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A Prayer about How to Spend Our Last Forty Days

by | Sep 9, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about How to Spend Our Last Forty Days

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:14, ESV

Everlasting God,

Forgive us for “boasting in our arrogance” (James: 4:13)

for the ways we fail to thank you 

for all of the good gifts you have given us, 

including each day of our lives 

and all provision for that day. 

May we heed 87-year-old theologian J. I. Packer’s instructions:**

“First, wake each day with the question, 

‘How do you want me to glorify and enjoy you today?’

Second, “Live practicing the presence of God in Christ”

 — yes, Lord, help us to listen to less of this world’s noise 

that we may rest 

in the gentle and lowly presence of our Savior.

Third, finish the course well: 

“Our last sprint should be a sprint indeed.” 

May we not waste our four or forty or four hundred or four thousand days 

on trivialities 

but may we spend each of them 

sharing the good news 

of our hope of glory 

in Jesus Christ 

by setting our affairs in order,  

by encouraging friends, family, strangers, and enemies, 

by forgiving our enemies inexcusable betrayals, 

and by speaking and writing 

the many stories of redemption 

you have written in our lives.

In Jesus’ living and dying and resurrected name. Amen.

**I highly recommend Packer’s little book, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging



A Prayer about Living like We’re Dying

by | Sep 8, 2024 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Living like We’re Dying

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Heavenly Father, 

In the novel I just read, 

a professor gives her college English students a short essay question: 

“What would you do if you knew 

you only had forty days left to live?”*

At its core, this is what Psalm 90:12 asks us to do, 

to “number our days,” 

to recognize that our earthly days have a limit, 

that our lives have an expiration date. 

We ask you to teach us, 

to show us how,

to remind us, 

to number our days, 

because when we do so, 

we get “a heart of wisdom.” 

We become 

forgiving, honoring, lamenting,

vulnerable, grateful, humble people, 

people who know the depths of your love for us 

and who can’t wait to share that love with others.

So today we ask you to help us to think or to journal, 

if only for a few minutes, 

about how we would spend our days 

if we only had forty of them left.

Read Psalm 71, Psalm 90; Psalm 92.

*From Book 3 of the Sensible Shoes Series by Sharon Garlough Brown.

**This prayer is part of a celebration of the one-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual



A Prayer about Honoring the Aging

by | Sep 7, 2024 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Honoring the Aging

The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

Proverbs 20:29

Everlasting Father,

In a world that often marginalizes or mocks the elderly, 

transform us into people who honor and value the elderly.

Even as we age, may we see your holy purposes for aging—

some may no longer have the energy to tend to babies all night long, 

but they do wake up in the night, 

and they can pray for those who do.

Some may no longer have the physical agility 

to perform skilled labor, 

but they do have years of experience 

and can teach those who do.

Some may no longer have the responsibilities 

of running a business, 

but they do have the ability and wisdom 

to give good counsel to those who do.

Lord, may we see the opportunities aging affords, 

and may we embrace not only our own aging, 

but the aging of others. 

May we see that you call the elderly 

to continue giving you glory 

by learning and leading every day of their lives. 

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 20:29; Titus 2:2-5; 1 Timothy 5:1 



A Prayer about the Goodness of the Lord

by | Sep 6, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about the Goodness of the Lord

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 118:1

Good and Loving Lord,

Slow us down as we read Scripture, 

that we may see your glorious riches all over again.

Why do we give you thanks?

Because you are good. 

Pause us for a few moments to help us see 

what it means that you are good and that you are steadfastly loving. 

There are many things in this world we name “good,”—

that was a “good book,” 

a “good movie,” 

a “good game.” 

But these things are not like your goodness. 

Nothing compares to your goodness. 

You are holy, just, perfect, 

lovely, gracious, kind, 

wise, powerful, 

the measure of any and all goodness.

Not only that, but your “steadfast love endures forever.”

Your love is safe, secure, and everlasting.

It is there when we hurt a dear friend with sarcastic words,

It is there when we get canceled or condemned for our beliefs,

It is there when we fear a hurricane bearing down on us,

It is there when we wonder if our back will ever be free of pain,

It is there when we worry about rising prices and shrinking income…

In all things, may we remember…

You are good, 

and your love is certain and sure.

In Jesus’ good name. Amen.

Read Psalm 118.



A Prayer about Our Worst Fears

by | Sep 5, 2024 | Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Our Worst Fears

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1

Redeeming Lord,

We come to you today 

bringing our very worst fears:

Fears of a terrible diagnosis,

Fears of a terrorist attack,

Fears of a terrifying loss,

Fears of abandonment, 

fears of death.

Into our fears, you speak peace and hope:

“I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

“I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:3).

“Because you are precious in my eyes, 

and honored, 

and I love you, 

I give men in return for you, 

peoples in exchange for your life” (Isaiah 43:4).

You gave peoples in exchange for Israel, 

but you have given your beloved Son 

in exchange for our lives. 

Because of his suffering and because of his resurrection, 

we know that no matter what fires we may walk through, 

we shall not be burned; 

no matter what rivers we pass through, 

we will not be overwhelmed, 

for you will be with us.

What hope we have in the midst of our fears 

because of our Savior Jesus! 

In his calming name we pray. Amen. 

Read Isaiah 43:1-7.



A Prayer about Remembering God’s Wonders

by | Sep 4, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Remembering God’s Wonders

In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. Psalm 78:32

Merciful God,

In Psalm 78, Asaph tells a bewildering story of your people, the Israelites:

Your people, who ran away in the day of battle 

and refused to obey you, 

because “They forgot his works and the wonders 

that he had shown them” (Psalm 78:11).

Lord, may it never be so for us, 

your beloved children in Christ. 

May we remember 

“the evidence of God’s abundant grace, 

in spite of [our] own sinfulness.”*

May we remember 

the teachers, the friends, 

the ministry leaders, the churches 

that have led us to see the hope of the gospel: 

that Jesus took on your wrath on the cross, 

that we who trust in him 

might not know the just punishment for our sins (Psalm 78:38).

[Name some of the people who have shown you God’s abundant grace.]

May we remember the times in our lives 

when you saved us out of sin and rebellion, 

when you showed us mercy 

when we deserved punishment.

[Name some of those events.]

May we remember the stories of your kindness and grace, 

your spiritual and material blessings.

[Name some of those stories, and tell or write one of these stories to someone you know today.]

As we remember, may we turn away from any sin that tempts us, 

and may we turn to your saving grace in your Son by your Spirit. 

In Jesus’ cross-bearing name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 78.