Tag: forgiveness

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Bless and Equip Parents

Loving Father,
When you bless a husband and wife with a child, you provide them with a special gift. Children bring a richness into marriage that simply cannot be experienced in any other way. Yet even as we thank you for these treasures, we acknowledge the added challenges and frustrations parents experience in raising them. Bless fathers and mothers with a unified approach in parenting styles. As they train their children together, help them always view each other as allies, not competitors or even enemies. When they carry out discipline, grant them patience and resolve, and an evangelically firm spirit. Ensure that they do not neglect the spiritual, emotional, or physical health of their children, but rather raise them to see the important and interconnected role that each of these plays in the overall well-being of their young ones. Let children experience a depth of grace and forgiveness in how their parents interact with each other and how they treat their kids. See that God’s Word dwells richly in the home, so that as children see and know their Savior’s love, they then grasp the blessing of gratefully carrying out joyful obedience.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Struggling Spouses to Keep Fighting for Their Marriage

Loving Lord,
When a marriage is healthy, it can stand alone as the most incredible relationship two people can experience. But when on life support, a dying marriage can feel like one of the most loathsome relationships imaginable. Today I pray for those in unhealthy marriages who are struggling so mightily that divorce seems imminent. Intervene, Lord, and in your mercy do whatever it takes to help them turn the corner. I pray that you guard and protect all marriages from the specific sins of adultery and desertion that can shatter a marriage and open the door to permissible divorce. Even when those sins do take place, though, lavish husbands and wives with an abundance of your grace to extend to each other liberally. Make them strong and willing to fight – not against each other, but for each other.  Give clarity to their communication, so they know what the real issues are, and where the real work needs to take place. Surround them with other couples in strong marriages who are willing to guide, counsel, and support them in any way. Provide them with hope and renew their love for and dedication to each other and to you, so they come to embrace their marriage as a treasure worth fighting for.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Those Getting Married This Summer

Lord of Love,
I ask you to bless the weddings scheduled over the course of the summer months. Let your hand guide the plans that are still in motion, so that everything goes as smoothly as possible for so many on their special day. Yet, even when there are hiccups or disappointments, equip the bride and groom with the resiliency to manage them, since they will inevitably encounter similar discouragements together in their marriage as well. Fill husband and wife with so much mutual joy and elation over each other that any slip-ups are easily overshadowed and forgotten. Cause their hearts to swell with gratitude as they experience your goodness. See that the message in the ceremony highlights the necessity and blessing of growing a marriage around you, centering it on your perfect obedience for them and building it on the foundation of the cross and empty tomb. Let such marriages be conduits of your love, overflowing with boundless grace and unlimited forgiveness, so that they beautifully mirror your loving, sacrificial devotion to your Church.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Courage to Do the Right Thing

Mighty God,
I regularly find myself in situations with the opportunity to do the wrong thing. I am invited to join in the gossip. I am nudged to have one more drink than I should. I am pressured to misuse your gift of sex. The list goes on. I don’t pretend that all of these are someone else’s fault, either, as I am well aware that I am only tempted by them because of my own sinful inclinations. As much as possible, therefore, give me the wisdom to avoid putting myself in those situations in the first place. Nevertheless, when I do face them, give me the courage of faith to do the right thing. Help me control my thoughts and desires. Curb any sinful urges within me. Provide a way out, as you promise to, and open my eyes both to see and to seize that way out. Create in me the genuine desire to be more eager to be a good and godly influence than to allow myself to be negatively influenced and misrepresent you. When I fail, be there with your grace to turn my forgiven failures into the motivation to do right the next time.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Delight in Holy Communion

Precious Savior,
Whether the burden of guilt I carry over my sin is heavy or light, deepen my love for the privilege of receiving the Lord’s Supper to lift that burden entirely. When I acknowledge and confess my sin in humble penitence, you invite me to remember the dear price you paid for that sin, along with its guilt and shame. In a miraculous way that defies intellect and demands faith, you bring together your body and blood with bread and wine, so that what I receive with my mouth also restores my soul. And, sharing this sacred meal with fellow believers united by the same confession of faith, conviction of sin, and confidence of forgiveness, edifies and encourages us collectively. Therefore, gather together the communion of saints regularly for Holy Communion, so that through their proclamation of your death, you refresh their spirits and rejuvenate them to faithfully carry out their Christian calling. Help me to hold this blessing close to my heart and treasure it always.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Rest

Loving Lord,
We are always on the go. We treat every gap in our schedule as a blank space that needs to be filled. We can’t stand missing out on the experience someone else (or someone else’s kids) had. Just one more thing. Just a little bit more. We are too easily deceived by the lie that we can pack 30+ hours into a 24-hour day.

We need rest – in our body, in our mind, in our spirit. Maintaining a breakneck pace in life takes its toll on our bodies. We cut out sleep and settle for a diet that leaves us undernourished. Our racing minds have lost the ability to unwind and unravel during even the slightest bit of downtime because our screens enslave us. Spiritually, you are often the last thing we try to squeeze in, and by that time, we’ve already exhausted ourselves. 

Forgive us. Refresh us. Renew us. Reframe our thinking so that we start with you and fit everything else after, for only in you will we ever find the kind of soul rest the world simply cannot provide.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Only Use Your Name in a Worthy Manner

Beautiful Savior,
Yours is the only name by which anyone is saved. Therefore, help me use it properly. Since salvation comes through you, let me make your name known to all, but… not as just another curse word. Not merely as an exclamation. Not as a thoughtless validation that I am telling the truth. Rather, let me set aside your name properly, to praise you, to pray to, and to give thanks. Let my mouth make your name synonymous with forgiveness and grace. Let others associate your name with what is good and right through my use of it. Let your name be known as the way, the truth, and the life, so that in you, others may find what I have, and what the world can’t ever offer: the joy, peace, and security of eternal life.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Free-Flowing Forgiveness in Marriage

Christ Our Savior,
In marriage, you bring together two people who are willing to commit to each other for life. When they exchange vows, they make promises to be faithful. However, whenever you bring two sinners together, commitments and promises are destined to be broken. For that reason, Lord, in addition to asking for your help and aid in keeping husband and wife committed to each other, equip them also to excel in the grace of forgiving. Allow your forgiveness to flow freely to and through spouses to each other, and put up your protective barrier around them to guard them from bitterness, grudges, and resentment. Finally, send your Holy Spirit to reinforce Christian marriages with a steady supply of apologies and absolution.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the Gift of Holy Communion

Lord Jesus,
On this Thursday of Holy Week, we thank you for the sacred Supper you instituted. By it, we commemorate your death and recall the significance of the sacrifice you made for all. Together with the bread and wine, the very body and blood we receive in Holy Communion take us back to the cross, where you secured our forgiveness and eternal salvation. By the blood you shed for us on Calvary, you still forgive and cleanse us through this miraculous Meal. Feed your church continually with this sacrament, strengthening and sustaining the weak and the strong. Lead believers everywhere to treasure the Lord’s Supper and receive it regularly. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Be Real About My Sin and Your Grace

Forgiving Father,
There is no greater blessing than the assurance of salvation and knowing that it is a gift from start to finish. Sometimes, however, I allow that assurance to morph into overconfidence or arrogance, leading me to trivialize or downplay my own sin. When the certainty of my forgiveness convinces me to think that my sin is no big deal, I end up diminishing both grace and the gravity of your Son’s sacrifice for me. Let each of these be true: you loathe sin while also delighting in forgiving it. Guide me to have the same perspective, so that I despise my own sin and genuinely desire to overcome it, while also treasuring your generous, limitless grace and forgiveness.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.