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A Prayer about How to Glorify God

by | Aug 11, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Joy

A Prayer about How to Glorify God

And they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Psalm 138:5

Glorious God,

We join David today in singing of your glorious ways — 

even though you are everlasting and ever-loving, 

all-wise and all-powerful, 

you “regard the lowly” (Psalm 138:6). 

Though you are above all and rule over all, 

you “preserve [our] lives” 

when we “walk in the midst of trouble.” 

In this is your glory, 

that despite your greatness, 

you stoop down to care for us. 

Pastor and Author Dane Ortlund 

exhorts us to a way of glorifying you 

that we might not have considered: 

“Do you want to glorify God?….

Let him love you. 

Receive his grace, 

drink it down, 

without adding one drop 

of your goodness to it.”* 

Oh glorious God, 

may we indeed reconsider 

how to glorify you, 

how to humbly receive 

what you in your greatness and goodness 

have given us. 

Help us this day to live lives 

“to the praise of your glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6). 

In Jesus’ immanent name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 138.

*Note from Dane C. Ortlund’s book, In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions through the Psalms.

A Prayer about Enjoying God

by | Jul 15, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Joy

A Prayer about Enjoying God

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

 God Who Delights in Us,

Yesterday, my friends and I prayed 

to believe in your delight in us through your Son Jesus Christ 

and with the help of your Holy Spirit.

Today we pray that 

as we marvel at your incomprehensible love 

and overwhelming delight in us, 

we would fulfill our greatest calling: 

to glorify and enjoy you forever.

What does it mean to enjoy and delight in you?

Alexander Whyte wrote,

“Joy is the purest, deepest, and most satisfying delight 

that can possess the heart of man….” 

We should ask, 

“What is the most satisfying delight that I can possess?”

Is it…the perfect job, a loving spouse, a happy child, a good grade, a clear scan?

We are often tricked by the world and our own sinful tendencies 

to believe that our deepest joy 

can be found somewhere in the here and now. 

We are also often tricked by the world and our own sinful tendencies 

to believe that if we work hard enough or are “good enough,” 

we will be rewarded with this illusive and elusive joy.

But the reality is that our deepest joy has been here all along. 

“In your presence there is fullness of joy.”   

As we soak in your beaming delight in us, 

our faces radiate that joy back to you.

It is a call and response of joy and delight and love. 

You call out, “I love you. I delight in you. I rejoice over you.” 

And we call back, “We love you. We delight in you. We rejoice in you.” 

As all of creation hears this call and response, 

everyone longs to join in. 

That’s what it means to glorify you and enjoy you forever. 

It really is that simple. 

May we rest in the fullness of your exceeding joy 

that we might make you our exceeding joy. 

In Jesus’ joy-bringing name. Amen.

Read Zephaniah 3:14-17; Psalm 16; Psalm 43:4-5

 

A Prayer about the Laughter of Hope

by | Jun 22, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Joy, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about the Laughter of Hope

“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me” (Genesis 21:6). 

Surprising Lord,

At some point, we’ve all felt the despair Sarah felt 

after years of waiting for the child you had promised, 

after any physiological hope for a baby was past, 

and if we’re honest, 

we’ve tried our own sinful fixes 

to get what we believe you want for us. 

And yet, Lord, you continue to pursue us. 

You come to Sarah (and us), 

you challenge her (and us): 

“Why did Sarah laugh and say, 

‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 

Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). 

Like Sarah, we deny our denial of hope, 

but you are firm: 

“No, but you did laugh” (Genesis 18:15). 

Time goes by, 

and your seed of hope planted in us blooms 

into something beautiful, 

just as Sarah’s barren womb gave birth to Isaac. 

And we join Sarah in proclaiming, 

“God has made laughter for me; 

everyone who hears will laugh over me” (Genesis 21:6). 

Help us today to remember 

all of the times 

you have brought laughter out of our despair, 

and help us to hope again.

In Jesus’ surprising name. Amen. 

Read Genesis 16, 18, 21:1-7.



A Prayer about Joy in Trials

by | May 14, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Joy, Suffering

A Prayer about Joy in Trials

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. James 1:2-3

Father of All Comfort,

We admit, “joy” is not often our first response 

when our car won’t start 

or when we receive a difficult diagnosis 

or when our child struggles in school 

or when we have a bad day at work…

And yet, you call us to “consider it a great joy” 

when we encounter all kinds of trials. 

You must have a good reason, 

and your gospel has made that reason clear:

Trials test our faith (James 1:2). 

When our kids are happy and our health is good and work works, 

we don’t always recognize you as the giver of these good gifts; 

we don’t always recognize our desperate dependence on you. 

But when trials come, when storms bring rough waters, 

we must anchor ourselves to your steadfast love.

You will sustain us, 

and “steadfastness” will one day have its full effect: 

having gone through this trial, 

we will be “mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4). 

Gracious Father, that is what we want most of all: 

to be more and more like Christ, 

who “for the joy set before him, endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

By his grace, teach us to “count it joy” when we face trials, 

and grow our endurance.

In Jesus’ joy-full name. Amen. 

Read James 1:1-4; Hebrews 12:1-11.

A Prayer about God’s Gift of Furry Friends

by | Apr 21, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Joy

A Prayer about God’s Gift of Furry Friends

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6

Comforting Creator,

As I take my eleven-year-old dog to the vet today, 

I am thinking about the animal friends you give us. 

They show us your delight and welcome 

as they jump up and down in glee 

every time we return home. 

They show us your steadfast love

as they reliably appear at our sides 

whenever they sense we need the comfort 

of petting them. 

They show us your protection 

as they bark like crazy every time 

the UPS truck approaches. 

They show us your forgiveness 

when they snuggle up to us 

even after we left them all day 

and didn’t take them on their walk when we got home.

As we read the preview of the new heavens and new earth 

detailed in Isaiah, 

we see that one day we will stroll alongside 

wolves and lambs and lions and cows and bears 

and, yes, even snakes. 

In that day, all of creation will be renewed and restored, 

enjoying perfect healing and wholeness. 

Oh how we look forward to that day, Lord. 

How we thank you for the gift of animal buddies 

as we wait. 

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Isaiah 11:6-9; Romans 8:18-25. 

A Prayer about the Beauty, Surprise, and Joy of Jesus

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Joy, worship, gratitude

A Prayer about the Beauty, Surprise, and Joy of Jesus

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. Isaiah 25:6

Miracle-working Jesus,

Yesterday, our pastor preached on your first miracle—

turning water into wine!

As he said, 

“Why, of all the signs you could have chosen, 

did you choose to make your first miracle this one?”* 

His answer, so eloquently put, 

is an invitation to adore and worship you: 

“the arc of the universe bends toward joy.” 

You came to bring “beauty, surprise, and joy.” 

Yes, you came to forgive sins through your death on the cross. 

And yes, we should fight against sin. 

But we should never never forget that you 

“drank the bitter wine 

so we could drink the better wine 

of everlasting life.” 

We should never forget that you 

“swallow(ed) up death forever” (Isaiah 25:8). 

We should never forget that one day “soon” 

we will join you as your perfected bride (Revelation 21:2), 

the bride you died for, 

feasting with you 

at the wedding supper of the lamb (Rev. 19:6-10).

In your surprising name we pray.

Amen.

Read John 2:1-11; Isaiah 25:6-8.

*Quotes and concepts in this prayer come from our wonderful Pastor Joel Treick, Pinewoods Church. If you’d like to hear the sermon, go here and search for the episode from February 5, 2023.