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A Prayer about Being Rooted and Grounded in Love

by | Jun 12, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Being Rooted and Grounded in Love

Father God

As we see plump, juicy tomatoes growing on the vine 

(not in my yard, but in my daughter’s), 

we recognize that good gardeners know 

they need rich, fertile soil 

to grow strong, healthy plants. 

You’ve designed us the same way, 

and the absolutely essential ingredient 

for healthy growth as a Christian is 

love. 

When we are rooted in it, grounded in it, 

by your Gardener-Spirit, 

we grow strong and healthy. 

Because your love is so overpowering 

and incomprehensible to us—mere humans, 

we need your strength to comprehend it—

no measuring tape or smart phone app can reach 

far enough, long enough, deep enough, or wide enough, 

to measure your love. 

Not even the string theory physicists 

can comprehend it, 

for it “surpasses knowledge.” 

Only by your Spirit working in us 

can we know this love. 

So Lord, we ask, 

please please renew our minds and hearts 

so that we can grasp it 

and grow in it and be filled with all your fullness, 

that we may bear the fruit of love

 in your glorious kingdom.

In Jesus’ incomprehensibly loving name. Amen. 

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.

A Prayer about Being the Baby Bird

by | Jun 5, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Being the Baby Bird

Creator of All Good Things,

Thank you for giving me a close-up view of a cardinal couple 

building a nest, incubating the eggs, 

and hatching two little baby birds over the past few weeks.

One day I snuck a picture of the baby birds, 

mouths wide open, 

cheeping away as they awaited their morning feast of juicy insects.

Lord, remind us of how much we are like baby birds, 

utterly dependent on you for our nourishment of grace. 

You are the God who dropped manna from the sky 

to feed your people in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4). 

You are the Jesus who broke the bread 

and shared it with his disciples, saying, 

“Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). 

You are the Spirit who grows us 

through the Word and prayer. 

One day the baby birds will grow stronger, 

take wing, and fly. 

We too will grow stronger, 

but unlike the birds, 

we will never outgrow 

our complete dependence on you 

and our need for the nourishment of your grace. 

Gratefully we pray,

In Jesus’ life-giving name. Amen.

Read Matthew 26:26-29; Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Hebrews 4:12.

A Prayer about Being Humbled by the Word

by | May 30, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Being Humbled by the Word

Merciful and Loving Jesus,

Thank you for your Word, 

a sword that stabs straight through 

our shields of blindness, 

exposing our sin. 

Thank you for the times our daily reading takes us, 

as it did me, 

to a story of the wedding guests who chose the seat of honor 

the day after we’ve chosen the place of honor for ourselves 

or we’ve put our agenda before others, 

or we’ve failed to consider others better than ourselves.

 [If you can think of a recent time when you put yourself first, confess that to the Lord.]

Thank you for your Word 

that not only exposes our sin 

but also invites us to humbly receive your forgiveness (1 John 1:9).

Thank you for your Word 

that transforms us so that 

we will begin to more naturally choose the lower place. 

We are humbled by your humility, 

grateful for your grace. 

In your forgiving name. Amen. 

Read Luke 14:7-11; Philippians 2:1-11.

A Prayer about the Antidote to Shame

by | May 28, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Antidote to Shame

God of Delight,

We confess, we often cower in shame rather than enjoying and glorifying you. 

This verse gives us a hint about how our crippling shame has been overcome.

We suffer from shame over our sin: the real guilt we should feel about our attempts to rule your universe, our attempts to steal glory for ourselves, our attempts to find security and significance in anything other than you. 

We suffer from shame over others’ harm: the neighborhood bully who called us “fatty” in front of our friends, the teacher or coach or babysitter who made inappropriate sexual comments, the parents who never seemed satisfied with B’s on our report card…

Help us to see that we have a potent antidote to this nagging shame we feel: 

Joy. 

Jesus, the “founder and perfecter of our faith,” 

“Endured the cross, despising the shame”— how? 

“For the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2)

What was that joy? Jesus enjoyed you, and he knew you enjoyed him. Jesus enjoyed completing the mission you had sent him on—to bring your people home to you. He endured the cross, despising the shame because he knew that in his death the shame of our sin would be forever conquered. He knew that in his death and resurrection, our shame would be forever covered as we would be robed in his righteousness. 

Help us to grasp this incredibly good news, Lord. Help us to turn away from our shame, whether true or false, and turn toward Jesus. Help us to embrace your joy in your new creation; help us to enjoy your enjoyment of us, and help us to simply enjoy you as the delightful and delighting Creator and Redeemer that you are.

In Jesus’ joy-full name. Amen. 

Read Hebrews 12:1-2; John 17:1-5; Luke 2:10; Philippians 4:4. 

A Prayer about a Love like No Other

by | May 23, 2021 | Church, Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about a Love like No Other

Ever-loving Father,

Wow us with this amazing news today! 

You have called us your children, 

and we really have become your children. 

Do we realize that this changes everything? 

Yes, it’s true, the world cannot understand 

why we spend half our Sundays at church worshiping you, 

because they can’t see that it’s a family reunion, 

that we are all gathered together as your children 

(and that we actually kind of get along even when we don’t) 

because you first loved us, 

and we want to tell you how much we love you (see 1 John 3:1; 4:19).

Even more amazingly, 

not only did you love us 

and adopt us as your children 

and give us an amazing inheritance, 

you are growing us up to be just like Jesus: 

“…but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, 

because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Oh Lord, multiply our joy today with this good news!

Oh Lord, hasten the day when we see our Savior 

and become like him.

In Jesus’ transforming name. Amen. 

Read 1 John 3:1-2; 4:7-19.

A Prayer about God’s Many-Splendored Creation

by | May 20, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about God’s Many-Splendored Creation

Creator and Redeemer,

Thank you for the cheeping and chirping of the birds all around, 

for the carmine-winged cardinal hunched over her nest nearby, 

for the black-capped chickadees shadowed by the crape myrtles, 

for the yellow-beaked Harris’ hawk perched on the neighbor’s fence…

As we study this natural world, 

we see how many-fold are your works! 

You have made them all in your wisdom. 

You have filled the earth with your creatures, 

the most exquisite of which are your many-splendored people, 

people of every imaginable hue, 

people of every age, 

people of every nation. 

Even as we hear the chorus of creation singing your majesty, 

draw us eagerly toward the day 

when we will join together 

with all of our brothers and sisters 

and all of the birds and trees 

and the wind and the waves 

to sing and dance to the rhythm of your glory

forever and ever. 

In Jesus’ unifying name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 104:1-35.