7 Prayers That Work

Lord, Help me. I'm going through a crappy time, and I don't want to hear anyone saying trite little comments to me about how thankful I should be or how things will get better. I know that. I just don't feel that. I've decided I'm having a pity-party. This feels right, at the moment. But of course, then I feel worse. It's all selfishness. I know that. God, I don't know how you're going to change my heart. This is a big ask, and a bigger commitment to repent on my part. I need you. I need my faith in you to grow. I really do need someone to knock some sense into me. Except they really should do it from a distance because I'm likely to take a swing back. Hmm. Maybe I just need to find a punching bag. Punch me. I'll go open the Bible. I'm sure something there will reach out and knock me upside the head. So in advance of that happening, thank you. I do love you. Please bear with me a little longer. Amen. 1 Tim...

Dear Lord, God of Justice , I pray for the 40 million slaves in the world today. This must grieve your heart. These poor people, living in fear, believing themselves worthless and hopeless, not knowing You died to give them freedom. They don't realize that you considered them so valuable, that you sent your Son--the One and Only-- to die a horrific death, just for them. Jesus experienced beatings, betrayal, abuse, and disrespect so that He would understand that slaves everywhere experience. I ask for Your Spirit to fall on them and speak truth into their hearts and minds. I pray for them to cry out to you. I confess their sins and speak longing for You on their behalf. Give them hope that life can be different and the courage to make an escape if they can. Bring someone across their path to free them. I pray for their owners to be seized and prosecuted. I pray for justice for these evil-doers. God, reign down your fire on their abusers, their masters, the...

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 ...

Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, I ask for you to join me in war against the enemy of discouragement. I pray against a lack of confidence and hope for my loved one. I pray in Jesus' name that your forces will defeat all that come against life and love and holiness. Bring him a miraculous intervention-- a resolution, a celebration, a season of hope and renewal-- because the forces that come with you are stronger than the forces that come against him. The war is already won. But it'd be nice if you could just knock this battle out for him. I know you want to grow him by bringing him through a valley. He knows that. We know that. But life is still so hard, and people can be so cruel. They say things that discourage, deflate, and destroy confidence, hope, and vision. You understand. Sometimes, you just can't take it anymore. Give my loved one thick skin, a tender touch, and a gracious heart. May he reach out when others push. May he...