7 Prayers That Work

Dear Lord, Nobody deserves your love. Not me. Not anybody else. Your love surpasses all comprehension . So who am I to pick and choose who I'm kind to? Whom to include? Whom to protect and cherish? Whom to elevate and encourage? Everyone is loved by God as much as I am, no matter how good or bad they are, no matter what they've done or what they know. Loved completely because Jesus died for them, even in their sin, just like he died for me in my sin. Lord, I want to show love without reservation or judgment. Convict me, forgive me, release me to the world to reflect your love. Thank you ! You are amazing. In Jesus' powerful name, Amen. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ( John 13:34-35 )

  Let us hold on to the hope we say we have and not be changed. We can trust God that He will do what He promised.  Let us help each other to love others and to do good.  Let us not stay away from church meetings. Some people are doing this all the time. Comfort each other as you see the day of His return coming near. ( Hebrews 10:23-25 ) Lord Jesus, I want to be near you-- to behold you in the sanctuary, to see your face and feel your Spirit. I love to be surrounded in worship by those who love you. I've tried to worship at home, but it isn't the same. There's nothing like being in your presence  with people who call your name and seek your blessing and responds to your conviction with humility and urgency. Thank you, Lord, for the church, for your Spirit that hovers there  and the feeling of love and unity that is present in your body. Bring me back--bring us all back-- without fear or anxiety and without blame, disappointment , or judgment. Just bring us ba...

Lord Jesus, How can I serve someone today? How can I be YOU to someone else? Maybe a stranger needs a smile and friendly hello. Maybe a neighbor needs flowers from my yard. Maybe my community needs my participation . Maybe my child needs encouragement instead of correction. Maybe my spouse needs affirmation and appreciation instead of my complaints. Maybe that person who hurt me needs to hear that I've forgiven the offense. Lord, you have put people all around me that need to see you in me. How is that so easy to miss? You have put me here to serve others, not make a better life for myself. Lord, forgive me for my selfishness, resentment, and criticism . I want to serve someone today because that's what you do. I want to be Jesus today. No one needs to thank me, notice me, or appreciate me. Only let them think about your great love . Thanks for calling me to serve. In Jesus' name, Amen. "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your serant, and whoever wan...

1 Corinthians 13 (MSG) :  So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust ste...

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...

Dear Lord, You are not worried. You are not uninterested. You still wrap your hands around your children and draw us close, even when events seem to say otherwise. Give us peace, comfort, and healing during this time of physical and emotional unrest. Heal those affected by the virus. Multiply the time, effort, and supplies of those in the healthcare industry. I pray that people will safeguard themselves, respect others, and be patient with all the turbulence and unrest caused by a pandemic. I pray for all who worry and suffer to search for you while you can be found. Lord, may we be found by you. You are good, you are merciful, you are gracious, you are forgiving, and you are healing. Heal our wounds -- the ones inside our hearts , where we stray from you and live for ourselves, by ourselves. Most of all, we need healing from fear. I pray for your love to consume us. Love drives fear away because there is no fear in love. Whatever you do with v...

Lord Jesus, Thank you for being Emmanuel, "God with us." (Click here for "A Christmas Prayer for you.") There's no reason that You should want to be with us, to be our God or offer forgiveness, much less become human like us. What a degradation for the Creator to become the created. Why did you do it? Here's why: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." ( John 3:16 ) Love. What a wonderful reason to take human form, and what a compelling reason for us to trust you! It's a wonder we don't comprehend "God with us" more often. (Click here to read "9 Prayers for Christmas hope.") You loved us. You and God the Father and God the Spirit. You created our world. You placed us in it. You came to us because we couldn't be good enough on our own. Then you died and paid our debt. Then to rose again ...

Dear Lord, I need the fruit of your Holy Spirit , the evidence that you are working in my life and producing works that are honoring you. Give me love like yours that doesn't see status, race, gender, intelligence, economics, politics, personality, age, or sinfulness. Help me just love souls like you love souls. This is not a gift so much as it is a decision. Help me decide to love like you. (Click here to read "Why love hurts.") Fill me with joy at being in relationship with you. This, I think, is also a decision. Help me decide to choose joy and thankfulness for any and every situation, to have the faith that you are present and you will accomplish good in me and through me. Your will and timing are always best. Remind me not to chase after happiness because that is fleeting. Joy lasts. (Click here to read "Handling joy and grief at the holidays.") Help me seek peace over safety, security, and being proven right. Convict me when my decisions and...

This morning I had one of those mothering moments when you ask your child to trust your "no" because you are building character into him so he can become the man God wants him to be. Then I say that someday, he'll realize how much it mattered to have a mom who cared about these things. Then I think about my mom and how I never realized the extent of her wisdom and love until I became a mother. And how much I wish I could tell her that again right now. How I wish I could tell her anything at all, and how completely devastating it is to know I won't speak to her again in my lifetime. The realization returns , almost like the first time it hit me. And I have cried off and on all day ever since. Grief sucks like that. How can there still be so many unseen empty spaces that hold grief? God, Would you just fill them, please? Would you just pour yourself into the holes of longing and loss and smother the grief with joy and contentment. Will you hear this ...

Oh, Lord God, You are full of grace for me. Help me to full of grace for other people-- not so quick to judge and condemn. Not find it so easy to think ill of someone's motives and criticize why they do the things they do or compare myself and be jealous of them. You give me grace, and yet I am ungracious. I want to think of myself with "sober judgment," in humility, honesty, and transparency. I am flawed. I am sinful and selfish, and yet you call me beautiful, holy, and desired. That's because of your grace. I don't deserve your love and mercy. Give me the eyes to see everyone the way you see them. I want to see potential, value, worth. I want to see someone full of promise, who maybe just needs a chance. Someone full of gifting, who needs an encourager, not a competitor. Maybe they need someone to listen, someone to love, someone to affirm their value. Someone who will point out what they're doing well instead of what they...

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 Lord, All your ways are good. I believe you love me. When life is difficult, and circumstances don't go my way, I believe you love me, and you're working out a plan to mature me. When people and struggles are cruel and unforgiving, I believe you love me, and you're teaching me something about myself and about yourself. When you bless me with family love and encouraging friendships, I believe you love me. Yet you don't love me any more when my life is easy than when it is hard, even thought that seems true to me. Ease is not better proof of your love, but it does reveal the degree of my faith in you. Thank you for your patience with me, for your long-suffering nature that understands how many times it takes for me to believe and accept truth, especially truth of your sacrificial and eternal love. As if you had something more to prove! Living by faith and not by sight is hard for me-- I so easily forget that you are love, all the time, ...

Dear Lord Jesus Christ-- You are full of mercy and love, and you amaze me because we are a desperate and sinful people, and yet you don't annihilate us. At least, not yet. And so I pray to you. Grant us mercy--give us time to repent. On behalf of those who serve you, if we have pleased you with our rare and paltry obedience, please go with us into the earth. Convict us. Transform us. Forgive the arrogance and selfishness of us, your name-bearers. We misrepresent who you are to your world. We are stubborn and rebellious. We elevate our own agendas. We hate the lost, and we compete with our brothers, and we call it Christianity. Please forgive our wickedness. Our sin is grievous to you, and it confuses your message of forgiveness to the world. Under the canopy of spiritual election, we have confused freedom with grace, conservatism with purity, and protection with compassion. Your heart must be breaking at the sight of us. We bear your name, and we...

Dear Lord Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, You understand everything about marriage, even though you were never married. (You created marriage, after all.) And you created me and my husband, so you fully anticipated the areas where we would clash and the areas we would jell. Thank you. Even when we disagree or become irritated, because of you, we grow stronger. We grow deeper in love and appreciation for each other and more awed by your love and grace. Thank you for my marriage--for all of it-- for the good days and the difficult days, for the joys and sorrows, for the realism of living my whole adult life with one person. I am the luckiest girl alive. You have blessed me so much! Thank you, thank you thank you! I love you, Amen.

Lord God of Mercy, You know the pain of war and the inner workings of the human mind and emotions. I ask Your presence to fall upon the veterans of our countries today. Be Jehovah-Rapha, the God of healing to them. Administer grace to the anguished. Lavish love on the lonely and forgotten. Help those of us to reach out to them, we who can't begin to understand the pain of participating in war or living with someone who's been traumatized by war. Help us be a people who understands and appreciates the pain of others. Give us mercy and love for the marginalized. Let us not hate those who differ from us, but let us not also ignore and embrace sin because we are too afraid to reflect Your glory in our confused world. We need Your wisdom, today and everyday. But I ask that today, above all days, uplift the hearts of servicemen and women, encouraging them in the power of God. Make Your Church a lighthouse to the wandering heart and the weary soul. In Jesus' name, Amen....

Paris has always been a city of love. A terrorist attack doesn't have to change that. Let's take love to a new level.