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A Prayer about Knowing Our God-given Limits

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

A Prayer about Knowing Our God-given Limits

So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons.

Mark 1:33

Precious Jesus, 

As we live in your strength through your Spirit, 

may we learn to follow your lead in knowing when to say “enough.” 

Not too long ago,

I heard some wise words 

on saying no to the demands of our world.* 

Vanessa Hawkins, the speaker, 

pointed out that though people brought “all” who were sick, 

and the “whole” city was gathered, 

you chose to heal “many,” not all (Mark 1:32-33). 

We don’t know your ways, 

but we know you have the wisdom of limits, 

something we would do well to learn. 

So often we strive 

to do it all, 

to have it all, 

to be all things 

to all people. 

But you healed “many,” 

and then, as Vanessa pointed out, 

you went to sleep. 

The next morning 

you got up, “rose,” very early, 

to go out and pray (Mark 1:35).

Tomorrow we’ll consider how you found rest in prayer, 

as you heard your Father 

speak words of delight and purpose over you.

For today, we ask that you would send your Spirit 

to show us places 

where we may be trying to live beyond 

the very human limits 

you yourself submitted to. 

In your limit-giving name. Amen. 

Read Mark 1: 21-39.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the God Who Hears Our Groans

by | Apr 7, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about the God Who Hears Our Groans

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. 

Exodus 2:24–25

All-knowing God,

We are so grateful that we know 

that you know our very groans. 

You hear our groans, 

whether over grief due to a loved one’s death 

or the suffering of mental illness 

or the sorrow over wars and strivings. 

As you hear, you see us in our suffering, 

and you know us through and through. 

That knowledge leads you to act on our behalf. 

We who belong to you know 

that you have rescued us already 

from the worst slavery, 

the slavery to sin and death. 

But you don’t stop there. 

You continue your redemptive work 

in this hurting world, 

every moment till our Savior returns 

to fully establish his kingdom of shalom 

right here on this groaning earth. 

We are so grateful—

you never never forget 

your covenant with your people, 

sealed through your Spirit, 

kept through your faithfulness in your Son. 

And we are so grateful—

as you remember, you rescue. 

In Jesus’ hope-bringing name. Amen.

Read Exodus 2.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Ageism

by | Apr 6, 2024 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Ageism

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

1 Timothy 5:1-2

Good Father,

Forgive us for the ways 

we sometimes marginalize older people. 

We do it in unnoticeable and unmistakeable ways: 

with sins of omission 

(not seeking ways to include the elderly 

by making churches and homes accessible 

in space, sight, and sound), 

or by sins of commission: 

grumbling about how slowly an older person moves

or how poorly they drive. 

You make it abundantly clear that all people, 

from cradle to grave, 

deserve dignity and honor, 

because we are created in your image (Gen. 1:26-27). 

The fifth commandment calls us to honor fathers and mothers, 

promising that doing so leads to lengthy life (Ex. 20:12). 

In 1 Timothy, Paul instructs Timothy,

“do not rebuke an older man harshly, 

but exhort him as if he were your father,” 

treat “older women as mothers,” 

and help widows in need (see 5: 1-3). 

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees 

for failing to care well for their parents (see Mark 7:9-13). 

Help us to see the subtle ways we marginalize the elderly. 

Help us to think of ways to honor the elderly 

and to welcome them in our lives.

In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 16:31; Ecclesiastes 12; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.



 

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about the Reality of Hell

by | Apr 5, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Suffering, Theology

A Prayer about the Reality of Hell

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night. Revelation 14:11

Holy God,

Forgive us for our reluctance to talk about hell. 

When we refuse to consider its reality, 

we fail to understand the great goodness of the gospel, 

the hope of salvation to those who believe. 

We also fail to be like Jesus, 

who talked about hell 

more than anyone else in the entire Bible. 

He described it as “Gehenna” (Mark 9:43) 

a place out side Jerusalem 

where corpses and garbage 

rotted and burned. 

He said it was a place 

where the soul and body are destroyed  (Matt. 10:28) 

and the “fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47). 

Yes, we must see hell rightly 

as the place of just punishment for all of our sins, 

and we must see you rightly, 

as a holy, good, and patient God, 

“slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, 

forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Numbers 14:18). 

We must see you as the righteous God 

who allowed your Son 

to suffer the torment of hell on the cross for us, 

that in him, we might never suffer its horror. 

And yes, Lord, we must share the good news 

of our hope in Jesus Christ, 

that others may turn from their sins 

and receive your gift of eternal life 

in everlasting glory.

Help us we pray, Lord, 

to believe your Word and to share its hope urgently.

In Jesus’s name. Amen. 

Read Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-311; Rev. 14:11. 

(This prayer based on an excerpt from my book, Preparing for Glory: Biblical Answers to 40 Questions about Living and Dying in Hope of Heaven. (Affiliate link).

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Being Transformed into Glory

by | Apr 4, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Joy, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Being Transformed into Glory

…are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18b

Dear friends, this is the second part of a two-part prayer on the profound verse 2 Corinthians 3:18. Be sure to pray yesterday’s if you missed it.

Glorious Lord,

Can it be? 

Can it really be true that 

because the Spirit has lifted the veil 

that prevented us from beholding your glory, 

we are now being transformed by that same Spirit, 

by your Spirit? 

Can it be that we are far more than fixer-uppers, 

that we are re-created in you? 

Can it be that the glorious image of God 

in which we were created (Gen. 1:26-27)

is being restored in us 

after it was so terribly corrupted by the fall? 

Can it be that one day, 

when you appear, 

we will be given 

glorious resurrection bodies (See 1 Jn. 3:2)? 

And can it be that a day is coming 

when we will stand before the throne of God, 

and the angels will whisper together and say, 

‘How like Christ (s)he is?’”* 

Oh Lord, we believe; help our unbelief!

In your transforming name. Amen.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; Gen. 1:26-27; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 3:2.

*Principle Rainy’s challenge, quoted in R. Kent Hughes, 2 Corinthians Commentary. 

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker

A Prayer about Marvelous Nonsense

by | Apr 2, 2024 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, Spiritual Growth

A Prayer about Marvelous Nonsense

But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Luke 24:12

Lord, 

We rejoice today, remembering the early days after your resurrection. 

The women had gone to the tomb looking for you 

and had been told by angels that you weren’t there, 

for you had risen. 

They did as instructed, 

running to tell the apostles the unbelievable good news.

But the apostles thought it was “an idle tale,” “nonsense,” 

even though you had told them on multiple occasions 

that you would rise from the dead (Mark 9:30-32; Matthew 16:21-28; Matthew 17:22-23). 

Lord, we live in a skeptical and cynical world, 

where belief in miracles is often scoffed at. 

Open our minds to study the Scriptures 

and our hearts to the unimaginable 

good news of the gospel. 

Make us like Peter, 

who ran to the tomb to see for himself, 

bent down, looked in, and saw your grave-clothes 

lying in an empty tomb. 

When he realized you were gone, 

he “marveled” at what had happened. 

Make us marvelers too. 

It is an amazing story. It is a marvel-ous story. 

It is a story that changes everything about life and death.

In your risen name. Amen.

Read Luke 24:1-12.



Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage

author, life and legacy coach, speaker