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A Prayer about the Questions God Asks

A Prayer about the Questions God Asks

Where have you come from, and where are you going? Genesis 16:8

Pursuing God

Thank you for chasing after us when we try to run away.

Like Hagar in the wilderness, 

we can run ourselves into the ground,

but you seek us, 

and you draw us out of our hiding, 

asking questions we really need to hear:

Where have you come from?

Where are you going?

Or, as you asked Adam and Eve 

when they “hid” from you after eating the fruit,

Where are you?

You don’t ask these questions 

because you don’t know the answers.

You don’t ask these questions 

because you want to trap us.

You ask them 

to invite us to see where we are, 

to see where we’ve been, 

to see where we’re headed without you. 

But you also ask them 

to reveal the most important thing 

we need to know—

where you are (right here with us), 

and who you are: 

“The God Who Hears, 

The God Who Sees,” 

the God who looks after us (Genesis 16:13). 

May we listen to your questions, 

letting them draw us 

to your loving and forgiving presence.

In the name of our Savior,

 Immanuel (“God-with-us”), we pray. Amen. 

Read Genesis 16:1-16.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Believing that God Is for Us

A Prayer about Believing that God Is for Us

This I know, that God is for me. Psalm 56:9

Holy and Merciful God,

I admit, as I was reading this Psalm aloud in prayer the other day, 

I thought, how could David say these words so confidently: 

“This I know, that God is for me.” 

I thought about what a “big sinner” David was, 

and I wondered at his boldness to declare, 

right here in the middle of the Bible, 

that God was for him.

And then your Holy Spirit quietly spoke to my heart. 

Reminding me that I am certainly no less of a sinner 

than the “big sinner” David. 

Reminding me that you yourself called David, 

“a man after God’s own heart.” 

Even though you saw every one of his sins, 

“big and little.” 

Reminding me that we have all sinned 

and fallen short of your glory (Romans 3:23). 

Reminding me of the meaning of the atonement 

we prayed about yesterday: 

because Jesus bore the punishment for my sins on the cross, 

I am now reconciled to God. 

Indeed, “God is for me.” 

We too, as those who have known the freedom 

from our slavery to sin, 

can proclaim, 

loudly, 

boldly, 

confidently, 

“This I know, God is for me.” 

And even as we proclaim this truth, 

we can know in all of our ongoing battles 

with sin and suffering,

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

What astonishingly good news! 

In Jesus’ hope-giving name. Amen.

Read Psalm 56; Romans 8:31-39. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Price Paid for Us

A Prayer about the Price Paid for Us

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

Holy God, Redeeming Son, Sanctifying Spirit,

How we thank you for the precious gift 

of a debt of our sins fully paid. 

Help us to understand this word “propitiation,” 

a word that’s hard to pronounce 

and even harder to understand 

in human terms.

No, Just God, 

you are not a violent, abusive father 

committing some sort of divine child abuse. 

Rather, you are a Holy God, 

justly wrathful toward sin. 

You planned, in “solidarity of mutual love,”*

with the Son and the Spirit, 

from the beginning of time, 

for the redemption of your beloved chosen people 

from our bondage to sin 

through the gift of your Son.

Jesus, you willingly submitted 

to being incarnated 

as the fully human, fully divine, 

perfectly sinless, only satisfactory 

substitute for our sins. 

Holy Spirit, it was only because you opened our eyes 

to see our helplessness 

to pay the debt of our sin 

and our hope-full gift 

in Christ’s sacrifice for us 

that we could “repent and believe” (Mark 1:15).  

Now, because of this mighty work of propitiation, 

we sing our gratitude: 

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, 

In my place condemned he stood; 

Sealed my pardon with his blood: 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!”**

In this, truly, is love!

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 4:8-10; 1 John 2:1-2.

*Friends, if you want to read a helpful book explaining big theological words like “propitiation” and “limited atonement,” I highly recommend In My Place Condemned He Stood by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever.

**From the hymn, Man of Sorrows.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Stilling Our Souls

A Prayer about Stilling Our Souls

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;

like a weaned child is my soul within me. Psalm 131:2

Heavenly Father,

We live in a hectic, busy, noisy world. 

Screens blink at us, 

notifications ding and ping and ring, 

demanding our attention, 

now! 

Our world shouts at us 

to do more and do it fast. 

Thank you for the permission to say “no,” 

to not be concerned with matters 

too far beyond us (Psalm 131:1). 

Help us, we pray, 

to be intentional 

about calming our souls 

by trusting in you.

Help us to quiet 

the noisy, driven beat 

of our hearts that differs 

so loudly 

from the steady, gentle rhythm 

you orchestrated. 

Help us to still ourselves 

like a weaned child

in your loving embrace, 

perfectly at rest, 

knowing that you have provided 

and will continue to provide all of our needs.

In Jesus’ hope-full name. Amen.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Laughter of Hope

A Prayer about the Laughter of Hope

Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23 

Creator God,

In our season of history,

the idea that one woman could belong to one man, 

that one man could belong to one woman, 

that the two could “become one flesh” —

well, it’s simply unthinkable…if not despicable 

to many in our Western culture. 

Marriage of one man to one woman 

is unfashionable, 

out of style. 

After all, women can stand alone, 

and men and women can “hook up” 

with anyone anytime 

without all the wear and tear 

of commitment 

and emotional ties. 

Oh, dear Creator, 

that was not your design 

for man and woman 

when you created us. 

You said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18).

The only thing you called “not good” in all of creation 

was for “man to be alone.” 

You said, “I will make a ‘helper’ fit for him,” (Gen. 2:18)

a powerful warrior-companion 

to “help the other up” when he has fallen down (Ecclesiastes 4:10). 

You said, the woman shall submit to the husband as the leader (Ephesians 5:22),

to lean into him for protection (so out of style — I can protect myself, thank you very much), 

and the man shall love his wife 

“as Christ loved the church 

and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25) — 

in other words, the man shall put his wife’s needs and concerns 

before his own (again, so last century). 

Oh, Lord, help us to recover 

the beauty and wonder of your gift of marriage 

to some of us. 

None of us is meant to be autonomous in the family of Christ, 

whether we’re married or single. 

Thank you for being so “old-school.”  

We pray for your providing grace 

to help us live out this countercultural commitment. 

In the name of Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom we pray.

Amen.

Read Genesis 2:18-25; Ephesians 5:21-33.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Countercultural Nature of Marriage

A Prayer about the Countercultural Nature of Marriage

Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23 

Creator God,

In our season of history,

the idea that one woman could belong to one man, 

that one man could belong to one woman, 

that the two could “become one flesh” —

well, it’s simply unthinkable…if not despicable 

to many in our Western culture. 

Marriage of one man to one woman 

is unfashionable, 

out of style. 

After all, women can stand alone, 

and men and women can “hook up” 

with anyone anytime 

without all the wear and tear 

of commitment 

and emotional ties. 

Oh, dear Creator, 

that was not your design 

for man and woman 

when you created us. 

You said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18).

The only thing you called “not good” in all of creation 

was for “man to be alone.” 

You said, “I will make a ‘helper’ fit for him,” (Gen. 2:18)

a powerful warrior-companion 

to “help the other up” when he has fallen down (Ecclesiastes 4:10). 

You said, the woman shall submit to the husband as the leader (Ephesians 5:22),

to lean into him for protection (so out of style — I can protect myself, thank you very much), 

and the man shall love his wife 

“as Christ loved the church 

and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25) — 

in other words, the man shall put his wife’s needs and concerns 

before his own (again, so last century). 

Oh, Lord, help us to recover 

the beauty and wonder of your gift of marriage 

to some of us. 

None of us is meant to be autonomous in the family of Christ, 

whether we’re married or single. 

Thank you for being so “old-school.”  

We pray for your providing grace 

to help us live out this countercultural commitment. 

In the name of Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom we pray.

Amen.

Read Genesis 2:18-25; Ephesians 5:21-33.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker