Category: June

A Prayer for Bringing Our Fears to Jesus  

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Rev. 12:10–11)  

Dear Lord Jesus, even as these words first thundered from heaven by a loud voice, so shout this good news into my heart today. What a focusing and freeing perspective on spiritual warfare. We live in the “now” of your salvation, power, kingdom, and authority, Lord Jesus— not the “not so long from now” but the now. You’re calling us to warfare, not war ear.

I cannot help but wonder if Martin Luther was meditating on this passage when he wrote these remarkable words: “And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.” O sing, my heart, sing the praises of Jesus! The Prince of Peace has gloriously triumphed over the Prince of Darkness! 

Indeed, Lord Jesus, though Satan is yet to be removed, you have already thoroughly routed him. The “accuser of our brothers” has been eternally defeated by you, the great Lover of your bride. It’s because you loved us so much that you didn’t “shrink from death” on the cross. Now, in light of your irrepressible love, empower us to love you more than we fear death. Empower us to show up rather than shrink back. Empower us for overcoming the darkness in our hearts, our communities, our culture. 

We will overcome, not by our muscle but by your mercy— by the sacrifice of your blood and our grateful testimonies to your glory and grace. Indeed, Jesus, may the Spirit declare the gospel so loudly in our hearts that it literally drowns out Satan’s constant protestations of our guilt. Indeed, how can I— how can we— keep from singing? “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.” 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I pray in your holy and wholly trustworthy name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Children and Child likeness  

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:15– 17 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, there’s no more important or necessary gift we can give our children than to keep on bringing them to you. Whether they’re babies, teenagers, or adults themselves, it makes no difference. At every stage of life, our kids need you, Jesus. 

For our children who’ve yet to find life in you, have mercy on them and bring them to a saving knowledge of yourself, Jesus. They don’t just need to “grow up.” They don’t need religion. They don’t need moral reform. They need the gospel of your grace. Show them how much they need you, and show them how much you love them. Keep them restless until they rest in your complete forgiveness and perfect righteousness. More than we want Harvard for our children, we want heaven. 

Jesus, some of us grieve the ways we’ve made the gospel less than beautiful and believable to our children. Forgive us, and show yourself to be the God who is limited by nothing, including parental self righteousness. Transcend the ways we’ve blown it. But also grant us humility and grace to repent, first before you and then to them. Free us to give our children the gift of our repentance. For our children who know you but currently seem to have waning or zero inter- est in you, or even ambivalence or antipathy toward you, hear our cry. Restore to them the joy of your salvation. Our confidence is in our Father’s promise to bring to completion the good work he’s begun in each of us, but Jesus, we cannot afford to be either presumptuous or passive. Work powerfully. Work presently. Work persistently, Jesus, we ask for your name’s sake. Give us patience with their doubts. Give us forbearance in their struggles. Give us grace to welcome prodigals home.

Lastly, Jesus, we ask you to restore us to the child likeness of our early days of knowing you. Free us from childishness, indeed, but renew our hearts in childlike joy, playfulness, gratefulness, and simplicity. Our bodies and minds are getting older, but cause our hearts to dance again in the utter and matchless delights of being loved by you. I pray in your glorious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Stewardship of Woe  

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Cor. 9:16)  

Loving Jesus, I know that “to woe” is to express dread, distress, and despair— an orientation toward life with which I’m quite familiar, for I’ve certainly done my share of “woeing.” “Woe is me, I’ve got pimples before my date.” “Woe is me, I got cut from the team.” “Woe is me, I didn’t get into my school of choice.” “Woe is me, I got left off the party list.” “Woe is me, I didn’t get the job I really wanted.” I learned how to “woe” early in life. That’s why this small portion of the Word is so convicting and refreshing. 

“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” Make us the kind of people, like Paul, who are so taken and captured with the gospel that all of life is measured in terms of the gospel— who you are and what you’re up to, Jesus. 

May our joys be defined by the incalculable riches of the gospel. May our thinking be shaped by the liberating truths of the gospel. May our dreams be fueled with the wondrous future of the gospel. May our hopes be bound up with the guaranteed advancing of the gospel. May our peace be strengthened by the resurrection power of the gospel. May our choices be regulated by the kingdom priorities of the gospel. May our satisfaction be intensified by the fruit bearing presence of the gospel. May our woes be primarily determined by how little we “get” of the gospel. 

We’re not all gospel preachers, in terms of gifts and calling, but every follower of Jesus is to be a consumer and conduit of the gospel of your grace and kingdom. Forgive us, Jesus, when we waste our woes by feasting on our disappointments and criticizing others. I pray in your peerless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for More Freedom in Worship  

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! (Ps. 150)

Most gracious Father, it occurs to me as I meditate on this psalm that I need a much bigger heart for the purposes of your praise. I need the gospel to expand my palate, multiply my taste buds, and increase my capacity to enjoy the rich diversity of worship that is offered by your pan-cultural beloved people. 

My tendency is to treat this psalm, like many parts of your Word, as though it were a buffet line from which I pick and choose the items that I personally enjoy. What’s worse, I find ways to marginalize or eliminate expressions that don’t fit within my bandwidth of beauty. I love harps and lyres and strings and flutes, but trumpets make me cringe as I wait for a sour note, tambourines remind me of bad theology, clashing and resounding cymbals are simply too loud and non melodic for me, and there’s no way I’m going to dance. Father, all of this I confess as sin. My heart is just too small, too turned in on me. 

Oh, how I long for the day when the work of Jesus will be complete in my heart, when I will no longer be the measure of anything and I will no longer offer a measured response to your glory and grace. I long for the day when I will find great joy in celebrating your surpassing greatness with the whole family of God, with all of restored creation, with every single breath, instrument, sound, molecule, and nano particle. 

Your greatest praiseworthy act of power was in sending, offering, and raising Jesus from the dead for us— for me. May the limits of my worship and praise be determined only by the riches and reach of the gospel. I pray in Jesus’ magnificent and merciful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about a Most Glorious Appointment  

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thess. 5:9–11)  

Merciful Father, there are some appointments I dread like the black plague, others I tolerate like slow traffic, a few I simply forget, and others I celebrate as the high- light of my week. But there is one appointment on the books that I’m looking forward to with mounting joy and with exponential gratitude. 

In your sovereign grace and quintessential kindness, you’ve booked me for the day of salvation in Jesus. You have counted me among those upon whom you have set your eternal affections in Christ. You’ve guaranteed that come “hell or high water,” I am yours, now and forever. The salvation you generated within me, and in each of your children, will be brought to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. That’s an inviolate appointment that you’ve made and signed with the indelible grace of the gospel— the blood of the Lamb. 

Jesus, I praise you for your tender mercies and measureless sacrifice. For you gladly took the appointment of wrath on the cross— sustaining the judgment we deserve, enduring the suffering for our sins, paying the penalty we owe. And you did it all so that whether we are “awake or asleep”— alive or dead— we might be with you. 

That you actually want us and want us to be with you is overwhelming. Indeed, this is love, not that we loved you, but that you first loved us and gave yourself as a sacrifice of atonement and propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). 

In light of this good news and this unbreakable appointment, please use me as a source of encouragement in the lives of my brothers and sisters. By the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, make it obvious to me who needs a call today, a note, a face-to-face visit, a word of hope, earnest prayer for very present struggles, doubts, and fears. I pray in your kind and compassionate name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Why We Love Jesus  

But he [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
(Heb. 9:26–28 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, there are so many convincing reasons why you are singularly worthy of being loved, praised, trusted, and served. But as I begin this day, I want to rehearse some of those many reasons out loud—for any of a number of pseudogods, wannabe gods, and demigods will be clamoring for my heart’s attention and affection today. Help me, my family, and my friends to love you with focused abandon and unwavering allegiance. 

Jesus, you expressly came into the world of time zones and molecules, at the “end of the ages,” at the appointed time in the history of redemption, to “do away with sin”— to take away the sins of your people, which includes my sins. The price was your life of perfect obedience, including obedience to death on the cross. Never let me think or speak of your offering glibly, mindlessly, presumptuously, or with a yawn, for the implications of your sacrifice are astounding. 

Of these things we can be certain: Jesus, you’ve exhausted the penalty of our sins. Though I’m still destined to die, I’ve already been delivered from judgment because of your once and for all sacrifice. You’ve broken the power of sin. Sin’s dominion has been destroyed in my life. You’re the boss, and the reign of grace is secure and is expanding. And when you “appear a second time,” you’ll rid my being and the entire cosmos of the very presence of sin. 

Jesus, there is no other Savior like you. You’ve borne sin and you’re bringing salvation; you’ve borne our sin and you’re bringing us salvation; you’ve borne my sin and you’re bringing me salvation! Love you? Indeed! Wait for you? Like a much- loved bride longing for her much anticipated wedding day. Even so, Lord Jesus, come! We pray in your matchless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Freedom from Resentment  

The godless in heart harbor resentment. (Job 36:13 NIV)  

Dear heavenly Father, whether it’s the annoying fly interrupting my needed nap, the thoughtless words spoken by a trusted friend, the new ding in my twelve year old car, or the old hurt that generates fresh pain, resentment never helps; it only hurts. 

To harbor resentment is nothing short of harboring a criminal, for resentment is bent on criminal activity: stealing peace, vandalizing sleep, robbing relationship, killing kindness, murdering hope, infecting the innocent with deadly toxins, to name a few of resentment’s crimes. Indeed, as much energy is being wasted as oil spills into the Gulf of Mexico. There’s no greater waste of energy than resentment. 

But worst of all, Father, resentment is a contradiction, a blatant misrepresentation of who you are and how you relate to us in Jesus. For if anyone has a right to hold a grudge, to keep a record of wrongs done, to rehearse and remember our sins against us, it is you. 

Yet you do not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is your love for those who fear you; as far as the east is from the west, that’s how far you’ve re- moved our transgressions from us. You’re the Father who has compassion on us as your children (Ps. 103:10–13). You show us neither vexation of spirit nor exasperation of heart, so great is your love for us in Jesus. 

So Father, by the love that sent Jesus to the cross and by the power that raised him from the dead, continue to heal and change me. I don’t want to be godless in heart but want to be gracefull in heart. I want to be free even from resenting other people’s resentment. I pray in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Essence of Eternal Life  

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)  

Jesus, meditating on this passage this morning has been like revisiting an old friend, for I can remember the first time I memorized this verse and you began writing it upon my heart. That was over forty years ago, yet I feel like I’m just beginning to understand the true wonder of eternal life— the life that is ours, that is mine, only because of who you are and what you’ve accomplished for us. As you first uttered these words in a prayer for your disciples, I find great joy in knowing that you continue to pray them for us— for me. 

How I praise you that eternal life is so much more than simply living forever in your presence, though I so look forward to that. It’s about knowing, in the most intimate sense imaginable, God as my Father and knowing you, the “sent one,” the Messiah, our Lord, my Savior, our righteousness, my bridegroom. It’s not merely knowing about you, though there is so much more I do want to know about you, but knowing you now, better and better and better. 

Holy Spirit, I cannot know God better apart from your work. So my prayer is simple: keep me hungry for the knowledge of God. Don’t let lesser breads satisfy this craving. Don’t let lesser waters slake this thirst. Keep revealing more and more of Jesus to me. Humble me with his glory. Astonish me with his beauty. Mesmerize me with his mercy. Buckle my knees with his affections. Change me by his grace. Free me for his purposes. For indeed, “the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action” (Dan. 11:32).

I pray in Jesus’ all-consuming name. Amen. 

A Prayer about Being Too Easily Annoyed  

Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult. (Prov. 12:16 NIV)  

Jesus, of all the prayer worthy things I can think of, “annoyance” has never made it onto my supplication list until now. Through the pastoral pestering of your Spirit, I see and grieve that I’m too easily annoyed. Have mercy on me, Prince of Peace. Free my foolish, fretful, fitful spirit. How can I possibly reveal the magnificence of the gospel when I’m showcasing the arrogance of my annoyance? 

I’m annoyed by the guy who races me when two lanes are becoming one. I’m annoyed when the bar code reading machines in the self-checkout lanes can’t read my items. I’m annoyed when the gas pump trickles way too slowly. I’m annoyed by waiters who fish for a bigger tip. I’m annoyed by fish that won’t bite. I’m annoyed by humidity when I want to jog. 

I’m annoyed by low talkers and loud talkers. I’m annoyed at people easily annoyed. I’m annoyed when there’s not enough milk for a late-night bowl of cereal. I’m annoyed when I have to repeat myself. I’m annoyed at whiners, so much that I start whining. I’m annoyed at people preening in front of mirrors at the YMCA, as though I never peek. I’m annoyed when people use way too many words and way too big of words to say something way simple, as though that’s not me. 

I’m annoyed at ever having to wait in line for anything. I’m annoyed by the color orange. I’m annoyed at any box that has the words “requires some assembly” written on it. Oh, Jesus, if only those were the only things that annoyed me! 

My prayer? Gentle my heart with your kindness and grace. Grant me much quicker repentance. Help me to slow . . . way . . . down. Help me to live in the moment and not simply live to get somewhere on time or get something done. Let me see people with your eyes and respond to them with your heart. There are no ordinary people around me. Everybody matters. Everybody has stories of heartache, foolishness, fear, and longing, just like me. Jesus, thank you that you died for all of my sins, including my “annoy ability.” I love being loved by you. I have no greater hope than knowing one day I will love like you love. I pray in your gracious and patient name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Watermelon and Other Gifts  

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. (James 1:17–18 NIV)  

Heavenly Father, I awake today a grateful man, and I want to live that way all day long. Now, I’m sure that attitude will be challenged by life in this broken world and by the heart that beats in this broken man. But as someone who has every reason to overflow with thanksgiving, here are a few of your gifts for which I give you praise this morning. 

First and foremost, I praise you for being the changeless Father of heavenly lights, as opposed to being the impetuous god of shifting shadows. I cannot predict you. I cannot control you. I cannot presume on your ways. But I can completely trust you to be impassible (without mood swings), yet passionately good and faithful. I know this through Jesus, who is the same “yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). 

I’m also thankful that twice you’ve chosen to give me birth. I can claim responsibility for neither the first time I breathed in oxygen nor the second time you breathed the life of Jesus into my spirit, giving me the new birth. 

And I’m also thankful for all kinds of gifts you bestow— perfect ones and otherwise. Most recently, I’d include these: the watermelon I ate yesterday that was sweeter, crunchier, and more refreshing than any I’ve ever tasted in my life; the dancing bend of my pole and the tug of war the big red snapper gave me a couple of weeks back; the call from a friend that came at the perfect time with the perfect life giving rebuke; the color blue with its many hues; the understanding look my wife gave me yesterday; the assurance that you will finish making me like Jesus one day; and the hope (many hopes) of the new heaven and new earth. 

Father, these are just a few of the many, many gifts that come down from you all the time. What do I have that I have not received from you? Nothing. What gift have you given me that you don’t intend me to enjoy? None. How can I live as a “kind of first fruits of all you’ve created”? Show me! I pray in Jesus’ most glorious name.

Amen.