A Prayer about Holy Sexuality in a Sexually Insane World

by | Feb 9, 2021 | Gospel living, Prayer, Weekly Gospel Meditation

A Prayer about Holy Sexuality in a Sexually Insane World

This week, the week of Valentine’s, seems like a good time to pray about sexuality in a sexually insane world. Please join me in this prayer of confession and hope, and please share this prayer with others. 

“This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.” Gen. 2:24-25, NLT

“Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.” Eph. 5:3-4

Most merciful, Creator God, we come to you, weighed down by the sexual insanity of this world, deeply broken over our own deceitful lust and greed, and profoundly thankful for your everlasting mercy.

We praise you for your creation of holy and exuberant sexuality.

We praise you for your exquisite design of sexual love expressed in the context of marriage—two sinner-saints joined together in lifelong covenant. You knew that there would be inexpressible joy coupled with heart-shattering grief. You knew the man would fail the woman in silence. You knew the woman would try to take life into her own hands. You created and redeemed sexual love in marriage for your glory.

Lord, we confess that not one of us is free of sexual immorality. Some of us let our eyes linger long on someone else’s spouse; others darken our minds with words and images that have nothing to do with your holy sexuality. We consume others, not caring how our lust may wound them or grieve you.

Lord, we also confess that we have failed to protect our young.

We don’t know what to do with a culture of adolescents that sext and hook up in school hallways, so we give reprimands but refuse to enter hard conversations.

Rather than recognize and respond to the horrifying news of young children being sexually trafficked, we change the channel to something more soothing.

We tell women and men who have suffered sexual abuse that what happened wasn’t really a big deal or that the other person didn’t really mean it.

In the midst of all of this sexual insanity, Lord, we bow before you, marveling at your mercy and forgiveness.

The apostle Paul had it right when he offered thanksgiving as the holy alternative to sexual immorality.

We thank you…

for creating holy sex.

We thank you…

for your healing love that meets us in the midst 

of our sexual brokenness.

We thank you…

for your compassion and mercy for the abused, the oppressed, and the addicted.

We thank you…

for never shaming or humiliating us, 

but inviting us to flourish in the healing mercy of our faithful and ever-loving Savior, Jesus Christ.

In his precious and holy name we pray. Amen.

A Prayer about the Gift of Prayer

by | Jan 25, 2021 | Daily Prayer, Prayer

A Prayer about the Gift of Prayer

Dear Father,

Thank you for the gift of prayer:

Not only have you invited us to share our innermost thoughts with you—

the sins and sorrows we don’t want to share with anyone else, 

but you have also invited us to share our prayer needs 

with other praying believers. 

You designed the body of Christ 

to pray for all sorts of things: 

for church growth and unity, 

for families and marriages, 

for work and play, 

for health and healing, 

for equality and justice.

Not only that, but you gave us your Spirit, 

who groans for us when we cannot find words 

to pray for ourselves or others (Romans 8:26). 

Not only that, but you gave us your Son 

to intercede on our behalf, 

to come as our Advocate, 

pleading your mercy upon us (Romans 8:24; Hebrews 7:25).

Father, may we understand this command 

to “pray without ceasing” as the gift it is; 

may we enjoy your surpassing kindness 

in calling us to pray, 

the most important work we will do this week. 

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Romans 8:24-26; Hebrews 7:25.

A Prayer about Knowing the Way of Peace

by | Dec 23, 2020 | Daily Prayer, Prayer

Oh, Father,

What a beautiful transformation

takes place in your servant Zechariah after his son John the Baptist is born.

Where before he doubted your power and your ways,

now he affirms your provision and your plan.

He sees his newborn son,

and he knows that he will prepare the way for Jesus.

May we all affirm deeply and share widely

this knowledge John the Baptist brought:

“The forgiveness of sins…the tender mercy of our God…

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 2:77-79).

As we do, may we see you guiding our feet “into the way of peace.”

In Jesus’ merciful name. Amen.

Read Luke 2:68-79.

A Prayer for the Election Season

by | Oct 27, 2020 | Prayer

A Prayer for Election Season

I’ll confess — this election season has led me to struggle with gratitude for my country. Much of the time, I have felt cynical and critical, not grateful.

The good news in the midst of the bad news is that God has given us the gift and privilege of prayer. Today and in the coming days, I invite you to join me in prayers of gratitude and repentance concerning what we see in America.

 

GOD, OUR RULER,

You have honored us to be citizens of your eternal kingdom,

and yet you have appointed us as your ambassadors

of reconciliation in this earthly country.

WE

confess that too often we have looked to political leaders

to satisfy our needs. We have neglected to show hospitality to strangers,

and we have failed to love, both our neighbors and our enemies.

 

gratitude for citizenry

GRACIOUS KING

we thank you and praise you

for the privilege of

living in this country.

WE LOOK FORWARD

to the day

when we will bow together

as one body composed of people

from every tribe, tongue, and nation,

CONFESSING

Jesus as Lord.

We are confident that the

zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do it!

In Jesus’ ruling name we pray.

Amen.

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Why We Need to Pray God’s Story

by | Sep 25, 2018 | Gospel living, Prayer, Spiritual Growth

Why We Need to Pray God’s Story

Beginning to Pray God’s Story

Is this series on spiritual graces encouraging and refreshing you? I hope so. Today I want to offer some hope to energize your prayer life. Here is my story: On a cold January night 40 years ago, I sat on a hard rock, looked up at the starry sky and spoke a simple prayer, God, I need help! That was my feeble attempt to acknowledge my desperate need for a Savior. I had only an inkling of how deep my sin nature ran and how impossible it was to earn my own salvation, but God heard these three little words and moved powerfully through them.

Continuing to Pray God’s Story

For years after I called Christ Savior, I handwrote lengthy prayers in a journal and talked to Jesus all day long. “What’s the answer to number 3 on this Calculus test? Or, if you won’t give me the answer, could you just show me how to do it?” (You might say such a request either reflects my shallow faith or my deep understanding that Jesus is the Redeemer of all things, including Calculus!) My #prayer story: Desperation had become dullness. Passion had become passivity. What's your #story with #prayer? Share on X More years went by.  One day I acknowledged that my prayers had become a rote presentation of a laundry list of prayer requests, mostly about someone’s distant relative. Desperation had become dullness. Passion had become passivity. I knew I was supposed to pray as a Christian, but I was struggling to find the energy and the words. I needed to learn to pray all over again. Then I discovered a very important key to prayer:

4 Ways Understanding God’s Story (The Bible) changes our prayer; prayer changes our understanding of God’s Story.

  1. God’s Story helps us remember there is a bigger story. If life is only about the here and now, our little story, if there’s nothing more beyond what we can touch and see, why would anyone pray? Such nearsightedness is perhaps what leads people to “send positive thoughts” rather than the go-big-or-go-home act of prayer.
  2. God’s Story shows us how to pray:What should we pray about? God’s big story shows us that we should pray many things, including these:
  • Thanking our Creator (Phil. 4:6).
  • Harmony in relationships, with God and with others (Eph. 4:2-3).
  • Confession of sin (1 John 1:9).
  • Grieving that things are not as God created them to be (Psalm 88).
  • Redemption of people and this entire cosmos (Romans 8:23).
  • Christ’s return and the wonderful end of the story which is really just the beginning of real life (Revelation 21:1-5).

3. God’s Story gives us a basis for praying. Pray for restoration of broken things. Not broadly. Right here, right now. Lord, restore my understanding of Calculus because you are a restorer of broken things.

4. God’s Story informs our prayers through specific stories.For example, “Lord, don’t let me be cynical like Sarah was when she believed you wouldn’t provide her the promised child!” (See Genesis 18:12). Or, alternatively, “Lord, let me be like Sarah, laughing hilariously at your surprising ways — bringing improbable babies after the story seemed long over.” (See Genesis 21:6).

Try this exercise to pray God’s story!

Take 5 minutes. Write down a situation in your life or the life of someone you know, perhaps something you’ve been praying for. For each of these questions, you will need to write short simple sentence or phrase answers. Connect it to the Big Story of Scripture. Here are some sample questions you can ask to do this:
  • Where do you see the image of God? Where is there shalom (wholeness, peace, harmony, beauty)?
  • What brokenness exists?
  • Is someone moving toward another god to make life work?
  • What redemption has taken place? What redemption are you praying for?
  • What prayer for future restoration might you pray?

A Prayer about Praying

Lord, God, it is pretty astonishing that you’ve not only allowed us, but welcomed us into your presence, to talk with you personally about the things that matter to you and the things that matter to us. We confess, too many times we are simply too busy running our own lives to stop and talk with you about them. We confess, we are often confused about how or what to pray. Help us, Lord, to enjoy this great privilege you have given us as our heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name and by your Spirit, we pray, Amen!

How Spiritual Disciplines Can Become Spiritual Graces

by | Sep 4, 2018 | Bible study, Prayer, Spiritual Growth

How Spiritual Disciplines Can Become Spiritual Graces

Re-thinking spiritual disciplines

As many students and teachers get back to school, it’s a prime time to return to or develop good routines. This month at Living Story, I’ll share some encouragement and tools for spiritual disciplines, looking at the means God uses to grow us as Christians. Be sure to subscribe if you want to receive all of the posts in your inbox.

I confess, as a young Christian back in the 70’s, I got the wrong impression about what we often called our “spiritual life.” For example, I thought things like having good quiet times (whatever that meant) or memorizing Bible verses would make me a better Christian and more acceptable to God. Thank goodness for the great gospel news that God loves us because he loves us, not because we are “spiritual giants,” which I definitely was not.

The good news/bad news of spiritual disciplines

The good news is that I learned that my so-called spiritual labors did not save me. Thankfully, that work was done by Jesus on the Cross.

The bad news is that somehow I, along with many other people got the idea that being saved by grace alone meant we didn’t need to be diligent about reading our Bibles.

I used to think being saved by grace alone meant it didn’t matter if I didn’t read my Bible very often. #spiritualgrowth Share on X

Why we need spiritual disciplines:

At the office, the school, the playing field, and of course, on the internet, our culture bombards us with stories about who we are and what we should be. These stories tell us how to spend our money and our time. They often make us feel that we don’t measure up. Then, after we’re beaten down, they teach us how to regain our lost self-esteem.

In the midst of these mixed messages, we desperately need to know the one True Story Scripture tells. This Story reminds us:

  • A glorious God created us in his image, so we have incalculable value.
  • This same glorious God loves his people and pursued us to make us his own.
  • Christ came and died to set us free from our sins. (Gal. 5:1).

We desperately need to know the Story of Grace Scripture tells. #Biblestudy #grace Share on X

Knowing God’s story will help us when neighbors think we’re odd for going to church on Sunday mornings, or when co-workers think we prioritize our family over our work (we do!). We will remember that we do live differently because we are citizens of heaven, not citizens of this earth (Phil. 3:20).

Spiritual disciplines: our means of living God’s story of grace

Spiritual disciplines, like Bible reading and memorization, prayer, and attending church, among others, matter deeply to our calling to worship and enjoy God forever! Next week we will continue this series by looking at practical suggestions for developing and refining practices for immersing ourselves in The Story — the Bible!

A PRAYER ABOUT SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

Holy God, forgive us for the ways we have misunderstood and abused your grace, mercy, and love. Help us to enjoy the good gifts you have given us to grow more and more like Jesus. We want to be like him; please help us to root ourselves in good soil. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen

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