Everyday Prayers

A Prayer about Non selective Compassion 

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is in- tended to lead you to repentance? (Rom. 2:1–4 NIV)  

Heavenly Father, it’s a new day, and this is just one more Scripture reminding me of how much I need the gospel. The call to love others as Jesus loves me keeps driving me to you for more grace and for the power of the gospel. I cannot change myself.

Meditating on this passage has convicted me about being way too selective in my love for broken people. I’m a selective lover. I’m not an equal opportunity dispenser of your compassion. 

Father, it’s not difficult for me to shower the riches of your kindness, tolerance, and patience on people whose sins and struggles are like mine. But I’m righteous and judgmental toward people who deal with brokenness and temptations different from mine. Though understandable, it’s not excusable. Have mercy on me, for the extending of your mercy through me. I’m a mere human. No one has appointed me to be judge and jury.

Here’s my prayer today: May your great kindness lead me to repent of my sin more quickly and more deeply. Help me grieve and deal with my heterosexual lust to a greater degree than I am offended by those who struggle with homosexual temptations and entanglements. Help me to be more earnest about repenting of my “Republican” gossip than I am committed to keeping a record of “Democratic” sins. May I be more sad and repentant of my passive aggressive anger than I am critical of other people’s loud and large anger. Father, these are just a few things that come to mind. I know there’s more . . . much more. 

Lord Jesus, you willingly took the judgment I deserve on the cross— the fullness of God’s righteous wrath. And now you love me with the fullness of compassion, acceptance, and delight. The greatest non sequitur in life would be for me to show contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience. Deepen my repentance and deepen my compassion for fellow broken sinners. I pray in your righteous and loving name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Rescuing Entangled Friends 

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:1–2 NIV)  

Heavenly Father, we come to your throne of grace this morning praying for wisdom and gentleness to love our struggling friends well. None of us naturally likes confrontation, and we decry self righteous busybodies who show up in our lives like self-appointed prosecuting attorneys. But these words of Paul paint a different picture and present a different spirit. 

Give us kindness and strength. If a friend loves in all seasons, that certainly must involve the seasons when we get entangled in sin. Sin brings death. We tend to forget this— death. If we saw a friend drinking poison, we wouldn’t hesitate to do something. If we saw a friend stepping close to a pit of rattlesnakes, we’d warn them. Help us hate sin enough and love our friends enough to risk getting involved. Better to risk the awkwardness, messiness, and defensiveness than to watch another life or marriage simply go down. 

Give us discernment and persistence. It’s not about a rush to judgment but about a journey to restoration. Help us to listen before launching. The goal must always be restoration, not just rebuke. Entanglements take a while to get disentangled. We may have to carry some of these burdens longer than we realize. Father, we need the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus. You promise to give us sufficient grace for all things, and we take you at your Word. We need great grace to do this well. 

Give us gentleness and hope. Those who remove specks the best are those who are most aware of the log in their own eye. Keep us humble and keep us aware of our own “temptability.” None of us is beyond the need of grace, and none of us is beyond the reach of grace. Keep us gentle and keep us expectant. Our joy is in remembering Jesus is the great Restorer, not us. This is the law of Christ we are fulfilling; his yoke we are bearing; his story that’s being written. Fill us with hope. Fill us with the hope of the gospel. 

Lastly, Father, we praise you for churches that are stepping up and are seeking to do this hard and heart work of discipline and restoration. Increase their tribe and bless their endeavors. It’s never easy. We pray in Jesus’ holy and loving name. 

Amen. 

A Prayer for Recovering Legalists  

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:23–27)  

Dear Jesus, this is one of those passages I used to avoid as a recovering legalist. Once I came to rest in your righteousness alone for my salvation, it was Scriptures like this one that confused me, at times activating that part of me that still thinks I can make you love me more by my doing. So I praise you for the ongoing teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. I praise you for showing me more about living in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:14). I praise you for all the freedoms you have won for us, including the freedom to obey you from our hearts. 

The gospel sets us free from working for wages. We now run for a crown. Ultimately, every crown will be laid at your feet, Jesus, for you have earned our salvation for us. Our obedience merits nothing, but it does show that we love you (John 14:15). How can we honestly say we love you if we disregard what you say? 

The gospel sets us free from running aimlessly and beating the air. We now live in a story of redemption and restoration. All of history is bound up with your commitment to redeem your people from the nations and to make all things new. We praise you for rescuing us from a little narrative of self-fulfillment for a life of kingdom advancement. There is enough grace for the whole race. We can make no excuses. 

The gospel sets us free from beating ourselves up because of shame or pride. We now train ourselves for godliness. We are to bring our appetites and bodies in submission to the gospel (1 Tim. 4:7–8). Forgive us when we are more disciplined out of vanity than out of a commitment to grow as your disciples. Fitting into our pants is not as important as revealing your beauty. 

Jesus, you are the one who has “won the prize” for all of us. Only the gospel qualifies us to “share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). We do not fear losing our salvation. But do let us fear, and grieve, misrepresenting you and “frittering away” this one short life you’ve given us. Show us how to do all things for the sake of the gospel and by the grace and truth of the gospel. We gratefully pray, in your most loving name.

Amen.   

A Prayer for Freedom from People-Approval  

We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed— God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else. (1 Thess. 2:4–6 NIV)  

Patient Father, it’s not just apostles who need freedom from living for the approval of people; it’s all of us . . . it’s me. We can’t serve people well if our need for affirmation or fear of rejection is greater than our love for you. I need your help in this matter this very week.

As I look at my relational brokenness and sin, I can see how “people pleasing” plays out in two directions. On one hand, there are people to whom I attach my umbilical cord (metaphorically speaking) and expect them to give me life. On the other hand, there are people whose umbilical cords I grab and plug into me, assuming the role of life giver. I grieve both of these patterns, Father. Because the gospel is true, I can freely confess these things.

Because the gospel is powerful, I have hope for change. Because the gospel is entrusted to me, I take this matter very seriously. 

Lord Jesus, I don’t want to live as an “approval suck.” I want to love others as you love me— and as you love them. It’s flat out wrong for me to give anybody the power to control me through their affirmation or their rejection. It’s because of your life of perfect obedience that I can be free from living as a poser, pretender, and performer. It’s because of your death for me on the cross that I can live with the absolute assurance of God’s everlasting approval and his steady kindness. 

So, God the Holy Spirit, keep “gossiping this gospel” to my heart. Keep bearing witness with my spirit that I’m a beloved child of Abba, Father. Keep giving me the power to repent of all forms of living for the approval of people, a life-sucking snare indeed. I pray in Jesus’ liberating name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Bringing Our Broken Friends to Jesus  

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:3–5 NIV)  

Loving Jesus, today I woke up thinking about friends who live with chronic illness— those with mental and emotional illnesses in particular. I come bringing you both the sufferers and the caregivers, confident of your great compassion.

Jesus, I cry out to you on behalf of the sufferers— these precious men and women whose capacity to think and feel is painfully distorted. I pray for those who suffer with various degrees of depression. I pray for friends trying to make sense of hard providences and your promises. I pray for those unable to grieve losses and betrayals in a healthy way. I pray for those who live in the angry void of despair and hopelessness. I pray for those whose war with self contempt makes death look like a good choice. You know the names and the details, and you alone have the grace. 

All I know to do is bring these dear ones to you in prayer, much like those who brought their paralyzed friend to you on a pallet. I know you are merciful and I know you are mighty. Only you know what’s going on in each of them. I wish a clear and certain diagnosis was easy to secure. It’s not always easy to discern what’s physiological, psychological, demonic, or just the absence of the gospel. Give us what we need to love and to serve these broken ones well. 

When we’re fearful and confused, when we are fed up and used up, give us all the wisdom, compassion, and faith to love well. Jesus, it’s this kind of suffering that makes me wish for miracles on demand. Help us trust you for supernatural intervention and grace for supernatural long term caring. Write the stories that will maximize your glory. 

How we long for the day when every form of brokenness will give way to the end- less joys of spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health. I pray in your holy and healing name.

Amen. 

A Prayer in Praise of the Holy Spirit  

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh can not please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Rom. 8:5–9)  

Heavenly Father, I’m particularly grateful today for the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Though I don’t understand everything he’s up to, these things I gladly affirm today . . . 

Just as assuredly as Jesus stood outside of Lazarus’s tomb and said, “Come forth,” you sent the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel to my heart, and I came out of the tomb of my sin and death. How I praise you for your sovereign goodness and power. Unless you had breathed new life into my spirit, I would have never, could have never believed the gospel. 

When you raised me up in Jesus, you baptized me with the Holy Spirit, making me a member of your family and Christ’s bride. You sealed me for eternity by the Spirit, marking me as your very own possession. You sent the Spirit to live as a permanent resident in my heart— to constantly preach the gospel to my heart, convict me of sin, make me like Jesus, and tell me that I am your beloved child. 

According to the truth of the gospel in your Word, I’m already controlled by the Holy Spirit. I am no longer controlled by my sinful nature. You’ve given me all the gifts of the Spirit I need to live as a functioning part of the church and a caring servant in your kingdom. 

You gave the Spirit to me as the first fruits and guarantee of the full inheritance of the salvation that Jesus completely earned for me. What a generous and loving God you are! 

Therefore, I acknowledge my desire to be more fully and consistently filled with the Holy Spirit, to walk according to the Spirit, to keep in step with the Spirit, to set my mind on what the Spirit desires. All to which I say, “Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a salvation!” I pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Burden-Bearing Love  

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2 NIV)  

Compassionate Jesus, the call to shoulder up under the burdens of friends and family drives me to you today. Otherwise I would simply turn and walk away, just like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). Only you know why there’s such an avalanche of broken stories converging on my doorstep at this time. Where else can I go but to you? 

Jesus, it’s only because you bore the burden of the law’s demands and judgment for me; only because you say to me, “Cast all your care upon me, for I care for you” (see 1 Pet. 5:7); only because you call to me, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NIV) that I will risk what’s involved in bearing the heavy burdens of others. 

Jesus, here’s what I ask and need from you today: Help me not to be afraid of the emotional messiness that certain burdens bring. Help me know how to rely on your presence more than I rely on my words. I want to be aware of my limits, for sure, but even more aware of your limitless mercy, grace, power, and peace.

For the woman who just got confirmation that the mass in her breast is malignant; for the dad who just lost yet another job in this fragile economy; for the couple whose two-year wait to welcome their adoptive child just ended childlessly; for the parents who’ve spent all and who are spent from trying to rescue their daughter from the ravages of an eating disorder; for the friend who preaches a powerful gospel that bears fruit in everybody’s children but his own; for the friends who are having to pay a great price for a misdiagnosed medical condition; for the couples who are sleeping all alone in the same bed; for those who tell me, “This is too much, I cannot and will not go on.” 

Jesus, I bring all of these friends to your throne of grace, and I will seek to fulfill “the law of Christ”— the law of love, the way of the gospel— as you give me strength, wisdom, and grace. In your persistent and sufficient name I pray.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Less Annoyance and More Overlooking  

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

A person’s wisdom yields patience; 
it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. (Prov. 19:11 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, I just got “busted” by the gospel while reading these Scriptures this morning. I’m annoyed and have been for several days. I won’t try to make excuses; I’ll just come to you as the knotted mess that I am. 

As I own my bad attitude, I’m thankful that you’re the consummate “over looker.” It’s not that you don’t take my annoying ways seriously, because you do. But you’re so forbearing, forgiving, and patient with me. 

This side of glorification, I don’t really expect to be annoyance free. But certainly the gospel is big enough to help me show my annoyance less quickly, less often, and less harmfully. And certainly the gospel is powerful enough to help me repent quicker when I do act like a fool—taking every insult, offense, cut, quip, and quirk way too seriously. 

So, Jesus, give me all the grace and wisdom I need to know what to take seriously and what simply to overlook. Give me gospel bigheartedness and gospel thick skinnedness. 

I don’t want to keep a record of annoying things done around me or to me. I don’t want to put every intentional or unintentional slight or aggressive or passive aggressive comment on my iPod and then push the replay button. No good can come from that. 

In fact, Jesus, I ask you to help me be far more aware of when I’m the one being unnecessarily annoying or irritating to others. Convict me when my sense of humor leads to someone else’s harm. Help me to steward my words, body language, and “freedoms.” Jesus, help me to give others fewer reasons to need this prayer when they’re around me. I pray in your loving and kind name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Loving Well in Messy Relationships 

Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.
(Acts 15:36–40 NIV)  

Gracious Jesus, I start this day so grateful for the stories of brokenness and messiness included in the Scriptures. Thankfully, they weren’t edited out, for the stories give me hope. The Bible is so authentic and honest; mere men couldn’t possibly have written it without your hand and heart guiding them. 

In particular, I’m thankful today for this story of two good friends, Paul and Barnabas, having “such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.” Lord, I’ve been in that situation, and right now I’m watching that story play out between two friends I deeply love and respect. It’s sticky and messy, and I hate being caught in the middle. 

So I look to you right now for the resources of the gospel. I need wisdom from above; power in my weakness; and grace to love two stubborn, hurting people. My default mode is to not get involved— hoping the whole thing will just blow over or go away. But that’s not going to happen. 

Jesus, the good news is you’ve come to destroy hostilities; to tear down walls of division; to make peace and be our peace. You reconcile enemies to God and to one another, so I can trust you to be at work in this tense and complicated situation. 

It took time plus grace for Paul and Barnabas to get back together. I don’t know what time plus grace will look like for my friends, but show me my role in the story you are writing. Help me listen from the heart and confront in love. Lead my praying and let me feel their hurt. Help me engage with both sides without taking sides. Help me stay present in the chaos without giving in to the pulls. As I serve my friends, show me more of my sin and more of the power of the gospel. 

Jesus, no one is better at sticky situation loving than you, so I abandon myself to you with my fears, my confusion, and my very real hope of your showing up. I pray with confidence, in your powerful and reconciling name.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Remembering God’s Big Story of Redemption 

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1–3)  

Gracious and sovereign Father, remembering your big story of redemption is not only a great joy but a critical discipline. For so many different narratives compete for our hearts, days, energy, and resources. Remind us today of the main story line that unfolds in the Bible, connects all of history, and reveals your generous heart. And help us once again to find our place in this story. 

We praise you for making incredible promises to an unsuspecting pagan, Abram— promises you alone can keep. Indeed, from beginning to end your story is a story of sovereign grace. 

Father, thank you for the promise of the land. It began in the Garden of Eden, continued in the land of Israel, and will culminate in the new heaven and new earth. Place and space matter to you. You have promised to redeem and restore your entire fallen world, not just one part of it. We praise you for your inviolate plans and great strength. 

Thank you for the promise of the seed. From the one man Abram, you created a great nation as the birthing canal of the Messiah, Jesus. You promised the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15), and you did not lie. Jesus came into the world to destroy the work of the devil, and he has succeeded. His cross and resurrection guarantee that just like Abraham, we are counted righteous in your sight by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4). We praise you for the everlasting gospel of your saving grace. 

Thank you for the promise of the blessing. Father, it has always been your plan to redeem a family from all families on the earth. Indeed, you made Abram (Abraham) the father of many nations. All of history is bound up with your commitment to redeem your people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9). We praise you for your magnanimous heart and measureless generosity. 

Father, thank you for making us characters in and carriers of your great story of redemption. So let us live and so let us love. In Jesus’ name we pray, with gratitude and awe.

Amen.