Category: June

A Prayer for Quick, Engaged Listening  

Know this, my beloved brothers: Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. (James 1:19–20)  

Lord Jesus, I need this word today, a lot. People who love me have confronted me about being a poor listener, which is really more a case of hardly listening. You’ve given me two ears and one mouth, and the anatomical ratio is no mere accident. Help me become a much more engaged listener. 

I’ll take my cue from you, Jesus. There’s no one more quick to listen. I never have to snap my fingers to get your attention. I never have to reel you back into focus. I never catch you looking away, as though you’re bored with me. I never have to repeat myself several times to make sure you heard what I really said. You never interrupt me. You never spin what I’m saying. You never talk over me when I’m trying to tell you something. There’s no one who listens as attentively, respectively, and compassionately as you. 

I don’t need healing for deafness but grace for listening— first and foremost to you, Jesus. You’re always speaking, through the Scriptures, and you speak only words of life. What a foolish man I am not to hang on to every syllable you utter. 

Help me give my wife, my children, and my friends the gift of being really heard. I find no joy in frustrating the very people who love me. Bring the gospel to bear in such a way that I will become more notorious for my good listening than for my frequent speaking. 

It’s a humbling joy to confess specific sin to you today, Jesus. I’m confident of your care and help. I pray in the riches of your great name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Singing of Redeemed Creation  

I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev. 5:13–14)  

Dear Jesus, I really need to connect with John’s vision and promise today. Even as my heart breaks and my anger grows over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and any of a number of environmental disasters, and even as I know that you order and use such hard providences in creation to humble the arrogant and grant repentance to the contrite (Rev. 8–9) . . . nevertheless I’m thankful that one day we’ll enjoy the perfected and never to be broken again world of the new heaven and new earth. I’m filled with hope by your promise of the new creation world of inviolate beauty, goodness, and truth. I greatly long for the day when creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will enjoy the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:18–25). 

By faith I can already hear the faint but sure singing of every creature “in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them” (Rev. 5:13) singing to you, Jesus. But what will that frustration-free (Rom. 8:20), fully engaged, full throated, pan-creature symphony and chorus actually sound like? I’ll gladly wait to see and hear. 

Until that day, grant me the gospel sanity to want the conversion of your people more, much more, than I want an oil slick–free holiday by the sea. If by hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, oil spill, or whatever else your saving purposes are realized, I’ll humbly submit, even as I’ll also keep seeking to be a good steward of “the first heaven and the first earth” (Rev. 21:1) until the appearing of the new heaven and new earth. I pray with a conflicted yet hopeful heart, in Jesus’ name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Gospel for Breakfast  

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
(Ps. 143:8)  

Heavenly Father, I cannot conceive of a better way to begin every day than feasting on the gospel. Lay the big breakfast buffet out before me, give me the choice of any and every delicacy imaginable, and I’ll choose words of your unfailing love for me in Jesus, every time. 

There’s no nutrient I need more than the fresh manna of your grace. Nothing tastes as sweet as the assurance of your welcome, presence, and affection. I’ve never met a carbohydrate I didn’t like, but just send me ample supplies of the Bread of Life and I’ll be a happy camper— far better than that, I’ll be a different man. 

Indeed, Father, I’m not just looking to be a satisfied consumer of the gospel. I need your unfailing love for the challenges of the day— this day. 

Apart from the gospel, I’ll whine more than I’ll worship. Apart from the gospel, I’ll judge people more than I’ll seek to understand them. Apart from the gospel, I’ll get my feelings hurt quicker than being careful not to offend others.

Apart from the gospel, I’ll avoid people who want more from me than I want to give them. Apart from the gospel, I’ll react selfishly to irritants rather than responding graciously. Apart from the gospel, I’ll talk more than I listen. Apart from the gospel, I’ll think about me much more than I think about you. Apart from the gospel, I won’t risk anything; I’ll do just enough to get by. Apart from the banquet of the gospel, I’ll be reaching for junk food all day long, literally and figuratively. 

Father, because of your unfailing love for me in Jesus, I have put my trust in you. I do lift my soul up to you, right now. Show me the way I should go this very day. Show me what thinking, feeling, and choosing in line with the truth of the gospel requires of me, and then give me that supply. I pray in Jesus’ beautiful and bountiful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Friends in Crisis  

On one of those days, as he [Jesus] was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. (Luke 5:17–19)  

Most loving Jesus, I begin today with a sense of urgency for a few friends. Though I don’t have to rip tiles off a roof to bring them to you, I would if need be. For you alone have the authority to forgive sins and the power to heal every disease. 

You alone have the Spirit without measure. You alone care for the poor, bind broken hearts, free captives, release prisoners, bestow God’s favor, comfort mourners, provide for grievers, and bring beauty, gladness, and praise (Isa. 61:1–3). What a Savior you are! And everything you do, you do with so much joy. 

Jesus, for my brother who is absolutely paralyzed with fear, grant him your peace and heavenly wisdom. He has every right to be afraid because he is living in a vortex of great darkness. Important decisions have to be made and broken people well cared for. For your glory, show yourself as the God who is mighty to save. 

Jesus, for my married friends who used to live face to face in kindness and affection but now live back-to-back with rancor and stubbornness, raise the dead, O God of resurrection. There is no hope unless you replace stony hearts with hearts of flesh. Both of them need to come to the cross, and soon, but at least soften one of my hardened friends. Bring somebody to gospel sanity so the other spouse will see beauty and dare to hope again. 

Jesus, for my friend who lives with three hours of sleep a night, unrelenting depression, and haunting memories of inconceivable abuse, I simply cry for mercy, Jesus. With wet eyes, not clenched fists, I simply ask, “How long, O Lord? How long before my friend knows the freedom and healing you alone can give?” 

This I know for sure, Jesus: you do all things well, even if you don’t do some things the way I want you to. In your merciful and mighty name I pray.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Itchy Ears and Loving the Word  

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage— with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
(2 Tim. 4:2–3 NIV)  

Lord Jesus, many times when I read this Scripture, I immediately think of certain characters on TV whose perversions of the gospel raise my ire and dander like nothing else. In my heart I can become a serial killer of certain televangelists quick- er than I can swat a mosquito. I confess this as sin, Jesus. I’m not boasting about or justifying my attitude. 

But today, as I meditate on this Scripture, I’m looking in the mirror, not at the TV. What do I do when my ears get itchy— when my demand for pleasure, relief, or getting my way is stronger than my commitment to your glory? What do I do when the Scriptures say one thing and yet my wandering, bored, selfish heart yearns for something else? 

Jesus, I know who to call when I want to hear what I want to hear: my code pendent friends who are more afraid of disappointing me than they are committed to speaking the truth in love. I know what authors to read, what podcasts to listen to, what blogs to visit when I want a “second opinion”— that is, when I want to suit my own desires rather than serve the purposes of God. 

Jesus, continue to prepare me for in-season and out of season living. Deepen my love for and submission to the Word. I ask you to correct, rebuke, and encourage me with the gospel every single day. Show me yourself in every portion of the Bible, for that’s where the soundest doctrine will be found. 

Lastly, Jesus, help me be a better friend to my friends. I don’t want to be one of the very first people they call when they simply want to hear what they want to hear. I don’t want to be an ear-scratching friend but a good friend— a gospel friend. I pray in your holy and loving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about What It’s All About  

For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. (1 Cor. 8:6 NIV)  

Dear Lord, I’ve always appreciated people who are able to “cut to the chase” no matter what the topic is. Just give me an accurate summation and comprehensive distillation of the issue, and I’m good to go. The apostle Paul has done precisely that for me in this one remarkable verse of Scripture. 

Truly, there is no other God but you, and with immeasurable kindness, you’ve chosen to relate to us as the Father from whom all fatherhood derives its meaning (Eph. 3:14–15). You’re not simply the best father there ever was, you are the quintessential Father. Everything comes from you—everything: my first breath, my next breath; my first heartbeat, my last heartbeat. You were a great Creator before you became a generous Redeemer. There’s nothing that I have that I didn’t receive from you (1 Cor. 4:7). It is for you that I live. I say this by faith, desiring an even greater manifestation in my life. 

Truly, there is no other Lord but you, Jesus. You are the Christ, the promised and present Savior. Through you the Father created the world, through you he granted salvation, through you he’s sustaining all things, and through you he’ll complete his great story of redemption and restoration. It is through you that I live and move and have my being, Jesus (Acts 17:28). Autonomy is a pernicious myth, self salvation a demonic lie. I have been justified, I am being sanctified, and I will be glorified by faith alone (the faith you give me) and by grace alone (the grace you give me). 

And God the Holy Spirit, I see these things, understand these things, and believe these things because of your powerful and persistent work. Though you are the most silent member of the Godhead, you are so very present. I pray today in Jesus’ peerless name, to the glory of the Triune God!

Amen. 

A Prayer about Singing in the Chaos  

With harps of God in their hands . . . they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev. 15:2–4)  

Sovereign Father, every single time I begin to get a little antsy, anxious, or angry about national and international politics, you center my heart with the music of heaven. What did followers of Jesus need in the crazy-making chaos of first-century Rome? The same thing we followers of Jesus need in the crazy-making chaos of our twenty-first-century global community. We need to sing your story. We need to sing our theology. We need to sing the gospel! 

Hand me a harp today, Father. I’ll gladly join the heavenly chorus singing the song of Moses— a song of your Exodus grace, deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, deliverance into a land of freedom. But I’ll sing the song of the Lamb even louder! For Jesus has delivered us from sin and death, into the glorious freedom of the children of God, and Jesus will deliver us into the ultimate land of freedom— the new heaven and new earth!

Father, I choose to live and sing in light of the day when all nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been and are being revealed so clearly in the gospel. Great and marvelous are your deeds of mercy and grace in Jesus, Lord God Almighty. 

All of your ways, in heaven and on earth, are just and true, for you are the King of the ages. Every other king gets the “fifteen minutes in the spotlight” you appoint them, but you alone are “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God,” and to you “be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17 NIV). 

I’ll not be afraid of any human king, but I will fear you, Lord, for you alone are holy and you alone are good. As the gospel does its work in my heart, I pray my thoughts, words, and deeds will increasingly bring you glory. I pray in Jesus’ sovereign and saving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Boss of My Heart  

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Col. 3:15 NIV)  

Gracious Jesus, today, like every day, somebody or something is going to gain the upper hand on the attention and affection of my heart. My heart will be ruled— that’s an indisputable fact. Some entity will be the boss of me. It could be my bitterness, pettiness, or cowardice. It could be the shaming power of darkness. It could be overbearing or aggravating people. It could be my greed to have a little more. It could be religion or my hatred of religion. It could be old regrets or new fantasies. 

But by faith, right now, I choose your peace as the ruler of my heart, as the boss of me, as the centering and sending power for this one day. And who knows peace better than you, Jesus? You are the Prince of Peace! On the cross you secured God’s peace with me and my peace with God. The enmity and hostility between us have been obliterated and eradicated. Peace with God is now a legal right of mine, a done deal, a settled issue. How can I not overflow with gratitude as this day begins and as it continues? 

Jesus, please make this legal right a personal delight— an actual power mightily at work in my heart today and in all my relationships. Yours is a much better story than simply a tale of calming down my restless, wandering heart. Yours is a story of reconciling love. You make enemies friends. You humble stubborn people. You soften hard people. You make angry people gentle. 

Because you have forgiven me, I will choose to forgive others. Because you have forgiven me, I will choose to ask forgiveness from others. Because you are at peace with me, I will do everything within my power to live at peace with others. I pray in your holy and persistent name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Trusting Jesus in Transitions  

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life. (Ps. 143:8 NIV)

Dear Jesus, in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, and throughout the night, keep on bringing us word of your unfailing love. That’s all we need; that’s all we really need. By the Holy Spirit, incessantly gossip the gospel in our inmost ear. Wrap the good news of your boundless, endless affections around our hearts tighter and tighter and tighter. Permeate every bit of our being with your fresh mercies, stead fast love, and transforming grace, for we have put our trust in you. 

Jesus, it’s the assurance of your unfailing love that enables us to trust you with the transitions we go through in life and the uncertainties about the future. Change is never easy. Change makes us feel vulnerable, fearful, and insecure. We get tempted, once again, to be our own savior. Spare us that misery, Jesus; spare us and those we love. Don’t let us go there, even for a moment. May your Word dwell in us richly, your peace rule in us powerfully, and your glory be our main passion and delight. 

We’ve entrusted our lives to you, Jesus, because you alone are trustworthy. We’ve given you our sins, wounds, brokenness, and weakness. Now, in fresh surrender, we give you our planning for the next season of our lives. Show us the way we should go through our transitions— transitions of age and stage, career and calling, health and finances, relationships and ministries. Write stories of redemption beyond our wildest dreams and hopes. It’s all about you, Jesus— not us, you. 

We’re not so arrogant as to expect all the details. Just take us by the hand and lead the way. Shepherd us, Jesus. Open doors we cannot shut and shut doors we cannot open. All we need to know is that you love us and that you’re with us. You’ve promised us both, and you do not lie. We pray in your peerless and price- less name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Seeing Much More of the Gospel  

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:4)  

Jesus, I thank you for the gift of another day. Please fill my gaze with your beauty, my mind with your truth, and my heart with more of the gospel— much more of the gospel. If the main strategy of the kingdom of darkness is to keep unbelievers in the dark about the gospel of your glory and grace, why would I think evil would choose some other tactic for believers? So as I pray for my unbelieving friends today, I also pray for myself. 

Jesus, reveal more and more of the gospel to me—more and more of who you really are; more and more of what you’ve already accomplished by your life, death, and resurrection; more and more of what you’re continuing to do in your commitment to make all things new; more and more of what it’s going to be like to live with you and the whole family of God in the new heaven and new earth. Show me, convince me, dazzle me, change me . . . and then show me more. 

Don’t let me frame any notion of God apart from you, for you are the very image of God— God incarnate. Don’t let me read any part of the Bible without thinking about you—for everything written about you in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). Don’t let me desert you by turning to some other gospel— which is really no gospel at all (Gal. 1:6–7). As the gospel is producing fruit and growing all over the world, so may it enlarge my heart and bring forth fruit to your glory (Col. 1:6). 

Jesus, if you’ve moved me from total blindness to a 20/200 vision of the gospel, take me on to 20/100, then 20/50, then 20/20, then 20/15, until the day I see you with glorified eyes. In that day I will see you as you are, and I will be like you (1 John 3:2). Hallelujah! By the light of this hope, I surrender to your purposes for this day. I pray in your peerless name.

Amen.