DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

For Believing Men Choosing to Be On Their Own

Faithful Father,
You call us to grow in grace. That growth cannot happen apart from your Word. While we have unlimited resources available to us to be in that Word on our own, you never intended for us only to be in your Word alone. You call us to gather with other believers and brothers in the faith. When men confess the Christian faith, but neglect meeting together with other Christians for worship, Bible study, or even fellowship, we are right to be concerned. Satan knows there is strength in numbers within the body of Christ, so he is much more likely to ambush and attack men who insist on going it alone.

Give me the godly courage to express my concern to them with the confidence that your design for growing together is more suitable than their insistence that they are just fine on their own. Move them to see the strength found in the support, encouragement, and accountability of community with brothers in Christ. Call them out of isolation and into the transformation that the Holy Spirit works as your Word pours into us and through us together, shaping us into the men of God we want to be and you call us to be.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

To Appreciate Extroverts and Introverts

Wonderful Father,
Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. That means we are not clones of each other, sharing the same personalities, abilities, and interests. Some of us are very outgoing extroverts, while others are keep-to-ourselves introverts. Rather than being frustrated by these differences, help us to embrace them and even celebrate that uniqueness.

You often use the outgoing nature of extroverts to make new introductions and connections with people. Introverts, on the other hand, while not eager to step out of their comfort zone to make those initial new connections, can be amazing at developing those one-on-one relationships more deeply. Extroverts may unintentionally speak without considering how their words might be received by others, while those who are more reserved may have more of a knack for reading the room and being socially aware. While we understand that these generalizations can’t possibly apply to everyone in the same way, they help us to appreciate that you have wired us differently. Rather than seeing these differences as deficiencies, help us to marvel at how you can use everyone in specialized ways to bless and build up each other. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

To Be More Kingdom-Minded With My Possessions

Loving Savior,
You praised the shrewd manager who made the most of his situation and worked it to his own advantage. Your praise, though, is not intended to compel us to follow in his footsteps concerning his pursuit of personal gain. Rather, we can imitate his shrewdness in a spiritual sense as we consider how our station in life and the connections we have could be advantageous to the kingdom.

You place worldly resources all around us that can certainly be used in support of gospel ministry. Grant me greater awareness of my own personal connections and the resources at my disposal that can be utilized in kingdom-minded ways. Expand my view beyond the local ministry of my own congregation to also consider how I might be in a position to help facilitate the ministry of other congregations or organizations, on a larger scale or in different ways. Shift my perspective more and more to see all that you have entrusted to me as a means by which your gospel reach can be extended.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

To Support Kingdom Work with My Gifts

Gracious Gift-Giver,
All that we have is yours. All that you have entrusted to us is intended to be a blessing to us and/or to others. Help me see all the ways I can use all that I have for good in this world and for your kingdom. When my hands and heart are inclined to clutch on to my belongings as if they’re mine, let your grace loosen my grip. Guard my heart from greed by filling it with a spirit of generosity. Move me to eagerly help and support others when I have the means to do so. Lead me to regularly reflect on the offerings I give back to you, and open my eyes to see how I can facilitate and support the work of your kingdom. Grant me the joy of seeing how generous giving can enrich and extend your kingdom, and use the gifts of your people to seek out the lost and serve the found.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

To Pursue You Rather Than Possessions

Precious Lord,
When you stated that man cannot serve both God and money, you were not issuing us a challenge, but rather a warning. You know the gravity of the warning because you know the powerful pull money can have on our heart. You also know how deceitful our hearts are, which makes it even more dangerous for us to fall for the allure of money and possessions. When we find ourselves drawn to possessions, counter those temptations in us with a spirit of contentment. Steer our focus away from stuff and onto our Savior. Redirect our passion for pursuing possessions toward a deeper desire for you. As we make you our greatest priority, bless our focus by opening the eyes of our hearts to more fully see how truly rich we are in you. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

To Build Relationships With My Church Family

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Worship is the highlight of the week in the life of a believer. Through the proclamation of your Word as it is sung and spoken, you speak to our hearts and nourish our souls. In the Sacrament you feed our faith with forgiveness and fuel us for Christian living.

Yet, while your Spirit works on each of us and nurtures us individually, you never intended for our personal growth to remain private. So when we gather for worship, help us to be mindful of how we help each other grow as a community. While we may not all be extroverted, lead worshipers to be intentional about trying to connect with others and build relationships within their congregations. As these friendships are established and strengthened, let them be a means by which believers experience love, care, and support. Use these relationships to meet one another’s needs, to put faith into practice, and to experience the joys of ministry as you bear fruit in their midst. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

For Dealing with Difficult Church Members

Lord of the Church,
You call us to gather together and unite with fellow believers to carry out our mission and ministry together. When this happens at the local congregational level, you use us both to be a blessing to others and to be blessed by others as the body of Christ. Thank you for the many influential believers you have brought into my life through my church family.

Yet, just as in all other areas of life, church is not without difficult people. While this doesn’t surprise us, knowing your church is made up of sinner saints, it can be a unique challenge because believers are called to hold each other to a higher standard. Forgive me first of all for the many times and ways I’ve personally fallen short of those standards and been difficult for others. Let me extend to others the same grace and patience that have so often been extended to me.

At the same time, don’t allow others to mistake that patience for permission when they are in the wrong or need to repent. Help me distinguish between spiritual immaturity and obstinance, and to separate ignorance or eccentricities from deliberate disobedience. Lead me to assume the best of all of my fellow church members, especially the particularly difficult ones. Guard any differences from becoming divisiveness, and continue to build up your church through the unique members of the body of Christ.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

For Dealing with Difficult Coworkers

Dear Savior,
Ever since the Fall, sin has tainted your blessing of work. Even when we are fortunate enough to be able to do what we love and are skilled at, still there are frustrations in even the most ideal situations. Sometimes those challenges stem from the responsibilities of work itself; other times our struggles have more to do with people. 

When faced with the issue of difficult coworkers, help me to navigate the tension that can exist between my own morality and ethics, which are established and guided by your Word, and a different moral compass by which the world and secular workplace often operate. Let me speak up when I see conduct that is not condoned or endorsed by my place of employment, since I have a responsibility to uphold the name and reputation of my workplace. When lazy coworkers take advantage of the strong work ethic of others by unfairly assigning them heavier workloads, bless the solid coworkers and rebuke and correct the lazy ones. When coworkers refuse to honor appropriate boundaries with others, let it be known and addressed. When/if I come under fire for my faith, let me stand firm and let my light shine as I am able to in keeping with the established policies. When I am feeling overwhelmed by the burden of difficult coworkers, give me the peace of mind and heart in remembering that I am working first and foremost for you above all else. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

For Dealing with Difficult Family Members

Loving Father,
Family relationships have the potential to be among the most treasured connections we have, as well as some of the most challenging. Since we generally tend to be as close to our family as we are to anyone else, that tight bond can amplify both the best and the worst of any relationships. Give me the awareness to recognize family members who manipulate the shared bond and twist it to induce guilt or shame on other family members. Grant me patience with difficult family members, as well as the courage to lovingly call them out whenever necessary. Let me be unafraid to call believing family members to repentance when they have sinned, and also unashamed to evangelize unbelieving family members. While I cannot change or control the behavior of my biological family, I am responsible for how I respond to them and handle them. Let me do so with a balance of firmness and grace, seeking always to do what is in the best interest of their eternal good.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

For Dealing with Difficult Friends

Friend of Sinners,
Friends are a special gift through which you provide many unique blessings. They can protect us from isolation and loneliness, we can enjoy events and experiences with them, engage in rich conversation, and share a variety of passions and interests together. Thank you for all that they bring into our lives.

Friends, though, like so many others in our lives, can also be difficult. Some struggle with confidentiality, passing along to others details of conversations that were shared in confidence. At times they can be unreliable, struggling to follow through or keep their word. There are also some friendships that are challenging because they tend to be very one-sided; we invest far more into them than we get out of them. When friends maintain destructive habits, reject our advice to their detriment, put us in bad situations, or tarnish our reputation, sustaining the relationship can be difficult. Give us patience and discernment when dealing with difficult friends, to know when we can make a sacrifice on their behalf, but also to avoid enabling them. Give us also the wisdom to be aware when it might be best for us to reconsider the friendship for our own good, and maybe theirs, too. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.