Tag: pray

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Rekindle Our Love of Worship

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Nevertheless, it’s easy for us to approach worship with ho-hum hearts. We see the same people, sing the same songs, pray the same prayers, and hear the same Scriptures. We see it all as so monotonous and mundane.

Forgive us! How shallow we are for ever giving your Word such shabby treatment. Have mercy on us! How wrong we are to shortchange your sacraments by viewing them as nothing more than a lengthy add-on to the service. 

Rekindle in us the love of worship. Draw us to delight in being in your presence. Let our ears and our hearts perk up when your Word is read, and move our mouths to joyfully sing songs of praise. May we glorify you in a worthy manner with our worship, even as you edify and feed us through it. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Prioritize Prayer

Caring Father,
You invite me to bring everything to you in prayer. Nevertheless, prayer too often remains the last resort in my mind. I calculate and ruminate on the weighty matters going on in my life, then I try to address them in the way I think is best. When things don’t go as planned, I troubleshoot and try again, only to end up disappointed once more. After I’ve exhausted my own solutions and failed attempts at fixing things, then I finally think to bring it to you in prayer.

Turn that around for me, Lord. Let prayer be the priority and first step in my life – not just when things go wrong, but at all times, in praise and thanksgiving as well. A healthy prayer life reinforces my trust in you by training me to depend on you for all things and to hold you to your promises with humble confidence. Use prayer also to drive me to your Word regularly to seek your kingdom and righteousness. Sharpen the focus of my eyes of faith so that I also see more clearly the many ways you graciously answer my prayers, leading me to rejoice all the more. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Pray for What Pleases God

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(1 Timothy 2:1-7)

What’s the first step? Figuring that out can be the difference between getting a task or project off the ground or sitting on it for days, months, or even longer. When we focus on the scale of a project – how many different steps are involved or how long it’s going to take or the endless questions that will need to be answered or the research that needs to be done or the skills that need to be learned – we understandably get overwhelmed.

And then we shut down. And put it off. It’s too much. It’s more than I can handle. I don’t even know where to begin. 

But knowing – and then taking – that first step, is everything. Yes, hiccups will follow. Yes, things won’t go as planned and will need to be adjusted. Expect all of that. But it all seems so magically manageable once we just take that first step and get the ball rolling. Traction ensues and things get done and accomplished. 

And of course, the more serious the situation, the more important it is to address.

I went through this not too long ago when putting down flooring in the garage bathroom of the parsonage. At about the worst time, the toilet tank started to leak. After realizing the bolts were rusty and corroded, compromising the seal, I elected to turn off the water, empty the tank, and remove it. That’s when I realized the line to the tank wouldn’t shut off completely, resulting in a slow leak on the floor. After not being able to stop that leak, I shut off the main water line for the whole house. Guess what didn’t stop leaking?

I was starting to panic a little, because I couldn’t stop this slow leak, which would have eventually flooded the whole garage floor if left unchecked all night. Eventually, I removed the toilet base and directed the leaking hose directly into the toilet drain. That worked to give me peace of mind until being able to call for some additional help to come the next morning. So the more serious the situation, the more important it is to take that first step – it’s not an option to leave it undone when the stakes are high.

How high were the stakes when Paul was writing to his fellow pastor, Timothy? The first chapter spills the tea: false teaching was creeping in, and it was already having the damaging effect of leading some astray, whom Paul even mentioned by name. So putting off that matter was not an option. Something needed to be done, and done right away. The first step needed to be taken. What was it?

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (v.1-2). Prayer. “First of all,” Paul writes, pray “…for all people.” The first step in dealing with the challenges laid out in the first chapter was to pray. 

But we often do it the other way, don’t we? We act first, pray last, after we feel we’ve exhausted all other options. Think of how foolish it would be to paint a room that way. You open up the can of paint and start rolling it on and cutting in the corners. Then, after all the walls are covered with a second coat, you decide to go back and fill any holes or cracks and make any drywall repairs. Then, after you fill all the holes and cracks or make the repairs, you decide to tape off the baseboard and any light fixtures or switches. Why would you do all of that after you’ve already painted? It’s backwards.

Just like our prayer lives often are. We want to figure out what we need to do first. What’s the plan? Who needs to be involved and who needs to be talked to? What solutions do we have to come up with to figure out the problem? Then, after we do all of that, we wrap it all up with the nice bowtie prayer. After all, “all we can do now is pray,” right? Not according to Paul! Paul says that prayer should happen first of all and for all people.

Who is included in “all people?” “Kings and all those in authority” (v.2a). Or presidents – no matter the party. Or government officials – no matter the political affiliation. Or bosses – no matter the dumb policies. Or community, church, and home leaders – anyone in any capacity of authority, regardless of our own personal feelings toward or about them. All of them are to be included in our prayers, and not as a last resort, but “first of all.” 

Why? “That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (v.2b). No, by “peaceful and quiet lives,” Paul’s concern is not that you could live the care-free life of a recluse or hermit, a life to yourself, uninterrupted by anyone else’s problems. He wasn’t urging prayers for those in authority with the goal of improving your quality of life by limiting hardship or adversity.

Rather, he urged prayers for those in authority so that their work permits peaceful living, so that we can let our light shine as Christians when we live “lives in all godliness and holiness.” Our godliness and holiness is God’s version of attraction marketing to draw people to the cross and to Christ. Our godliness and holiness is a direct reflection of him. Our godliness and holiness may be exactly what the Spirit uses to create curiosity in unbelieving onlookers. So pray for it and then produce it. You. Me. Live quiet lives in godliness and holiness. 

When you do, you stand out. That sounds odd, doesn’t it? We’re not used to standing out by being quiet and focusing on living godly, holy lives. In a world of “who can yell louder and shock more,” we fall into the trap and get sucked up into all the noise, thinking we can out-scream everyone else. We can’t. But you’ll get the attention of your neighbor or your coworker when your godly, holy living is so awkward looking to them because so few operate within any ethical or moral framework like that. You’ll stand out because you’re odd. 

And that’s part of God’s plan through prayer and producing the kinds of lives he calls us to live. It all fits in with his ultimate goal, which Paul reminds us of in the next verse. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (v.3-4). There’s two pretty good reasons for prayer: one, it pleases God; two, it is directly tied to his desire to see all people saved.

This kind of prayer pleases God. Just stop there for a moment and ask yourself how important that is to you. In general, how much of your time and thoughts are focused on pleasing God? Do you consciously think about pleasing God? How differently would we live if more of our thoughts and words were framed by the ongoing desire to please God? Prayer pleases God. Praying for others and for those in authority pleases God. If for no other reason than that, we have more than enough reason to give more time and attention to prayer in our lives because we want to please God. 

It’s also good because it’s the game plan God put together to accomplish his goal of saving all people who come to know and believe in him. God wants everyone to be saved. Think about it. God didn’t just drum up some plan for salvation hoping that it would stick for a few people; he outlined – and then carried out – the perfect plan, a plan that would disqualify no one, a plan that would be possible for everyone, regardless of social status, intellect, or natural ability. It’s a plan entirely dependent on his work from start to finish, and he wants everyone to know about that plan of salvation and to be saved through it. And your prayers and my prayers are included in that plan. 

And don’t forget, it isn’t just your prayers that are included in that plan: so are you. You are the beneficiary of it. You know the certainty of it. You have peace through it. His desire to save all people has already played out in your life. Paul reminds us how. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (v.5-6a).

A mediator is called in to work with two parties in an effort to get what is best for each side. Jesus alone did that. He satisfied God’s justice and paid the ransom price for our sin and rebellion. He died and suffered hell. He also provided for us the holiness we could never manufacture on our own. He tore down the barricade of our sin that separated us from God. He did that for you and me. What he did for you and me, he also did “for all people.”

Paul backed up that precious truth by reminding Timothy that he was not dwelling in the realm of theory or philosophy or even prediction of what might happen, but confirming that it already had. “This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles” (v.6b-7). The ransom price paid by Jesus was witnessed. It happened.

People saw it. People testified to it. People were still testifying to it – people like Paul. And, people like Timothy, to whom Paul was writing this letter. And, people like you and me, who not only can pray first of all, but also witness, testify, herald the good news to others. When that message accompanies our lives of godliness and holiness, we’re packing a powerful one-two punch for the gospel. 

In the meantime, first things first: pray. Take that first step. Pray for what pleases the God who wants all people to be saved. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Full Confidence in My Salvation – Prayers

Gracious Mediator,
Some things in life we feel more confident about than others. We carry out certain responsibilities effortlessly, while others cause uncertainty or even anxiety. If our status before you relied on any effort or requirement on our part, our lives would be a constant carousel of chaos, questions and confusion. 

Thankfully, there is no question and there is no doubt. With you as our mediator, we have full confidence that all of the Father’s righteous requirements have been met and fully satisfied through you. And, since you gave yourself as the ransom for all people, no more payment remains and there is no unsettled debt outstanding. Because we stand before you with the confidence we have through you, make us also bold pray with that same confidence. We have nothing to fear and stand only to gain from your good grace as you choose to bless us accordingly. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Please You with My Prayers

Loving Lord,
One of the great joys of being adopted into your family by your gracious gift of faith is this: our lives are pleasing in your sight. How humbling it is that we should be able to carry out a single deed, speak a single word, or consider a single thought that would ever be pleasing to you. Nevertheless, because we are completely clothed with your righteousness, it is so!

Therefore, make even my prayers pleasing to your ears. Mature me to set aside selfish requests. Guide me instead along the paths of your plans and purposes for my prayers. Help me to maintain the proper balance between requests that center on the physical and temporal and the spiritual priorities that matter much more both now and into eternity. Let my heart beat with care and concern for others, routinely bringing their needs before you, since this, too, is pleasing to you. Move me to pray for those over me, beside me, and beneath me, so that your gracious favor and blessing extend to all those around me. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Expand the Reach of My Prayer Life

Providential Father,
Not only do you invite and welcome my prayers, but you also guide and direct them, including those for whom I should pray. When I do pray, the majority of my prayers are on my own behalf or for those within my own family, social, and church circles. But you invite me to pray for all people, which exponentially expands the list of those to include in my prayers. I can bring up the needs of others with the confidence that, whether or not I even know them, you know them by name and are more qualified to address their needs than I am to ask for them. 

So I pray for the greatest need of many: their salvation. Work through your Word, proclaimed to and through your church, to reach the lost with your powerful gospel. Where other needs or concerns prohibit the gospel from being heard, address them by meeting them or removing them according to your will. In doing so, let a double measure of your goodness be known to many by your concern for both their temporal and eternal welfare. Then, as you bring them to faith, shape their own prayer lives to multiply the prayers offered up on behalf of all people. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Become a Man of Prayer

Ever-Present Father,
You are always willing to bend your ear to our prayers. But your willingness to hear our prayers fails to be matched by our willingness to offer them. Too often prayer is a last resort. Too frequently we mindlessly mumble words of prayer while our minds are elsewhere. Too many times our prayers are not offered up to you with the mountain-moving trust that you deserve.

So it is with good reason that we routinely begin our prayers with repentance, confessing that our prayer lives themselves are not worthy of your time or attention. Forgive me and hear my prayers not for my own sake, but for Jesus’ sake. And since there are so many ways I can grow in my prayer life, I simply ask you to bless me with progress and growth in any one of them. As I focus my attention on the privilege of prayer this week, make me more and more a man of prayer.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Enrich My Prayer Life

Dear Jesus,
Teach me to pray. When I listen to your voice, I am comforted and reassured by your promises and I hear the encouragement and direction I need to faithfully walk in your footsteps. And, when I listen to your voice, it compels me to speak back to you in prayer. But so often I feel as if my prayers are shallow shells when compared to the bold, robust prayers of the faithful believers recorded in your Word. My prayers tend to focus on the physical rather than the spiritual. They are more about me than about others. I frequently struggle even trying to think of what to pray for at all. And, don’t get me started on all of the broken prayer promises I’ve made to others who’ve requested my prayers!

Enrich my prayer life and let your will and your words permeate my prayers, so that my requests and intercessions mirror what you want for others and for me. Help me to balance the physical and the spiritual in my prayers, so that my heart and mind are not preoccupied with what is temporal and worldly. Direct me to pray more often, so that it becomes more and more natural for me and so that my prayer life is enhanced in every good and pleasing way. Bless me with your Word, so that your words may shape more of my own in prayer. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Bounce Back to Prayer

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(Ephesians 3:14-21)

When we bounce back to the Word, to our baptism, and to witness, we hear and are reminded of who God is and what he has done for us, and we pass that on to others. We see the value he attaches to us in his willingness to sacrifice his Son. And all of these things are enough to give us a window into God’s heart to see his true colors and how deeply loved we are. And if we had just that and nothing more, it would be magnificently more than we’d ever need or deserve! But God outdoes himself. He isn’t content simply to reveal his own heart to us; he wants to know what’s on our hearts as well. If it’s too trite to say that Christianity isn’t a religion – it’s a relationship, then maybe we can at least agree that it’s a religion that is all about our relationship with God. He craves a connection with us that surpasses the status of mere acquaintance or association. So he invites us to pray. He delights in hearing our prayers. Let us then bounce back to prayer.

How do you feel about prayer? Does the general thought of prayer comfort you? Is it a treasured blessing? Likely you will agree that it is. But if I ask more specifically about your particular prayer life maybe your feelings change a bit. When I ask that question, be honest – does the thought of your prayer life make you tense up just a little, as if I just added one more item to your checklist that you already feel guilty for not accomplishing enough? Does the topic of prayer drum up more feelings of guilt than grace? I ask because when the topic of prayer comes up with Christians, it frequently seems to be followed by a sense of apology or regret over our prayer lives.  

If so, then we have some work to do. Let’s start by asking ourselves a question: what would your prayer life have to look like in order for prayer not to be a source of guilt? Is it a matter of quantity? If you prayed more, would you feel less guilty? OK, then – how much would you have to pray for you to not feel guilty? Several times a day? Throughout the day? Several hours a day? If it isn’t a matter of quantity or frequency of prayer, then is it quality that has you feeling guilty? Do you feel like your prayers don’t have much substance to them, that they’re not “churchy” or “religious” enough (whatever that means!)?  

You really need to think through the answer to this question, because if you don’t, prayer and guilt will always go hand-in-hand. But here’s the real reason: if you view prayer as a performance by which to please God, you’ll always feel guilty – and frankly, you should! Because if our relationship with God is based on pleasing him with our performance, then we will always fall woefully short. We will never measure up in any way, including our prayers. 

So again – and stop me if it sounds like I’m a broken record here – bounce back to the Word and to your baptism. God does not base his relationship with you or his interest in you on your performance; he bases it on Jesus’ performance. And his was perfect. Yours never will be, so stop pretending your connection with God is based on something he needs from you. He already has what he needs in his perfect Son; he needs nothing from you – including your prayers. 

But he does want them. Do you see the difference between needing and wanting? If he has what he needs in Christ’s perfection, then he doesn’t need your prayers. But he wants them. He wants to bend his ear to you. He wants to be your go-to. He wants to show you how good and gracious he is. He wants to demonstrate his superiority to anything else that might make a play for first place in your heart. He wants to satisfy you in ways the world never can. 

Do you sense that Paul was very much aware of God’s desire and ability to do so? He knows full well what he’s tapping into when he taps into God’s power through prayer. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power…” and “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:16, 20). God is not living below the poverty line. He’s nowhere near middle class, even. The means God has at his disposal to answer prayer are beyond what we could ever comprehend. He is able to answer prayers in such monumental ways that our limited minds aren’t even able to think to ask! So the issue will never be one of our asking too much of God, but rather never asking enough of him. 

Elon Musk was recently crowned the wealthiest man on the planet. Suppose he wanted to showcase how wealthy he was by stating that he was going to pick one lucky person and grant that one person whatever he asked, no matter how much it cost. When the moment of truth comes and that individual reveals his request, he asks for – drumroll, please… a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich. Now I don’t care how good a chicken sandwich is – when the richest man on the planet invites you to ask for anything you want and you ask him for a sandwich, not only is there something wrong with you, but the other – the bigger issue – is that you’ve just insulted his wealth and generosity. What a slap in the face to the world’s richest man to be robbed of the opportunity to display his wealth and generosity!

So then, tell me again why we ask so little of the God who owns the deed to everything on the planet, the planet itself, along with the entire universe? Why do we rob him of the opportunity to display that wealth and generosity? What do we really think of him if he invites us to come in his name and ask him for anything and we either ask infrequently, sporadically, or for so little? How we insult him with our infrequent, small-minded requests in our prayers! Forgive us, Lord, for thinking so little of you!

To help us put it into perspective, suppose I told you that when you get home today, Amazon is having a 24-hour window for you to order anything you want, as much as you want, for absolutely nothing. While I would like to think all of you would at least stick around for the whole service, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some of you immediately pulled out your phone and started ordering. There’s not a single one of us who would not spend the better part of the next 24 hours ordering everything under the sun – if not for you, then to meet the needs of other people.

Of course that’s too good to be true. But you know what isn’t? Taking those requests to God, “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (v.20). Amazon has limitations – believe it or not there are still plenty of things you can’t buy on Amazon. Yet there is nothing God cannot provide, and his window of provision isn’t limited to 24 hours.

Neither is his window of provision limited to physical things. There are just some things that only God can provide. Try searching Amazon for consolation when a loved one dies. You won’t find it. Neither will you find any deals of the day on forgiveness for your past wrongs. You won’t find contentment with the click of a button. The peace to let go of when others have wronged you will never show up in the search bar. Yet God can grant all of this and so much more… if we ask him. 

You know what I find amazing about reading any of Paul’s letters when he touches on prayer? Physical requests are the last thing on his mind, and yet if anyone could have used prayers for physical things, surely it was Paul! Hi concerns are not based on the physical stuff, but the spiritual. No “pray that I get out jail” or “pray that I don’t get beaten again” or “pray that I don’t suffer” or “pray that I have enough clothing and food” Even though these were all constant struggles for Paul, his letters don’t waste any words asking his listeners to pray for his physical health or well-being, but always on the gospel and spiritual things. He doesn’t ask God to remove his suffering, but rather thanks God for using it to spread the gospel!

And before us in his letter to the Ephesians he does the same. The whole prayer here is for the spiritual growth and vibrant faith of the Ephesians! He prays for them to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit so that Jesus might take up permanent residence in their hearts. He prays that the roots of Jesus’ love would be anchored in their hearts to grasp how all-encompassing his love for them really is – a love that goes beyond just head knowledge. He prays that that might happen so that they might be filled to the brim with God. 

What if your prayer life reflected this approach for a week? a month? the rest of the year? For many of us, it’d be a big shift in the way we pray. Less of the physical – jobs, relationships, health, finances – and more of the spiritual – depth of faith, Christ-like love for others, peace that really does defy understanding – but can absolutely be experienced, patience in an impatient world, compassion and contentment, joy in my identity in Christ, self-control that can say no to physical temptations, overwhelming gratitude, a forgiving heart, Godly wisdom, etc. Yes, let us bounce back to prayer the way Paul did – with a kingdom focus – and experience first-hand how much easier we find it to be OK even when life isn’t.