Tag: guys

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Advent Joy

Savior Jesus,
Advent fills us with hope, peace, and joy. I thank you, Lord, for a joy in Jesus that eclipses the joy of unwrapping presents, sampling favorite Christmas cookies, and so many other Christmas traditions. As appreciated as those experiences may be, they are dependent on the circumstances: undesired gifts and unappetizing cookies don’t evoke joy! Moreover, such traditions are temporary. They come and go, and are quickly forgotten.

How unique, though, is the joy we have in you, Savior Jesus! It does not ever disappoint because it does not change. You have forever removed our sin and replaced it with your righteousness. In doing so, you have permanently changed our status and made us pleasing to God, delightful to our Father. The joy that flows from this reality is constant. It fills my heart even when external circumstances may be undesirable or exasperating. As you refresh my heart with this Advent joy leading up to Christmas, help me to excel at embracing this joy continually throughout my life. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Advent Peace

Savior Jesus,
Advent fills us with hope, peace, and joy. I thank you, Lord, for a peace that surpasses all understanding. In addition to prophesying Bethlehem as your birthplace, Micah also prophesied that you would be our peace. The peace you came to bring, announced by the angels and spread by shepherds, is for all people. It is not a promise that our world will be free of war or that conflict will disappear from our lives. It is, however, the assurance that our sin does not estrange us from you. The ultimate blessing of your birth is that it set in motion your holy life and innocent death that would cancel out our sin and reconcile us to you again. Since our sin no longer separates us from you, we have your undeserved favor resting upon us now and forever. There is no greater peace than that! 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Advent Hope

Savior Jesus,
Advent fills us with hope, peace, and joy. I thank you, Lord, for a hope that surpasses the mere wishful longing of this world. The hope we have in you is not a possibility, but a promise. It is so much more than an optimistic outlook; it is a confident certainty. No one whose hope rests in you has ever been disappointed, nor will anyone ever be, since hope that rests in you is hope backed by your own Word.

Only this hope satisfies and sustains us, because it is anchored in you. As I prepare to celebrate Christmas, help me to see that the hope you brought into the world at your birth is real, and it is for me and all people. The hope of eternal life is a guarantee secured by your life, death, and resurrection. Just as surely as you lived, died, and rose for me, so also will I rise one day to live forever with you. Hold THIS hope always before me! 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Curb Anxiety

All-Powerful Lord,
As Christmas and the end of the year draw closer, it isn’t uncommon for anxiety levels to rise. Deadlines loom and time-sensitive tasks need to get done. When we mix in our tendency to eliminate any margin in our lives by overcommitting and overscheduling, we have a recipe for disaster.

Some may struggle with anxiety more than others, but the remedy is the same: shifting our attention away from ourselves and/or the problem and on to you, the solution. When worry starts to set in, train us to counter it with gratitude by reflecting on your goodness to us. Grant us also the proper perspective to see where our concerns fit in over the timeline of eternity, so that we don’t inflate their importance.

Fill us with feelings of peace as we are reminded of your promise to work out all things – including that which stresses us out – for the good of those who love you. Finally, while we like to imagine ourselves at the wheel, controlling all things in our lives, remind us that you alone rule over the entire universe, from the small daily details to the less frequent large scale events. Therefore, whatever is on my plate today or any other day is never too big for you to handle.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Rejoice That You Delight in Me

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. There are so many blessings in being able to worship together with my church family. And, while Sunday mornings provide multiple ways for me to serve others, I never want to forget that the primary focus is on your service to me as my Savior. 

I don’t ever want to get used to or take for granted that you take delight in me. I am well aware that delight isn’t deserved on my part, but that just makes it all the more incredible! I know the real me – and you know the real me even better – yet you STILL delight in me! How can this be true? Jesus is the answer. In Jesus, through faith in Jesus, because of all that Jesus has carried out and completed on my behalf, you delight in me. May that Bible-backed truth lead me to rejoice in worship this morning, all day long, and throughout the Christmas season and beyond! 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Strengthen My Prayer Life

Loving Father,
I come to you to ask you to strengthen my prayer life. I acknowledge there is room to grow both in the quantity and quality of my prayers. I want to pray more consistently and continually throughout the day. Help me to start by following up with actual prayers when I tell others I will pray for them. Also, guide my prayers to reflect more spiritual wisdom than temporal or material wishes.

You attach so many promises to prayer. Make me confident to test them, so that I might clearly see your hands at work in my life and in the lives of others. Let my time in your Word guide my prayer life, so that what I ask for is in alignment with your will. Thank you for bending your ear to my requests, and for answering my prayers in the best way possible. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Grace-Filled Speech

Dear Lord,
The gift of speech comes from you. As you demonstrated at the Tower of Babel, you are more than capable of correcting us when we take your gift of speech for granted or use it to defy or oppose you. At Pentecost, you also proved that language barriers and speech itself will not keep your work from being carried out as you determine. 

Speech can be used to destroy and tear down or to defend and built up. Help me to be thoughtful in my speech, pausing first to consider whether my own motives are pure or not. Then, help me discern how my words may be received by others before I open my mouth. Remind me that my comments or responses are not always necessary, and if they aren’t constructive or beneficial, it may be best simply to leave some things unsaid.  Direct me to speak well of others and to speak kindly, and let my words be a blessing to others. Guide my speech so that it is always marked by positivity and grace.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Spiritually Strong Fathers

Perfect Father,
Being a father isn’t easy, but it is one of the most influential roles in determining the development of children. Those without a father figure in their lives struggle in predictable ways as they grow into adulthood. Those with a neglectful, abusive, or otherwise bad father in the picture suffer significant damage as well. 

Raise up spiritually strong fathers to take the lead in raising their sons and daughters. Let them be powerful examples of humble faith in action. Let their children see them thrive in their relationship with you, Father. Through faith-filled fathers, show children what it looks like to be a child of God. Lead fathers to model sacrificial care and compassion for their children through how they treat their wives. Help fathers prioritize spending time with their kids. Let them be lovingly firm in their discipline, taking ownership of training their children in what is right and wrong in accordance with your Word. Use them to model repentance for their children, and to show them grace and forgiveness in abundance, as you have to all fathers. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Let Go of Control

Mighty Ruler,
Each day is filled with a variety of events. Some of those events are repeated and familiar, while others are new and unexpected. Some of them affect me directly or indirectly, while other events will have little or no effect on me at all. 

And, while I am responsible for my own actions, remind me that I am not ultimately the one in control. When I forget that and imagine that my decisions and actions are the sole predictors of everything that will happen, I am only deceiving myself. When I believe the lie that I am the one in control, I am inclined either to puff up with pride over every beneficial outcome, as if it was my own doing, or get caught up living in an endless loop of regret, imagining all the different scenarios that could have played out if I had just done something differently in that past. 

I am not in control, Lord; you are. Humble me with that reminder so that I can find real peace, not in pretending that I am in charge, but rather in the calm confidence that comes in trusting that you are. You promise to work out all things for my good. Let me rest in that assurance – something that I can actually control. Grant me contentment in managing and controlling how I respond and react to the events around me, and may that always be with patience and grace, so that I reflect you to others. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Embrace the Gift of Repentance

Faithful Jesus,
Repentance is one of those religious words that has gotten a negative reputation. To some degree, that reputation is understandable, as repentance includes taking a good look at ourselves and owning up to our shortcomings and sin. However, such a reputation may also stem from too many billboard, picket, and sandwich signs that have framed repentance as a term of hate-filled hellfire and brimstone. 

Help me to see repentance for what it truly is, Lord: an invitation to find rest in your work without insisting on my own. My natural way is to pick the path of my own choosing that I think serves me best rather than relying on your rest. But any path I choose on my own only takes me further away from you. 

Your gift of repentance opens my eyes to see the need to turn off my own path and follow you, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Since sin continually entices me to step off your path, I daily need – and want – to repent and return back to you as often as necessary. I can be confident of the same response on your part every single time I repent: when I return to you, you promise to return to me. In fact by faith, I see that you never turned away from me in the first place, and never will.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.