A Prayer for the Crushed in Spirit

by | Mar 1, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer for the Crushed in Spirit

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 

Psalm 34:18

Compassionate Lord,

Today we lift up, and we pray our prayers will truly lift up, 

those who are weighed down 

with the heavy burden of chronic illness or ongoing suffering 

in their bodies. 

Some have chronic pain that no medication can touch, 

some have seen doctor after doctor in efforts 

to find out why they feel terrible all the time. 

Others live with chronic depression or anxiety, 

still others have struggled with a barren womb 

or multiple miscarriages for years. 

Oh, good Father, may we pause for a moment 

and bring to mind people we know, 

whether friends, family, or acquaintances 

who suffer in their body. 

May we imagine what their days are like. 

Now we ask you, 

be so very near to them in all sorts of ways—

provide physical relief, 

provide hope through a new medical professional 

who really listens to them, 

provide comfort through our compassion.

As they struggle to believe that you truly are near, may we draw near to them, 

not with quick fixes 

but with long-suffering and listening hearts.

Save those who are crushed in spirit. 

Strengthen their faith, 

surround them with community who will believe on their behalf 

as they walk through (or feel they are stuck in) 

the dark valleys. 

By your Spirit, 

draw them near to you 

that they may see 

how you have come near to them 

in your Son’s suffering. 

In Jesus’ kind name we ask. Amen. 

Read Psalm 34:10-22; Psalm 22. 



A Prayer about God Doing Impossible Things

by | Feb 28, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about God Doing Impossible Things

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… Ephesians 3:20

Almighty, Steadfastly Loving God,

How often we forget 

that we are praying to an all-mighty, all-loving God!

Because we are so weak in our faith and hope, 

Paul prays that we will have the strength 

to comprehend and contain 

“the breadth and length and height and depth” 

of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:13).

You have already done 

“far more abundantly than we ask or think” 

by filling us with your fullness in the love of Christ. 

Now give us the power to imagine you 

working in the “impossibles” of our lives: 

impossible temptations, 

impossible relationships, 

impossible health struggles, 

impossible ceasefires. 

May we trust you 

with all of our impossibles

 and may you receive 

all of the glory in Christ 

for all of your goodness to us. 

In Jesus’ loving name we ask. Amen. 

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.



A Prayer about Self-Care for Caregivers

by | Feb 27, 2025 | Caregiving, Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Self-Care for Caregivers

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Matthew 14:23

Caregiving Jesus,

Today we pray to correct a misinterpretation 

About self-denial we often see in caregivers. 

When you called us to deny ourselves, 

you never meant for us to deny or denigrate our humanity — 

our mental, emotional, and physical needs 

for rest, exercise, good nutrition, and medical care. 

Sadly, too many caregivers do exactly this, 

believing they are the only one 

who can tend to their loved one’s needs, 

and neglecting their own health. 

You yourself acknowledged your human limitations 

by sleeping and eating 

and taking time away from your ministry 

to pray and rest (Matthew 14:22-23; Mark 4:35-40). 

Lord, we pray that you would help our caregiving friends 

honor the bodies you have given them 

and humble themselves to rely on others 

so that they might get the care they need 

in this stressful season. 

In your caring name we ask.

Amen. 

Read Mark 4:35-40; Matthew 14:22-23; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Matthew 11:28-30. 



A Prayer about Hope in a Dark World

by | Feb 26, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Hope in a Dark World

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14

Father, 

I confess, 

sometimes the darkness of this world 

seems all-encompassing. 

The depressing news, 

the bent toward meanness, 

the joy in judginess

…I see it everywhere—

in my own heart and in the hearts of others. 

What good news it is to remember then, 

that we who are in Christ

no longer live in the “domain of darkness.” 

You have transferred us and transformed us. 

Now we have a rich inheritance: 

“the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12). 

Now we are freed from the tyrant Satan 

to serve you, our redeeming and forgiving King. 

Now our primary language is “thanksgiving” 

and our primary work is “endurance and patience and joy” (Colossians 1:11). 

Now we have been “strengthened with all power, 

according to his glorious might” (Colossians 1:11).

to live as citizens of the kingdom of the beloved Son.

So very gratefully we pray. Amen. 

Read Colossians 1:9-14.


A Prayer about Not Repaying Evil for Evil

by | Feb 25, 2025 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Not Repaying Evil for Evil

 How do you not repay evil for evil?

See to it that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.  1 Thessalonians 5:15

 

Good Father,

 

Not only are you “abundantly good,” 

 

you sent your Son to defeat evil, 

 

in our hearts, and in this world. 

 

We know our hearts are “deceitful” 

 

and “desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9), 

 

and we know we are blind to our own potential 

 

to harm others and to rebel against you. 

 

Show us, we pray, by your Spirit, 

 

the ways we harbor evil, 

 

the ways we seek revenge 

 

when someone has done us evil. 

 

Destroy every crack and crevice 

 

of bitterness or resentment 

 

we might harbor. 

 

Draw us to “seek to do good”— 

 

to “one another” and to “everyone,” 

 

not just to the people 

 

who have been nice to us, 

 

the people we agree with on all the hot-button issues, 

 

or the people who look, talk, and act like us. 

 

In Jesus’ kind name. Amen. 

 

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28.