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A Prayer about Being Permanently Justified

by | May 6, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Being Permanently Justified

We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. Phil. 3:3-4

Justifying Lord,

How I pray we can really and truly grasp 

once and for all, 

the profound peace 

that comes through being justified by Christ, 

being robed in Christ’s righteousness. 

I don’t know for sure, 

but I’m guessing the internal dialogue in my friends’ minds 

may go something like mine:

Oh I feel bad for not going to the women’s event. 

But I had to go to my son’s award ceremony.

Oh I wish I hadn’t said that. Now she’s going to think I don’t care about her. 

But I did send her a birthday text.

Oh why didn’t I hang my keys on the hook so I wouldn’t lose them?

But I did keep up with my phone all weekend.

It can go on and on like that, 

all day, 

all of our lives: 

we accuse ourselves 

and then we justify ourselves 

in an endless internal monologue.

Lord, spare us from this miserable guilt.

Your Word “accuses” us of actual sin clearly: 

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). 

That is the truth about us outside of Christ.

But thanks be to God, your Word also tells us 

the source of our justification, 

and it’s not in ourselves: 

“And to the one who does not work 

but believes in him 

who justifies the ungodly, 

his faith is counted as righteousness…” (Romans 4:5).

Oh, Lord, we are free at last, 

free at last.

Make us certain of this glorious reality: 

our righteousness is in and through Christ alone. 

Now, robed beautifully in his righteousness, 

we can run to tell others, 

we can live to love the God 

who ended this dreadful internal monologue 

with Jesus’ words from the cross,

“It is finished” (John 19:30).

In Jesus’ righteous name. Amen.

Read Philippians 3:1-14.

A Prayer about Having Not Love

by | May 5, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

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 he first loved us. 

And we love as he 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. 

A Prayer about the Misery of Sin

by | May 4, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Misery of Sin

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.

A Prayer about Wise Tongues

by | May 1, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

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.

So change us, Lord, 

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’ all-wise name. Amen. 

Read Proverbs 29. 

A Prayer about the Necessity of Christian Community

by | Apr 26, 2023 | Church, Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Necessity of Christian Community

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…

2 Corinthians 5:18

Reconciling Father,

Yesterday, we prayed about 

your treasured gift of Christian community, 

today, we remember its necessity.

You could have shared the message of the gospel without us,

but you designed us to serve you by spreading the good news.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, 

“But God put his Word into the mouth of human beings 

so that it may be passed on to others….

[You have] willed that we should seek and find 

God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians.”*

This is why we must seek out face-to-face fellowship 

with those who know and love the good news of the gospel. 

Because the “Christ in my heart is weaker 

than the Christ in the word of other Christians.”*

Thank you for that sister who spoke up in Sunday school, 

sharing her favorite verse; 

thank you for how her words reminded me 

that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Thank you for our faithful Bible study leaders, 

who study the lesson and draw us to see the truths in your Word 

we would never have seen on our own. 

Thank you, of course, for our faithful pastors and ministry leaders, 

who work so hard to preach and teach the gospel week after week,

year after year. 

Our hearts are indeed “uncertain” 

when we are left to ourselves; 

with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we become sure.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. 

This prayer inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together. Quotes from page 32. 

A Prayer about the Treasure of Christian Community

by | Apr 25, 2023 | Church, Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Treasure of Christian Community

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 2 John 12

Gracious God, 

Creator of Christian community, 

help us to marvel at the good gift 

of face-to-face fellowship 

with other believers. 

In recent years, 

we learned how privileged we are

to be able to gather safely together 

with the body of Christ. 

After the season of social distancing, 

it took some of us awhile 

to get used to being together again, 

and it can still be tempting 

to “watch the livestream” 

rather than to get up, get dressed, and get to church. 

Oh, Lord, may it not be so! 

Help us to understand 

what imprisoned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood 

when he wrote, “visible community is grace.”* 

Help us to see that face-to-face fellowship 

is a foretaste of the day 

when you will 

“gather us in…

for you have redeemed us” (see Zechariah 10:8-9). 

Help us to remember that 

“we belong to one another 

only through and in Jesus Christ.” 

Help us to remember 

that Jesus broke down the dividing wall of hostility 

that we might be united, 

as one community in Christ, 

for all of eternity. 

One day soon we will see Jesus face to face, 

but until then, 

may we enjoy your wonder-full gift 

of face-to-face fellowship 

with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

In Jesus’ uniting name. Amen.

Read Zechariah 10:8-12; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; Psalm 42:4; Ephesians 2:14-18. 

 

*This prayer was inspired and informed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s great book, Life Together. First quote is from p. 28 and second from p. 33.