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A Prayer about Waiting for Recovery

by | Nov 1, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Waiting for Recovery

Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. Mark 9:24

Heavenly Father,

How this earthly father’s words resonate with us. 

He had likely lost all hope that his son, 

who was violently abused by an “unclean spirit,” 

would ever recover (Mark 9:17). 

And yet, he, like we, 

dared to hope that Jesus could help. 

He, like we, in our hopeless and discouragement, can only ask, 

“if you can do anything, 

have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). 

When Jesus responds, “Anything is possible if a person believes,” 

the father admits his ambivalence: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). 

Oh Lord, how we thank you 

that your healing work in our lives, 

whether healing of sin, 

healing of addiction, 

healing of illness, 

or healing of relationships, 

does not depend on our level of faith. 

Oh Lord, how we thank you 

that you are the faithful one 

who loves us deeply in our doubt. 

Oh Lord, how we thank you 

that we know the day of full and final healing 

is coming soon. 

In Jesus’ faithful name. Amen.  

Read Mark 9:14-29.

 

A Prayer about Eternal Glory

by | Oct 29, 2022 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Gospel living, kingdom living, Numbering Our Days, Suffering

A Prayer about Eternal Glory

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

Heavenly Father,

Enlarge our imaginations that we might see what glory awaits us in Christ!

In this fallen world, we suffer, 

but “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing 

with the glory that is to be revealed to us” and in us (Romans 8:18).

Because we are in Christ, we have a glorious inheritance 

which we will receive when he returns:

We will be…

Confirmed: 

You, our Father, will welcome us, saying, 

“Yes, this is my beloved child!” 

Restored: 

like the ultimate fixer-upper, 

healed of the wounds of sin, 

healed of the brokenness of our bodies, 

made like Christ, 

fully shining with the glory of Christ!

Strengthened: 

strong in Christ’s strength, 

no longer able to sin.

Established: 

Established on thrones 

as those who reign with Christ 

over the new heavens and new earth, 

and we will “reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). 

(Just call me Queen Elizabeth!)

Oh, Father, the glories that await us in heaven 

do seem too good to be true! 

How we long for the day 

we will see you face to face, 

the day your glory 

will become fully and finally our glory.  

In Jesus’ glorious name. Amen.

Read Romans 8:18-30; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:10.

 

A Prayer about Throwing Off Anxiety

by | Oct 28, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Spiritual Growth, Suffering

A Prayer about Throwing Off Anxiety

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Caring Father,

We live in an anxious time. 

Whether it is a crisis with our work, church, 

marriage, children, or home, 

or the larger global crises 

of pandemics and failing economies and war, 

we often feel the clutching in our hearts 

and the churning in our stomachs. 

How thankful we are that you invite us 

to “cast” our anxiety on you. 

We must often be intentional about taking 

that heavy sack of worries 

and heaving it on our Lord Jesus, 

who beckons us to come to him 

with our weighty burdens (Matthew 11:28-30). 

We must resist the evil one, 

who likes to tell us we’re alone in our anxiety, 

and no one else can understand (1 Peter 5:8-9).  

We must remember all of the ways 

you have rescued and redeemed in the past, 

both through Jesus Christ, 

and in our individual and corporate stories (Psalm 145:4,6). 

Finally, we must look to the future, 

remembering that one day 

our anxiety will end 

along with our suffering, 

and that we will know “eternal glory in Christ” 

when you, the “God of all grace…

will…restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish” us. 

What good news and great hope! 

In Jesus’ calming name. Amen. 

Read 1 Peter 5:6-11. 

 

A Prayer about When God Seems Silent

by | Oct 18, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Prayer, Suffering

A Prayer about When God Seems Silent

To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not be deaf to me, For if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. Psalm 28:1

Merciful God,

We beg you, do not be silent. 

Hear our prayers, 

and speak your gracious response. 

We confess, at times, 

we feel we have prayed and prayed and prayed, 

maybe about a loved one’s illness or our own, 

about the need for a job, 

or about the longing for a spouse or a child or a loved one’s salvation, 

and we think we’re listening, 

but we hear nothing. 

We urge you, 

“Hear the voice of our pleas for mercy, 

when we cry to you for help, 

when we lift our hands 

toward your most holy sanctuary” (Ps. 28:2). 

Lord, thank you for the thousands of words 

you’ve given us in your Word 

that answer us 

when we can’t hear the answer in our lives. 

Your Word gives voice to our lament. 

Your Word reminds us 

that you are always “the strength of your people…

the saving refuge of your anointed.” 

Because of your Word become flesh, 

our Savior Jesus, 

we have heard an answer to all of our prayers, 

“It is finished” (John 19:30). 

You have taken us for your own, 

and one day, we will be with you, 

and our desperate need for an answer 

will slip away in the sound of your welcoming voice.

In Jesus’ hope-giving name. Amen.

Read Psalm 28. 

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A Prayer about a Safe Place

by | Oct 10, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about a Safe Place

For in you my soul takes refuge; In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, Till the storms of destruction pass by. Psalm 57:1

Redeeming Lord,

We pray for all who need a safe place right now, 

not just any safe place, 

but the safest place of resting 

in your mercy and grace.

While some in my home state of Florida 

are seeking to rebuild safe places, 

homes destroyed by Hurricane Ian, 

others throughout the world have suffered the destruction 

of families, careers, relationships, lives. 

When we feel that our souls are “in the midst of lions” 

or that we “lie down amid fiery beasts” (Ps. 57:4),  

may we cry out to you, “God Most High” (Ps. 57:2).

For indeed, you will send from the heavens and save us; 

you have already “put to shame the one who tramples on us” (Ps. 57:3).  

You have shown us your “steadfast love and faithfulness” 

in Jesus (Ps. 57:3), our one true safe place, 

our refuge at all times. 

You have cast your weighted blanket of glory across the earth, 

and our souls awaken with new hope 

to sing your praises (Ps. 57:6-8). 

In Jesus’ safe name we pray. Amen.

Read Psalm 57.

A Prayer about Living in a Landscape of Loss

by | Oct 8, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Living in a Landscape of Loss

These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

Merciful Lord,

Today we pray for all who find themselves living in a landscape of loss. 

Even as Hurricane Ian whipped through Cuba and Florida, 

wrecking homes and ripping away roofs, 

others are facing disaster in their lives: 

a body-wrecking diagnosis, 

the ripping apart of a marriage by an affair, 

the frequent flood of tears over a rebellious teenager. 

Lord, in a landscape of loss, 

in this world filled with tribulation, 

you make a startling promise: 

you have overcome the world. 

You tell us “Yes, you will suffer in this world, 

but in my world, 

my kingdom, 

which has already come and will soon be consummated,

you will never suffer again. 

Everything lost in the fall will be redeemed. 

For this reason, we can 

“be of good courage,” 

“take heart,” 

“not be afraid,” 

for you have indeed overcome the world 

by your death and resurrection. 

How we look forward to the day of renewal that awaits.

In your restoring name. Amen.

Read John 16.