7 Prayers That Work

  In Luke 18:1-8 , Jesus tells the story of an unjust judge and a widow who wasn't getting justice from an enemy. She kept imploring the judge to help her until he finally relented. This story is not a parable in which God is like the judge. Rather, this story tells us how to pray--with faith and tenacity. It also gives a promise. If this judge, who was selfish, gave justice to an insignificant person because she begged for it, how much more willingly is God to answer our prayers because we ask him to help us? He's willing. He's just waiting for us to ask, believing that we will receive. Here's a prayer of tenacity: Lord God of heaven, who is my righteous Judge, Give me justice from those who oppose me and my service to you. Help me not be discouraged in doing good. Give me relief when I am overlooked and oppressed. Give me clarity of thought and vision. Encourage my faith so I do not view you with limitations. There is nothing you can't do! You are the God of ...

Lord God, You champion the cause of the widow and the orphan all through your Word. I pray for your justice, mercy, and vengeance on behalf of single parents and especially for ___________. I pray for just compensation, for money lost and support not paid. I pray for your covering over the children involved that they would feel your presence and find security in your love. Cause the attorneys to perceive injustice and make a case for fairness and equity. Comfort the broken hearts of these kids and their parents. Bring conviction to the oppressor's heart. Forgive the contrite spirit. Bring unity, collaboration, and even restitution between warring parties. Help all those involved to discover life-giving options. Close opportunities where malice, revenge, and cruelty can thrive.  Give the judge wisdom and understanding. Protect the weak and vulnerable. Defend the widow(er) and abandoned children. Heal their grief. Shine your light of hope and healing into relationships and scenarios ...

Lord Jesus, Bring relief to the marginalized people in this country. Comfort the grieving families of this recent attack in Georgia. Bring awareness, empathy, and compassion to all of us-- but particularly your children-- so that we reach out to those who wander, suffer with those who hurt,  and offer belonging to everyone. I pray your special blessing on Asian-Americans, on immigrant children separated from their parents, on single parent-families living in poverty, on inner-city kids without the resources to reach their dreams. Fill each with the assurance of your love and a desire to know you. Comfort and protect them. And God, change us into your image before them! Stir our hearts to break down stereotypes, partisanship, and elitism and embrace the diverse world you created. You love us all. You offer salvation freely to everyone. You call us to reach the world. Now convict us to reach the world you've brought to us, to think of safety for all instead of safety for ourselves. H...

A prayer of praise and justice from Psalm 98 Shout to the Lord, everyone! Break out your instruments and singing! Your worship is a beautiful symphony to God's ears. Everything on the earth should shout the praises of the Lord. Even the rivers, the ocean, the hills, and the animals praise the Lord through their creation. Why do we withhold our faith and our worship? Because we see the unfairness of this world? Because we harbor ambition, hate , and envy in our hearts? We distrust the plans of the Lord. His way is good, and He does good. He j udges the wickedness of the world in his own time. He will bring justice and mercy according to his nature. All the nations will know that he is the Lord, and there is none other. Praise the Lord, the Savior of the nations! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Lord, God of love and justice, Teach us to love like you, and not hate in the way that comes naturally. Not to hold grudges. Not to act in violence. Not to assume the worst. Not to secretly rejoice when an enemy stumbles. Not to have enemies. Teach us to hate sin and love the sinner. We are sinners. Each of us, is no better than another in God's eyes. God does not love any of us more than any other, so why should we? Teach our leaders to love-- our governors, mayors, judges, prosecutors, and lawmakers to govern from a place of love and righteousness, not power, privilege, or prejudice. By this will all men know that we are your disciples, if we have love one for another. We don't get to choose who to love. That's not loving like you because you chose all of us. But you left the decision up to us. Heal our land through love. Love is justice . Love is collective responsibility. Love is mercy and grace and accountability. Love is being willin...

Maybe you ran 2.23 miles Friday in honor of runner Ahmaud Arbery , who was chased down and shot to death by Gregory and Travis McMichael on Feb. 23, 2020. Ahmaud would have been 26 Saturday, May 8. Four months after the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has decided to arrest the son and father vigilantes. But will Georgia justly prosecute this travesty of racism, racial profiling, aggravated assault, and murder? As believers, we can and should pray for at least two things regarding this tragic situation: 1. confession of the racism in our country 2. requesting justice for the Arbery family and other non-white citizens who undergo similar persecution in "the land of the free" Why should we confess something if we had nothing to do with it? Answer: the same reason that Moses confessed the sins of Israel, even though he didn't commit them. Moses prayed to stop God's heavy hand of judgment, which was poised to annihilate the Israelites. Moses' f...

Onmipotent God, I'm asking you to make things better--a little fairer-- Not for myself, but for some people I care about. In my flesh, I want revenge. In my spirit, I want your righteousness. People I love got a bum deal, an unlucky break. A gross injustice . They've been sinned against. I guess you know what that feels like. I know life's not fair . I know we are called to suffer for the kingdom. But I also know you are a God of justice and you will produce justice and righteousness in the world because that's what you always do. It's how you reveal yourself to all of us-- a God of power, authority, holiness, and love. You make things right . Then you bring joy and peace. Proverbs 21:15  " When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous   but terror to evildoers." You are also a God of vengeance . So when someone hurts, offends, or traumatizes people I love-- people you love who are following you-- I don't min...

God Jehovah, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, Fall on my city and my country. Cover our capital like a heavy blanket with your presence, with an aura of peace and brotherhood. Whisper into hallways and alleys that peace, love, mercy, and diversity reflect who you are and who you made each of us to be. Convict the haters that they live in opposition to you, regardless of their political and religious attachments. They do not represent you, and they tarnish the cause of Christ and the essence of the gospel. Remind Christ-followers everywhere that they are responsible to be the light-- not a political light, but a spiritual light. You do not need politicians or policies to advance your kingdom. You need believers full of love and mercy. Your kingdom is not of this world. You are about releasing people from spiritual darkness and physical affliction and emotional enslavement. You came to bandage the brokenhearted, give release for prisoners, give sight to the blin...

Lord Jehovah--Yahweh-- I lift up the hearts and minds of devout Jews everywhere, especially in Pittsburgh. Comfort them and give them the peace only you can provide. Protect them from evildoers, from violent people, from the shooting down of hope, freedom, and faith. Protect their hearts from the pain of violent words, from the cowards, the bigots, and the self-righteous in our land. Heal these dear people. May they never renounce faith in you because of persecution. May they seek the Lord while He may be found. May they implore the God of heaven to rescue and comfort them. May they recognize the Messiah. Thank you for the outpouring of love from people of many faiths-- this is God at work in hearts and lives. Comfort the Jewish doctors and staff that suffered their own trauma while attending to the shooter in the hospital. You are a God of justice, and I pray for justice on Robert Bowers. I pray that he repents and turns to you. I pray that he asks forg...

Dear God, I'm going to access a little David here and ask you to bring down an enemy, an enemy of someone who follows you. Someone I care about. When someone opposes truth and justice, inflicts pain on one of your children, and brings shame to the gospel-- how do you decide when enough time is enough? After he has had opportunity to repent and he still refuses, what will you do? Sometimes you choose to take that person out. Perhaps this is one of those times. (I feel a little guilty hoping for this.) I'm not asking for this person's actual death, just for a reckoning, a humbling. On behalf of everyone harmed by evil people, I pray for your Spirit to humble, chastise, and even destroy the enemies of Christ. I've prayed for people's repentance-- and I know it's never too late for anyone to turn from wrong and turn back to you-- but when it seems repentance will never happen, I wonder if you could just remove this enemy from any influ...

Dear Lord God, You forgive us when we confess our sins, and you give grace when we confess the sins of our ancestors-- of our family and our city and our country. So I confess the great wickedness of our nation at oppressing the poor, marginalizing women, minorities, the elderly, and the ill, enslaving the African-Americans, red-lining poor communities, indenturing and imprisoning the uneducated and underprivileged. I confess our systemic white privilege, even as I want to believe I am not a benefactor of it. I confess our sins of racism and segregation, even as I say that I have not overtly participated in any of it. It is our heritage, and we are wrong to minimize its legacy. I confess the church's sins of politicizing moral issues, of drawing party lines through issues of compassion, grace, and mercy-- of using topics of mass incarceration, death penalty, immigration, life, and welfare to divide party lines and provide ease and security for the privileged...

Lord, Comforter and Redeemer, Take these troubled times and bring good from them. Somehow, throw your spirit of comfort like a mantle over the grieving, over those traumatized by the Charlottesville rally, and most of all over those injured and killed there. Infiltrate their homes and their conversations-- let your spirit be felt. Comfort those grieving for loved ones lost through senseless violence. Bring justice, swift and sure. Not revenge. That is not your way. But justice, peace, and sanity to a situation raging out of control. May this tragedy in Charlottesville wake up a sleepy country to the ravages of deep-seated prejudice and hatred. Somehow, draw us toward your spirit of wisdom, fill us with a desire and determination to be loving, forgiving, compassionate, determined. Give us the courage to stand for righteousness, to shirk stubbornness and pride, to abhor hatred. Change us. And even while you work so great a miracle, lighten the heavy hearts of ...

Dear God of all comfort, Settle over the families today who are missing their loved ones. Reach into those painful places and smooth the fear and anger; stave off the bitterness, and help them find joy today. Give them new purpose and vision--help them to envision and begin a new life without the ones they've lost. Lord of heaven, comfort us as a nation. I don't ask that you make our lives easy, because nothing with value was ever easy. But give us passion and purpose to live for you, and in so doing, serve our fellow-man. Make us Christ-followers first and Americans second. May our patriotism grow from a love of countryman, not a hatred of foreigners. Lead the citizens of this land to be strong, compassionate, and honest leaders. May we be a people of integrity--that is what brings honor to the dead. Leadership inspires future heroes. Make us leaders who hold human lives above personal values, ambition, and pride. May we see justice through your eyes alone. I pray ov...