar in the tabernacle of the gospel. Though I know you only in part, you know me perfectly, and that is enough. I pray in your peerless and powerful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for God’s Transforming Presence in Our Worship  

The secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Cor. 14:25 NIV)  

Gracious Father, I’m not afraid for the secrets in my heart to be laid bare today— to be openly exposed and revealed. For I’m confident that you will deal with me not according to my sin but according to the unsearchable riches of the gospel. Other- wise, I would surely fear and despair of such exposure. For in the gospel I find the generosity and kindness of your heart “laid bare” and poured out— your welcome and provision for rebels, fools, and idolaters just like me. 

Indeed, the gospel is the sanctuary where my heart cries the loudest, “God is re- ally among you!” Only the gospel of your grace frees me to fall down and worship you in humility, not humiliation; in gratitude, not groveling; in repentant faith, not uncertain penance; in the assurance of Christ’s righteousness, not the condemnation of my unrighteousness. 

Father, I pray our whole church family will enjoy this same freedom—especially as we gather each Lord’s Day to worship you. In a day when we seem to need more gadgets and gimmicks to create “worship experiences,” free us from needing anything more than the gospel to worship you the way you deserve and delight to be worshiped. 

Teach us how to be stewards of technology, not slaves to technology. Teach us how to be creative, not cute; faithful, not manipulative; simple, not spectacular. Reel us back in anytime we move away from the “sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). And let us never forget that you are not seeking “great worship” but true worshipers— those who worship you “in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23 NIV). 

May our worship be so saturated with the truth and grace of the gospel that nonbelievers will be overwhelmed with your presence and captured by your love. We pray in Jesus’ most wonderful and worthy name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about God’s Delight and My Hope  

His delight is not in the strength of the horse, 
nor his delight in the legs of a man, 
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, 
in those who hope in his steadfast love. (Ps. 147:10–11)  

Compassionate Father, once again I come before you as a repeat offender, a man suffering from doxological dementia, one of your sons who gives you so much opportunity to demonstrate the wonder of your “immense patience” (1 Tim. 1:16 NIV). It’s like I’m a perpetual candidate for summer school in the gospel. 

Why is it that every time I feel a little disconnected from you; every time I get appropriately disappointed with me; every time I experience the accusations of the enemy; every time I see other believers more zealous, missionaries more passionate, and young converts more committed than me— why is it that my default mode is to lace up my running shoes and get busy for you? Instead of running to you for grace, I start running to do something to assuage my guilty conscience and calm my disquieted heart. 

But as this Scripture says, you don’t find any pleasure or delight in the strength and movement of my “legs”— of what I can do for you. You find great pleasure as I put my hope in what you’ve done for me in Jesus. Indeed, where can I find your unfailing, unwavering, unending love? Only in the gospel of your grace. This is so counter intuitive, so contrary to the way I’m wired and the way the world literally works. 

Holy Father, to fear you is the beginning of wisdom, and we fear you the most when we hope most fully in your unfailing love for us in Jesus. Should I forget where I parked my car, the address of my home, or even my own name, may I never forget this glorious gospel. I pray in Jesus’ most grace-full name.

Amen. 

A Prayer Asking Jesus to Intensify Our Thirst for Him  

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. (Ps. 63:1–5)

Dear Jesus, we come before you today asking for the gift of thirst. Renew and intensify our thirst for you. Make us so faint that unless you hydrate our hearts with the gospel, we will surely perish. 

It’s a dangerous thing to no longer deeply crave fellowship with you, Jesus. It’s a deceptive thing to enjoy but no longer actually need you. It’s a deceitful thing to be satisfied with correct theology about you, without experiencing rich communion with you. It’s a demonic thing to find our ultimate satisfaction in anyone or anything else but you. 

Only your steadfast love is better than life, Jesus— only your contra conditional, irrepressible affection for us. Nothing else will do. You have created a gospel- shaped vacuum in our hearts— a screaming empty place that fits only you. Forgive us when we try to cram human love, creature comforts, or anything else into that place. Don’t let us be so easily satisfied. Give us redemptive discontent until our hearts rest again in you.

Jesus, we’re asking this not just for ourselves as individuals, but for our churches as well. Forgive us when we get so organized, creative, and “right” that we no longer miss your presence. Is it really you we are worshiping, or are we just worshiping worship? Is it really you we are serving, or are we just serving ourselves as religious consumers? 

If you actually “left the house,” how long would it take before we knew the  difference? In all honesty, Jesus, how much of what we do in our churches doesn’t require the Holy Spirit at all? Show us, convict us, forgive us, and change us. 

Let us see and experience your power and glory in fresh ways, Jesus. We want to lift our hearts, voices, hands, and whole lives to you as a sacrifice of praise. May the truth and grace of the gospel satisfy us as fat and rich food. We pray with longing hearts.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Longings for Healing  

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:1–2)  

Merciful Jesus, I begin today with one clear image and many pronounced longings. The image is John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, our future home of perfect health. Because of the tree of Calvary, the tree of life will stand tall in the New Jerusalem, bearing the fruit of your great sacrifice, extending its leaves for our complete healing. Oh, to live, play, and praise in the shade of that tree, where every dis- ease, disintegration, and distress will be gone forever! 

My longings are connected to people I love— people in need of all kinds of healing. I pray for marriages of friends to be healed; for the minds of those suffering with mental illness to be healed; for the fabric of our racially torn community to be healed; for the emotions of the demonized to be healed; for friends with stories of abuse, cancer, and heart disease to be healed; indeed, for the nations to be healed . . . 

Even as I pray for these things, Jesus, I don’t understand—and I don’t have to understand— the “already and not yet” of your healing ministry. Why, how, and when you choose to bring a foretaste of perfect health in the present state of our brokenness is up to you. You are the King who does all things well. You don’t need our permission to do anything. 

But help me avoid two extremes: keep me free from faith formulas that treat healing like an on-demand right, and keep me free from a theology that has no expectation of your kingdom breaking in with power and healing. 

More so than ever, I intensely and deeply long for the day of perfect health. Until that day, help me and our church family to anticipate and extend various dimensions of your healing ministry to one another, to our community, and to the nations. I pray in your holy and healing name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Names by Which We Live  

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Rev. 2:17)  

Gracious Jesus, who’d have thought that a quick run to the supermarket would result in a painful study in “naming”? I’m sure that little boy who was straining for his favorite box of cereal has another name than “So Much Trouble” and “Such a Bother.” I hope the husband who shared the paper goods aisle with me calls his wife other things than “Slow,” “Indecisive,” and “Wasteful.” It seems like we live and die by the names we are given, and we harm or heal by the names we give. 

Jesus, you have the name that is above every name. It’s by your name and every- thing your name signifies that I’m forgiven, I’m declared righteous in the sight of God, I’m being healed of every disease, I’m being set free from every bondage, and I’m being “shalomed” and fitted for life in the kingdom. And it’s at your name, Jesus, that one day I will gladly bow my knees with everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:9–11). 

It’s only because you overcame sin and death for me that I call myself an “over comer.” It’s only because you drank the cup of my judgment that I will feast on the “hidden manna” of eternity. It’s only because you are renaming me in the gospel that I’m being delivered from every wrong, cruel, damaging name I’ve ever received or given myself. 

And it’s only through the power, grace, and glory of your name that I’m learning to be so very careful what I call, label, and name others. 

Whether or not there’s literally a new name you’ll give me in heaven, I don’t know. I’ll just have to wait and see. That today you call me “beloved” is enough for now and eternity. I pray in your merciful and matchless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Weary Friends and a Caring Jesus  

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28–30)  

Merciful Jesus, though I slept well, I begin today restless with concern. I’ve got a few friends dangerously depleted, spiritually numb, and close to giving up. 

One can no longer fight the strong undertow of rage she faces every single day in her home. She’d rather drown than continue to fight the cruel current. Another brother lives in a swirling vortex of shame, either unable or unwilling to believe you won’t crush him if he comes to you. Then there’s the married couple who’ve lost sight of the issues and are simply trying to out mean each other. They seem oblivious to the ways their bitterness and bickering are impacting their children. 

Jesus, I am weary and burdened for my friends, and I do bring them to you right now. Out of the strength of your gentleness and the power of your humility, give me what I need to love them well. Show me how to pray and wrestle in the Holy Spirit for them. I take on your yoke because it unites me to you. I simply cannot do this alone. 

Free me to be comfortable with not being able to fix anything. None of this is about my competency; it’s about their crises and your glory. Indeed, more than anything, I want you to receive much glory in each of these three very broken stories. 

Write stories of redemption for your name’s sake. Bring your resurrection power to bear in each of these three situations, I pray. The things that are impossible with me, as a mere man, are more than possible with you. 

Keep me restless for my friends, Jesus, but keep me fully resting in you. I pray in your gentle, humble hearted name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Discerning the Will of God  

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps. (Prov. 16:9 NIV)

Sovereign Father, this promise brings me immeasurable peace, humility, and joy. You’re vitally engaged in determining and directing every one of my steps. You’re working all things together after the counsel of your will. You’re working in all things for your glory and for our good. You open doors no man can shut and you shut doors no man can open. Indeed, you’re no mere life coach; you’re the Lord of all things—including me. 

Many years I labored under the arrogance and anxiety of assuming that if I prayed hard enough and long enough, that if I was really filled with and “tuned into” the Holy Spirit, I could know the specifics of your will for my life well in advance of any decision that needed to be made. Of course, my assumption was that if I was in your will, life would be enjoyable, pleasant, and hassle free. 

If I bought the right car, it would never break down. If I bought the right house, the roof would never leak. If I married the right person, we would never disagree. If I went to the right college, I’d get the right job and life would be all right. If I sent my kids to the right school, they would never act out and would end up on the mission field. If all of this were true, I wouldn’t really need you. 

Father, you’re certainly honored when we work hard to make good plans in keeping with our understanding of the Scriptures. It’s important for us to seek and heed the wise, prayerful counsel of good and godly friends. 

But help us to live with more confidence that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not a consulting partner; a very present Lord, not an absentee landlord; the reigning King, not an impotent bystander. 

Because of Jesus, I’m confident your will is being done, on earth as it is in heaven. I pray in his exalted name.

Amen.