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A Prayer about Having Not Love

A Prayer about Having Not Love

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

Loving Father, 

In this season of many weddings, 

we may often hear the passage on love 

from 1 Corinthians 13. 

As we do so, 

may we hear and apply it in its proper context.

First of all, the apostle Paul was chastising the Corinthian Christians 

for their overemphasis on spiritual gifts: 

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, 

but have not love, 

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). 

If we have powers to prophesy 

or power to do miracles 

but have not love, 

we are nothing. 

If we give away everything, 

even sacrificing our own bodies, 

but have not love 

then that is not love. 

Indeed, as we read and listen carefully, 

we realize that in and of ourselves, 

none of us “has love.” 

It is only in Jesus Christ, 

whose love never fails 

that we become 

“not nothing,” 

“something,” 

“someone” 

who loves, 

not with manmade love, 

and not even perfectly 

(until the day Christ returns), 

but often and well. 

We love out of the righteousness 

we have in Christ. 

We love because you first loved us. 

And we love as you loved us. 

When we commit one of the failures of love, 

being proud or boasting, 

keeping a record of wrongs, 

delighting in evil, 

we are convicted by the Holy Spirit in us, 

and we repent, 

saying we’re sorry, 

asking forgiveness, 

and praying for the Holy Spirit’s help 

that we might try to love again. 

In Jesus’ perfectly-loving name. Amen.

Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Misery of Sin

A Prayer about the Misery of Sin

See my troubles and misery and forgive my sins. Psalm 25:2

Compassionate and Holy God,

This morning I am thinking about 

how miserable sin makes us:

“Envy rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30);

Thinking we are right and another is wrong rips up relationships;

Letting gossip fall out of our mouths hurts someone’s reputation…

And those are just individual sins of the heart…

what about the “systemic sins” of 

racism and rape, 

murder and war, 

slavery and sex trafficking?

Indeed, what trouble and misery 

sin inflicts.

How grateful then we are 

that you are the God who sees our misery 

and acts on it: 

“I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, 

and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, 

and I know about their sufferings” (Exodus 3:7).

But you didn’t stop at rescuing your people from slavery in Egypt, 

you rescued them from their own heart’s rebellion 

time and time again, 

and you knew there was only one rescuer 

who could fully pay for the misery 

of each of our sins once and for all. 

And you sent that rescuer. 

Your Son. 

Your beloved Son. 

Lord, open our eyes 

to see the misery our sin causes.

Lord, open our eyes 

to see the compassion your deliverance reveals.

Lord, change our hearts, 

that we may serve our gracious Savior, 

today and every day.

In the name of Jesus, 

who sees our misery and forgives our sins. 

Amen.

Read Psalm 25.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Pausing to Remember God’s Wondrous Works

A Prayer about Pausing to Remember God’s Wondrous Works

On your wondrous works, I will meditate. Psalm 145:5

 

Wondrously Working Lord,

How often do we pause, 

do we really chew on, 

the millions of ways, 

seen and unseen, 

you work in this world, 

in our neighborhood, 

in our lives?

For a few moments, 

let’s consider your wondrous works:

You’ve  drawn us to yourself 

even when we were wandering around like the spiritual zombies we were.

You’ve loved us every day, all the time, 

even when we hated you.

You’ve given us new life 

even when we deserved certain death,

You’ve kept your promises to us 

even when we broke every promise we ever made to you,

You’ve shown us limitless patience 

even when we threw tantrums of impatience with you.

You’ve lavished us with the gifts we needed 

even when we demanded the things we wanted when we wanted them. 

[List some of the specific wondrous works God has done in your life].

Oh, Lord, may we break our eyes away 

from the seductive screen 

and look out, look up, look in, 

to see your stunning beauty and your baffling kindness!

In Jesus’ gracious name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 145. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about De-Selfing

A Prayer about De-Selfing

….who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:4

Lord Jesus,

Grow our awe—

You gave your-self: your fully divine, fully human self…

For what?

For my sins, for our sins…

Our sins revolve and evolve 

from our selves:

I am/we are

self-seeking,

self-promoting,

self-conscious,

self-pitying, 

self-protecting, 

among many other self-centric behaviors. 

You are 

self-sacrificing, 

self-lowering, 

self-emptying, 

self-less. 

Through your sacrifice for our sins,

we are delivered from the present evil age—

That is, we are 

redeemed, 

rescued, 

saved, 

from our self-centeredness 

and all of the self-seeking attitudes 

this fallen world promotes.

You obeyed the will of your Father, 

that he might be glorified, 

lifted up, 

praised, 

and in you, 

we too are transformed 

from self-centeredness 

to other-centeredness,

empowered 

to glorify God 

and glorify you, 

to love you 

and love others.

Indeed, in you, 

we have every reason to hope 

for freedom from self. 

Amen. 

Read Galatians 1:1-4; Philippians 2:3-11.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Wise Tongues

A Prayer about Wise Tongues

Do you see someone who speaks in haste?

There is more hope for a fool than for them.

Proverbs 29:20

All-Wise God, 

Forgive our foolishness. 

Heal our tongues, 

which often speak “rashly, 

like the thrusts of a sword” (Proverbs 12:18).

We have become deeply enculturated 

in a world that is quick to speak 

and slow to listen

when you have called us 

as citizens of your kingdom 

to be “quick to hear, 

slow to speak, 

slow to anger” (James 1:19). 

Lord, we confess to you some of the sins 

that slip off our tongues: 

comparison, 

envy, 

judgment,

gossip, 

criticism, 

slander, 

to name just a few.

Change us, Lord, 

so that “no evil talk come(s) out of our mouths, 

but only what is useful for building up, 

as there is need, 

so that our words may give grace 

to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Grant us 

the loving wisdom, 

extraordinary patience, 

and sacrificial forgiveness 

of your Son

who taught us to love our enemies 

and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 4:43-44). 

In Jesus’s all-wise name. Amen. 

Read Proverbs 29. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about a Talking Donkey

A Prayer about a Talking Donkey

“And the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?’ Numbers 22:31

King above all Kings,

There is perhaps no more amusing story in Scripture 

than the one about the greedy pagan “prophet” Balaam 

and his faithful (to you that is) donkey (Numbers 22:7, 15, 18). 

We laugh when the donkey refuses to go where Balaam tells her 

because she sees the angel of the Lord (Numbers 22:23-27). 

Our eyes grow wide when you “open the mouth of the donkey” 

and she says, “What have I done to you, 

that you have struck me these three times?” (Numbers 22:28). 

And yet, through this whole true tale, 

you reveal yourself to be King of Kings 

and protector of your people. 

The evil king of Moab, Balak, 

wants Balaam to curse your people, 

the Israelites. 

But you will not allow Balaam to speak evil against your people, 

only a blessing. 

You are indeed the Lord of Lords, 

the Ruler of Rulers, 

the King of Kings. 

And you have shared the hope of this message clearly with us 

throughout Scripture. 

May we be more like your donkey, 

who sees your messengers clearly, 

who obeys your commands.

In Jesus’s worthy name. Amen. 



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker