Tag: Prayers

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Guidance in the Months Ahead

Holy Spirit,
As I begin a new month and the holidays are around the corner, guide me along your paths as I navigate what is ahead. Schedules will get filled and family will gather. Responsibilities may increase and work pressures may rise as the end of the year looms in the not-too-distant future. Help me to keep the main thing the main thing so that I am not overwhelmed by stress. Grant me the wisdom and foresight to plan ahead as much as possible so that I am prepared. Help me anticipate any possible curveballs I may face in life, with the understanding that I am not attempting to control everything around me, but rather seeking to avoid being caught off guard. 

Looking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas, shield me from secular pressure to somehow make them “more special.” Allow me to find the simple joy of the treasured blessings you offer me through them and help me direct others to do the same.   

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Appreciate My Reformation Righteousness

Righteous Savior,
On this Reformation Day, I am grateful for both your gift of righteousness by faith, as well as the gift of your Word, by which you reveal this truth. What a blessing that so many today will never know the despair of men like Martin Luther and others, who were distraught over their inability to attain the perfect righteousness that you demand. 

Instead, through the sacrifices of many, the good news of the gospel continues to be clearly taught and preached. Therefore, we know and believe that the righteousness you demand of us is also the very righteousness you credit to us by faith! I so easily take for granted both this truth and the Word of God by which it is revealed. Continue to reform and renew my own heart, that I may regularly ponder these gifts and more fully appreciate them!

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Exercise My Christian Freedom Wisely

Precious Savior,
Guide me with your wisdom when living in my Christian freedom. Since you have made us saints by your grace through your blood, we are no longer slaves to the law. Since you kept the law perfectly in our place, it no longer terrifies or condemns us, but guides and directs us. We are free.

In my Christian freedom, however, I still need the Spirit’s wisdom when considering my words and actions. Help me to ask wise questions before exercising it. Is it beneficial, prudent, or profitable for my neighbor or me? Might the expression of my Christian freedom in a certain situation cause a fellow believer to stumble? Could the expression of my Christian freedom be a stumbling block hindering an unbeliever from giving attention to the gospel? Is it possible that the expression of my Christian freedom in one area of life could spill over into sin in another area? I am free, but help me use that freedom wisely in ways that serve and build up your church and honor and glorify you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Overcome My Impatience

Patient Lord,
I ask you to forgive my impatience, which often translates into rash responses. Moreover, it reveals a double standard on my part, as I appreciate and even expect your patience with me, yet fail to demonstrate that same patience with others.

Remind me that I am not the one in control. I do not govern time or dictate how others perceive or manage it either. Instead, give me the grace to wait patiently. Open my eyes to see when it is my own lack of planning or preparation that is part of the problem, and help me to give more attention to such details initially so that they don’t pave the way for my impatience later on. As I wait on progress or growth from others, and I don’t perceive it to be happening as quickly as I would like, help me instead to appreciate the variety and uniqueness with which you have created every human being.

When I feel my impatience growing, slow my speedy expectations and replace them with the joyful appreciation of time to wait, reflect, and simply enjoy the blessings of being present in those moments. Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Not Withhold Forgiveness

Forgiving Father,
Help me forgive others. While forgiveness is central to the Christian faith, there are times I struggle to forgive others. There are some sins, some hurts, some wrongs, that are just difficult to move past, whether directed at me or others. Other times the issue is that I manufacture my own ideas of behavior or words that I demand to see from others so that I can determine if they are remorseful enough to deserve my forgiveness. 

But that isn’t how forgiveness works when you extend it to me. Neither should I allow it to be my approach when forgiving others. Help me to let go of anything I might harbor in my heart that would hinder me from freely forgiving others. When my own self-righteousness, bitterness, or resentment interfere with my forgiving of others, sweep such sin out of my heart. Instead, let my forgiveness be full and swift, no matter the wrong committed or the individual who committed it. In that way let my forgiveness toward others imitate your forgiveness toward me.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Reformation Blessings

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Today and this week, as many congregations highlight the Reformation in their worship and joint services, use the celebration of the revealed and restored gospel to fill many hearts with great joy. Thank you for those who have gone before us and stood firmly in the face of opposition and false teaching to contend for the truth of your Word. Because of their tremendous sacrifices, guided always by your Holy Spirit, the Bible remains unchained and Jesus is boldly proclaimed. As we gather for worship to hear it, speak it, and sing it, renew our appreciation for the freedom we have to make your Word central to our worship. May we always be ready and willing to reform anything that would compromise, confuse, or hinder your gospel, so that for generations to come, it may continue to refresh weary souls and breath life into the lost.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Those Dealing with Depression

Faithful Father,
Lift up all who are struggling in the throes of depression. Intervene and keep them from being dragged down deeper into the depths. Whether or not they have been clinically diagnosed, your peace provides real power for those who struggle with any measure of depression. Your presence and your ever-present promises are a life-line to those who feel sunk or are sinking. Deflect their thinking away from negative thoughts that tear down or discourage. Instead, fix their thoughts on what is good, positive, and pure. Allow them to dwell on all you have done for them in the past, present, and future, always keeping your Word and always acting on behalf of your people. Counter any lies they are believing with the truths of Scripture. Where medication has shown promise or has been helpful, grant the doctors who prescribe it the wisdom to administer it properly and continue to bless its effectiveness. In whatever way you see fit, bring them out of the darkness into your wonderful light, restoring for them the hope we all can have in you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the People You’ve Placed in My Life

Triune God,
When I think of all the people you have placed in my life, I am grateful. Over time, so many others have left their mark in my life. Still today, so many surround me with encouragement, support, and direction, as well as correction and rebuke when necessary. When I consider the impact others have had in my life and the roles they have played, it is quite clear that your intent was never for our walk of faith to be one lived and carried out in isolation. I thank you for those who bless and challenge me in so many ways, and I ask you to bless them in return.

Bless my biological family and my church family. Bless my friends in general, both far-away and nearby, and especially those with whom I share tighter bonds and closer connections. Bless my neighbors and coworkers. Bless my online connections, and bless those right now whom you plan to bring into my life at some point in the future. Continue to weave your blessings into my life and into the lives of many through all of these interconnected relationships.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Respond to Enemies With Love

God of Love,
There is no greater example in history of what it looks like to love your enemy than the example Jesus set for us. It wasn’t only at his death that he faced the hatred of enemies in word and actions, but also during his life. Yet we hear no lashing out from his lips, no hate-fueled words spewed out in anger. His response to those who hated him was to love them back.

Give me that heart for those who hate me or wish evil on me or who mistreat me. Do not allow me to waste even a second of my time entertaining possible malicious actions in response. Keep me from trying to mentally justify any potentially vicious verbal comebacks. Instead, let my words and actions toward the bad people in my life model the loving grace you have shown me. The world celebrates the quick-witted put-down or snappy insult against those who mistreat us. Let me, though, model the godly picture of character and strength in how I choose instead to love others, including those who don’t care for me or even hate me.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Be a Man of My Word

Dedicated Savior,
The more I become a man of your Word, the more I desire also to become a man of my word. I confess that hasn’t always been the case. At times I have nonchalantly agreed to this or that with no real intention of following through. I have also had good intentions of keeping my word, only to absent-mindedly forget later on. 

I want to be known as someone who follows through and does what he says he is going to do. You tell us to let our yes be yes and our no be no. When I make a commitment, therefore, I want to keep it. That requires me to carefully consider any potential commitments before agreeing to them. Then, when I do say yes to something, grant me the necessary organizational skills to keep track of my obligations, and the focus to follow through with them. Lead others to see me as someone who can be counted on to do what he says he will do. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.