Category: July

A Prayer about Marriage to Jesus 

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:5 NIV) 

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” (Rev. 19:6–7)  

Dear Jesus, today as every day, I need the gospel, and I need the power of the gospel even to believe the gospel. For sometimes the Good News seems just too good to be true. So I pray for grasping power today—power to grasp the multidimensional love that is ours in you, a love that surpasses knowledge but will never diminish through eternity (Eph. 3:14–21). 

Jesus, you are the bridegroom who rejoices over your bride. You’re not just committed to us; you’re not just faithful to us; you’re not just a great provider; you actually love and enjoy us. You’re glad to be married to us. You have no doubts or regrets. You haven’t discovered something recently that makes you wonder what you were thinking when you chose us. You’re not bored with us. You were never just infatuated with us. You don’t look longingly at some other spouse and think, “If only . . .” 

If your great affection for us wasn’t written down so clearly in your Word, I’d never believe it was true or even possible. Continue to free me from my unbelief and under-belief. 

As I meditate on John’s startling vision of our wedding day, I totally understand the thunderous sounds of heaven extolling the wonder of it all. Where can a greater reason for unfettered rejoicing be found? What other hope could possibly generate such unabated gladness? Come, Holy Spirit, come and stun my heart afresh with this good and true news! Renew, refresh, restore to me and my friends the joy of this glorious salvation! 

Jesus, I’m ready for that day for only one reason: you died to make us yours. We wear the wedding garments of your grace— your perfect righteousness freely given to us because of your costly sacrifice for us. That is our only hope and our only boast. May your marriage to us and great love for us profoundly alter and affect every other relationship in which you’ve placed us— every one of them. I pray in your glorious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Accepting One Another  

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Rom. 15:7 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, it’s both settling and centering to begin this day with the assurance of your acceptance. You know everything about me, and still I’m fully and eternally accepted by God in you. You know my failures, fickleness, foolishness, faithlessness . . . and yet you totally accept me. When I confess my sins, I don’t inform you of anything you don’t already know. In fact, I’m probably aware of only 3 or 4 percent of my actual sins. It’s absolutely overwhelming to be this known and this accepted by you. 

I’m the immature younger brother you welcomed home. I’m the self righteous elder brother you constantly pursue. I’m the one lying at your feet whom others would stone, but you have loved. I’ve been up in the tree with Zacchaeus and down in the depths with Peter, and you have accepted me. 

But here comes the difficult part, Jesus. As you’ve accepted me, you’re calling me to accept others. I’ll need all the grace you promise to love like that, for there are a lot of my brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I disagree about many things, including theology, politics, dress, issues of Christian liberty, how to spend money, worship styles, what to do on Sunday, educating children, drinking alcohol, entertainment . . . and that’s just for starters. 

Jesus, I need a bigger gospel heart and more gospel wisdom if I’m going to make headway in this calling. Please help me show kindness without compromising my convictions. Please teach me the difference between essential and nonessential matters. Please show me the difference between acceptance and acquiescence. Please free me from the limitations of my perspective, the prejudices of my heritage, and the insecurities of my comfort zone. Please free me from insincere niceness and the need to be right. 

Let me remember that your promise to bring to completion the good work you began in me also applies to each of your children. Burn the conviction indelibly into my heart: it brings you praise when I work hard at accepting others as you accept me. I pray in your matchless and merciful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Satan’s Main Strategy  

I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:1–3 NIV)  

Gracious Lord Jesus, as I pray my way through this Scripture this morning, two things stand out with flashing neon brilliance. First of all, we already belong to you as a washed, cherished, and betrothed bride. This is our defining identity as your church— your called out, beloved people. Our organization doesn’t define us. Our work doesn’t define us. Our ministries don’t define us. Your relationship with us and your love for us define us. 

We are the people upon whom you have set your heart, for whom you gave your life, and to whom you are returning as a great bridegroom. There’s no other relationship that comes close to offering the peace and hope as your relationship with us— no other. 

This underscores the second thing that stands out in this Scripture: the intensity of Satan’s hatred for the “first thing”— your great love for us, bridegroom to bride. He’ll do anything possible to lead us astray from our sincere and pure devotion to you. 

Satan hates your love for us. Satan hates our love for you. He’ll let us be anything other than a church filled with deep affection and devotion to you. Whether overtly through condemnation and persecution or covertly through seduction and prosperity, his strategy is the same— to steal our hearts away from you. 

Jesus, he will not succeed, for you have crushed his head and you have won our hearts forever. But send your Spirit with fresh convicting and invigorating power. Wake us from our slumber. Restore to us the bridal affections we had for you at first. Rekindle the fire and passion we experienced when it first dawned upon us that you chose us to be your bride. 

We are counted as pure virgins only because you have clothed our nakedness and sin with your blood and righteousness. We are devoted to you, Jesus, only be- cause of your love and devotion to us. Fill our hearts and churches with the sights and sounds of the great wedding feast to come. We make our prayer in your most loving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Consummate Freedom  

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let your- selves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, it’s the Fourth of July— a holiday set aside to remember and revel in the freedom we enjoy as citizens of America. Two things immediately come to mind as I think of the Fourth. I thank you for our country, as broken as she is, and for the liberties and privileges I have as a citizen of the United States. And I thank you that I escaped childhood with all my fingers, given how many fireworks I abused on and around this holiday! 

But that for which I’m most grateful as I think of the Fourth is the consummate freedom I enjoy as a citizen of heaven—as a member of the “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9 NIV). 

To be set free by you, Jesus, is to be free indeed (John 8:36). I will certainly enjoy the pageantry, food, and fun of the Fourth of July this week. But I will resolutely stand firm, for the rest of my life, in the freedom for which you have set us free. 

I praise you, Jesus, that I am free from the guilt of my sin, for you took my place on the cross, exhausting the judgment I deserve. I praise you for freedom over the power of sin, for you have broken its dominion in my life. I praise you for freedom from the fear of death, for you removed its sting and robbed the grave of its victory. 

I praise you that I can now obey God from my heart, and not out of pride, pragmatics, or pretense. I praise you for the freedom to come boldly to the throne of grace, into the very Holy of Holies, for you have secured this “new and living way” for us. I praise you for the freedom of repentance, for you have borne my shame and I don’t have to pretend or pose anymore. I praise you for the freedom to risk, instead of rusting the rest of my life, for life is no longer about performance but about your praise. 

Jesus, by the power of the gospel, I will seek to stand firm in these and many more freedoms you’ve won for us, and I will seek to resist all slaveries until the day you return to finish this magnificent “liberation suite.” Hallelujah, what a Savior you are! Hallelujah, what a salvation you freely give us! I pray in your liberating and lovely name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Glory to be Revealed  

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8:18–21 NIV)  

Heavenly Father, first of all, please know that I do not presume on the privilege of calling you Abba, Father. What a sacred and joyful honor. It’s only because of the work of Jesus that I dare refer to you by such an intimate and comforting name. How I praise you for adopting me into your family and into your future. 

Indeed, Father, I’m stunned and stirred as I think about the future you’ve secured for us, your beloved children, and for the whole of creation— a future that puts all suffering, decay, and bondage into perspective. Oh, that I might know more of the “eager expectation” for “glorious freedom” that marked Paul’s life and groans within creation. 

“Glorious freedom”— may those two words be tattooed on my heart, an irrepressible melody in my spirit, the lens through which I see all things and participate in your work in the world. Not just “freedom” but “glorious freedom”—  freedom filled with your glory! 

Please, Father, open the eyes of my heart wider to behold the “glory to be revealed” in us and in creation. Heal me of spiritual myopia. Get the morning gunk out of my eyes. Do gospel laser surgery so that I can behold these things more clearly, and live and love accordingly. 

I don’t want just to quote Paul but to join Paul in proclaiming, “I consider that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.” 

In the midst of decay, I want to be for your delight. In the frustrations of creation, let me savor the first fruits of your salvation. Rather than being weighed down by present sufferings, I want to be hope filled by future liberations. I pray in Jesus’ strong and saving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about New Heart Softness  

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek. 36:25– 27)  

Gracious Father, your promise of a new heart beating within my breast shouts of your mercy and might. There are few things I need or want more, and I praise you for how much of this great new covenant promise you’ve already fulfilled in your children. 

Already I’ve experienced the greatest of all sprinklings—the once and for all cleansing by the blood of Jesus. Though I’m still sucker punched by the accusing and condemning work of Satan, you’ve forgiven me of all of my sins: past, present, and future; sins of word, thought, and deed. May this grand affirmation never fall glibly from my lips. May this good news never be blasé or cliché to me. 

Father, you’ve already declared your children to be perfectly righteous in your sight forever— a status that makes me yearn for the complete healing of my yet- to-be perfected heart. How I long for the day when my heart will beat only for Jesus’ glory, be enamored of his beauty, feel with his passion, think with his wisdom, and love with his affection. 

Indeed, that’s what I’m most earnestly desiring today. By the work of your in dwelling Spirit, change my heart, Father. The image of a heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh is no mere metaphor to me; it’s a gospel miracle. I want a kind heart, a tender heart, a sweet heart, a compassionate heart, a caring heart, a servant’s heart, a soft heart— the heart of Jesus. 

I long to be more restful and less resentful, more merciful and less mercenary, quicker to listen than to speak, quicker to be flexible than rigid, more likely to be consoling than controlling, more often saying yes than no. 

I want to forgive from my heart and not just avoid the pain of conflict. I want to encourage people for their good, not flatter them for my benefit. I want to see what you see in others and not obsess over what I want for others. I want to feel joy and hope every time I hear your name and not feel rejection and self pity when I don’t hear my name. Like John the Baptist, I want Jesus to increase and me to decrease. 

I praise you, Father, for promising just such a heart through the resources of the gospel. My longings, hopes, and prayers are not in vain. I pray with fresh gratitude, in Jesus’ matchless name.

Amen.   

A Prayer of Thanks for Long-Standing Friends  

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. (Philem. 1:7) 

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him— a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Eccles. 4:9–12)  

Heavenly Father, I cannot imagine how storms can be navigated, burdens borne, and hardships handled without the company of a few good friends. I praise you today for the gift of friendship— for the joy, encouragement, and refreshment you’ve just given me through a special band of brothers. It could not have come at a better time. 

When we walk through difficult seasons we’re sometimes inclined to think, “No one can possibly understand what I’m going through; no one can begin to relate to my feelings and confusion; no one is a mess like me.” Those are the times when it’s easy to withdraw into isolation, fall into the pit of condemnation, and reach for some ill chosen medication. That’s when the gift of long-standing friends becomes especially precious. 

Father, I praise you for the gift of hearing my friends say these two words: “Me too.” I praise you for brothers who know how to “refresh the hearts of the saints”— including this saint. I praise you for friends who remind me of the truth and power of the gospel, of the love of Jesus, and of the bigger story you are always writing. 

I praise you for friends who share their lives and not just their gospel. I praise you for friends who offer tears and not just their answers. I praise you for friends who give life-giving wisdom and not just mess fixing formulas. 

Father, these cherished friendships turn my heart heavenward. They simply re- mind me that the foundation and fountain of all good friendship is found in you. I praise you for befriending us in the gospel. It is overwhelming, settling, and centering to hear Jesus say to us, “I no longer call you servants. . . . I call you friends” (John 15:15 NIV). What wondrous love is this, indeed? “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NIV). Hallelujah, what a salvation! Hallelujah, what a Savior! I pray in Jesus’ most glorious and gracious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Joy of Becoming Less  

They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan— the one you testified about— look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:26–30 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, I’m not sure about a wardrobe of camel’s hair clothing and a diet of locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4), but I am sure I want more of John the Baptist’s joy— the joy of you becoming greater while I become less. Indeed, John leaped for joy at the very thought of you even before he was born (Luke 1:39–41). Could you, would you do the same in my heart? 

Jesus, when I try to imagine this kind of joy and freedom, I get really excited . . . and a bit quiet. What would it be like to have a joy largely defined by people making much about you— so much, in fact, that I wouldn’t really notice them not making much about me? That would bring greater freedom from the insecurities of my pride and from my desire for the approval of others. 

Jesus, what would it be like to want your name to be loved and vindicated a zillion times over mine? What would it be like to wait and listen for your voice a whole lot more than impatiently clamoring for my voice to be heard? That would bring more freedom from my need to be understood and to be in control of my reputation. Jesus, what would it be like to experience greater grief when people don’t “get” you than when they don’t “get” me? What would it be like to say with John, “A per- son can receive only what is given them from heaven” (John 3:27 NIV) and really, really mean it— to accept the giving and the taking away in life equally as sovereign appointments from your throne of grace? That would bring freedom to love and serve you no matter what. 

Jesus, most kind and beautiful bridegroom, bring more of this joy and freedom to my expectant heart. I pray in your priceless and peerless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Jesus’ Shameless Love for Us  

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” (Heb. 2:11–13)  

Dear Lord Jesus, I’ve thought, said, and done a lot of things about which I am truly ashamed. I’ve been painfully shamed, and I’ve inexcusably shamed people I dearly love. Shame is a pillaging thief, one that robs us of dignity, freedom, and joy. So when I hear you say you’re not ashamed of us— that you’re not ashamed to call me your brother— it humbles and gladdens me like nothing else. 

Indeed, Jesus, you’re the only one who can break the binding power of our shame because you have completely broken the condemning power of our guilt. How we praise you for doing everything necessary to deal with the ways we’ve been both agents and victims of sin— sin that has led to multiple layers of shame. 

We freely cry, “Abba, Father,” because you first cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). You took all the guilt and all the shame of our sin on the cross. I really do believe this. I really want to experience it more fully. 

Because God has placed us in you, we are now “of the same family.” What more could we possibly want in this life and the life to come? And you’re the only one who can make us holy, for you are our wisdom from God— that is, our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). What peace, what transcendent and everlasting peace this brings to our hearts. 

Jesus, now you constantly sing to us of the Father’s love— you declare his praises to our hearts every time we hear the gospel; every time we gather with our brothers and sisters to worship the Triune God; every time we take the bread and cup of holy communion; every time we read the Scriptures; every time we listen to your voice in creation proclaiming the majesty and mercy of God. 

Jesus, you’re not ashamed of us— you’re not ashamed of me. This is the theology I passionately defend. Make it the doxology in which I fully delight. I pray with joy, in your most holy and compassionate name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Regaining Perspective  

When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Ps. 73:21–26 NIV)

Gracious Father, the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to appreciate the many characters and voices you’ve recorded for us in your Word. There’s no moment or scenario I’ll experience in life that you haven’t anticipated. Such is the reach and riches of the Scriptures. Today I praise you for writing into Israel’s hymnal a song for the bitter and the beastly.

There are times when I forget that I’m living in a fallen world, with a fragile heart, among people just as foolish as me. When my fellowship with you gets broken, I’m capable of acting out in very harmful ways. I lose perspective and love poorly. My expectations of you and of others become more connected to la-la land than to reality. I become just like the psalmist Asaph— an envious, angry, senseless mess. 

That you tolerate me in those times of disconnect is extraordinary. That you still treasure me when I lose touch with gospel sanity is astonishing. When I shake my fist at you, your grasp of grace is all the tighter. When I complain about a stony silent heaven, you’re actively, quietly guiding my every footstep. When I try to ignore, spite, or run away from you, you’re just as resolved to end my journey in the full presence of your glory. The gospel really is this big and this good. 

Such love melts my icy heart. Continue the thaw. I’m not just the biggest loser when I pitch my tent in the land of disconnected heart. I’m also a thief, robbing a lot of people who are dear to me. Rescue me from my self centeredness and demandingness.

Amen.