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A Prayer about Not Trusting in Our Own Righteousness

by | Jun 13, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Not Trusting in Our Own Righteousness

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt   Luke 18:9

Merciful God,

Open our hearts and show us any ways 

we “trust in ourselves,” 

any ways we think we are “righteous”—

thoughts like, “I’m a pretty good person,” 

or “I went to church five times this month,” 

or “I gave a lot of money to that homeless ministry.” 

Open our hearts to show us 

any ways we “treat others with contempt” — 

things like, “I can’t believe she wore that to church,” 

or “What a criminal to cheat on his taxes!” 

or “I’m glad I never have committed any of the big sins like so-and-so.”

Lord, you have made it clear—

We must come to you with bottomless humility, 

a deep awareness that we can do nothing “good” without you.

Show us our sin, large and small, 

and send us to our knees, 

begging your forgiveness, 

grateful for your mercy. 

In your humble and exalted name. Amen. 

Read Luke 18:9-14.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Holy Touch

by | Jun 12, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Holy Touch

Greet one another with a holy kiss. Romans 16:16

Loving Father,

After being asked for a hug 

by an elderly woman outside a senior center recently,

I am more aware than ever of the “famine of touch” 

many in our world experience. 

Those of us who are married or who have children 

may not give much thought 

to how single and elderly people 

may long for appropriate touch.

Pastor Sam Allberry tells us, 

“Churches should provide a remedy [to the famine of touch] 

by being a place where healthy and appropriate touch is encouraged.”** 

Lord, may we become specialists at “gospel touch,”

which Pastor Zack Eswine describes as 

“meant to resemble the touch normatively appropriate 

between family members….” 

Because many of us have been harmed by abusive touch, 

may we remember and guard against 

“abusive, neglectful, presumptuous, or sensual touch 

[which] has no place in the tender touch of gospel life and ministry.”*** 

Help us, Lord, to recover 

a view of the body 

and of holy touch 

that accords with your view.

In the name of Jesus who became flesh for us.

Amen. 

Read John 1:14; 2 John 12; Psalm 139:13-14. 

**To think more about how God made our bodies for touch, see Sam Allberry’s excellent book, What God Has to Say about Our Bodies.

***Quoted in Allberry, 192.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Occupied Throne

by | Jun 11, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about the Occupied Throne

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelation 5:13

Lord Our Heavenly King,

We confess, 

we’ve never seen a throne in real life, 

and sometimes it’s hard to understand 

what it means that you’re sitting 

on the throne of heaven, 

right this very minute. 

Show us, we pray, 

that we might see you as our glorious King 

even as we wait for the day 

we will gather before your throne in person.

Because you are on the throne, 

we can wait for that day confidently, 

knowing that the day of judgment is coming 

for evil rulers who seem to be winning over the world 

with their corrupt power. 

Because you are on the throne, 

we can wait peacefully, 

knowing that our King is seated on the throne, 

not pacing the floor wringing his hands in worry 

about the wretched state of the cosmos. 

Because you are on the throne, we can wait gratefully, 

seeing the King who suffered for us to make us his people. 

Because you are on the throne, we can wait worshipfully, 

bowing with all the saints of heaven 

before your occupied throne, 

singing the praise of our benevolent King.

In Jesus’ just and merciful name we pray. 

Amen.

Read Revelation 4-5.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Hospitality

by | Jun 10, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Hospitality

Where do you get that living water? John 4:11

Lord Jesus,

What a host you are! 

We confess, in our world, 

especially for those of us who live in the southern part of the U.S., 

we are confused about hospitality. 

We often think it’s all about 

cleaning up our homes, 

baking blueberry pie, 

and inviting people to dinner. 

And there’s nothing wrong with that. 

But help us to see your hospitality, 

your welcome of a stranger, 

in this beautiful and true story in John 4. 

You were weary and thirsty. 

You asked a Samaritan woman (an outcast in that culture) 

to give you a drink of water. 

She was shocked. 

And then you began talking with her 

about the living water you could offer her. 

She was curious. 

“Where do you get this living water?” 

Then, shockingly, you raised one of the topics 

we definitely are told 

not to discuss in polite dinner table conversation—

her sex life: 

“You have had five husbands, 

and the one you have now is not your husband” (John 4:18). 

But you didn’t say it to shame her. 

You said it to invite her to the truth: 

she needed you to give her the living water 

that would wash her sins away. 

She left her meeting with you thrilled, ecstatic, 

eager to invite her townspeople, 

people who had rejected her, 

to “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. 

Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). 

Lord, grow in us the kind of hospitality 

that invites those who rejected us 

to meet the One who can give them living water. 

Amen.

Read John 4:1-42. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Profound Peace God Gives

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

A Prayer about the Profound Peace God Gives

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

God of Peace,

When my kids were young, 

with four children in six years, 

sometimes all I wanted was a little peace and quiet. 

Nothing wrong with a little peace and quiet, 

but may we never forget that your peace 

is something far richer, far more wonderful.

Your peace, in Hebrew, is shalom, 

a state of “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight.”* 

This shalom gives rise to wonder, awe, and joy, 

at the God who brings it.

After Adam and Eve sinned, 

the world, and all who lived in it, 

fell into a state of disorder, 

a state of chaos, 

in which disease and division and dissension ruled the day. 

But you, the God of peace, 

sent Jesus, our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), 

to give us peace with you (Romans 5:1). 

Because Jesus died for our sins, 

we who trust in him for salvation, 

are reconciled with you (Romans 5:10).

Now, united to Christ, 

we live in his legacy of peace, 

of wholeness, flourishing, and delight. 

And even as we are still troubled at times by this fallen world, 

we look forward to the day 

when Christ our peace will return 

to fully restore all peace. 

In that day, we will live forever in harmony 

with you and with others.

Thank you for being our peace 

today and every day until that day.

In Jesus’ peace-bringing name. Amen. 

Read John 14:25-27; Romans 16:20; Isaiah 26:3; Romans 5:1-11.

See Cornelius Plantinga’s book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin for this quote on shalom and more about shalom. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Not Wavering in Worry

by | Jun 8, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Not Wavering in Worry

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

Psalm 125:1

Lord,

We want to be like Mount Zion, like Mount Rainier, like Mount Everest, 

our faith and hope so firmly planted 

in your grace, goodness, and generosity 

that we never even tremble when uncertainty comes.

The reality is that we worry about little and large things, 

what-if’s we can’t control: 

what if the plane is delayed and I miss my flight, 

what if my child doesn’t love Jesus, 

what if it’s cancer? 

Help us, by your Spirit, 

to fix our hopes on Jesus, 

who is always in the business of redeeming and restoring. 

Remind us — it is true: 

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, 

so you surround your people….” (Psalm 125:2)

Like a hen with its brood safely hidden under its wings, 

we are safely ensconced in your perfect love. 

Remind us — it is true: “from this time forth and forevermore….” 

You are not just holding and helping us 

today or in this one moment, 

you are holding and helping us 

every day in every moment.

Thank you for this unshakable hope.

In the name of our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. 

Amen.

Read Psalm 125. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker