Tag Archives: Simple prayers

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God, Grant Me Grace Under Fire

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

You never know when your worst enemy and most hostile persecutor will become your greatest spiritual ally and closest gospel partner. But how you respond to them when they are your enemy may very well determine if and when they come to know your Savior. Stephen’s gracious spirit as he was being stoned made a lasting impression on Saul, perhaps a haunting impression that was one of the keys to his conversion. The best chance of turning an enemy into a believer is by loving, serving and laying down your life for them, you know, the way Jesus did.

A Simple Prayer for Grace Under Fire:

God, dealing in a Christ-like way with those who are hostile to me is easier said than done. I read about the martyrdom of Stephen and nod approvingly, but it is much more of a challenge to live like that in the real world of my everyday faith. I ask you for a fresh dose of Christ-hearted grace today to respond to people who dislike me, who use me, and who abuse me as Jesus would if he were in my place. Through grace, perhaps they even may be transformed into my spiritual allies! Help me to live like the early believers did, even being willing to die living out the values of the gospel. Enable me to be the living proof of a loving God for those who need to be convinced of this Good News that you have sent me to proclaim.
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God, Give Me A Greater Capacity To Love

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

When troubles comes your way, do you pray, “God change this!” or “God use this!”? The latter prayer is a higher way to pray. It is a prayer for discipleship, not deliverance. And it is a great way to partner with the God who will use all things for his glory and for your good, namely, to conform you to the image of Christ. And the greatest attribute of discipleship you could ever attain—which by the way, is to look like Jesus—is to love like Jesus.

A Simple Prayer for Greater Love:

God, may your love abound in me more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. Enable me to discern what is best, so that I may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Between now and then, fill me with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, so that my life will redound to your glory and praise.
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God, Collect My Tears In Your Bottle

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

What is it that is making you cry today? A heart shattered by a fractured relationship? A dashed hope or the death of a dream? A failed family? A personal sin? The consequences of a past mistake that continue to haunt you? What is it that causes you to feel such deep sadness? While no other human being may know how deeply you feel, or if they know, they may not have the capacity to enter into the depth of your pain, just remember, there is One who is collecting those tears as you lift your brokenness to him—and he cares!

A Simple Prayer for God’s Comfort:

God, I entrust my tears to you—my sorrow, my pain, my loss. While no one else may really know or truly understand my sadness, you do. Let the very next tear that fills my eyes and spills down my cheek remind me that you see, you understand, and you care. Father of compassion and God of all comfort, let my tears never really just dry up and fade into a painful memory. Rather, let them be the cleansing, healing agent of your restoring touch that brings beauty from my brokenness.
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God, Give Me A Unquenchable Love For Your Word!

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

The Word of God is not merely inspired writ for spiritual guidance or simply the motivational speech of a pre-fame pep talk—they are the very words of God for his children to lead them to success, significance and satisfaction. In fact, they are our life, both now and forevermore. We should absorb them as we would absorb nutrients to stay alive and to keep healthy. We should mediate on them and memorize them. We should master them, becoming experts in this divine treasure map we call the Bible. But mostly, we should lovingly, faithfully and eagerly obey these words, for they are the Words of Life!

A Simple Prayer for a Deeper Love of God’s Word:

God, I pray that you would create in me an unquenchable love for your Word. Help me that I might truly and fully become a person of the Scriptures. I don’t merely want to study them in order to regurgitate them as spiritual sounding “christianese” — I want to live and breathe them. I want to be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer. I want to consume them morning, noon and night. I want to understand them in my heart and apply them in my actions throughout the day. And as I lay my head on a pillow to end the day, I want to have so lived them that in every way they have been honored as the very words of God. Lord, give me a deeper love for your Word.

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God, Drench Me With Your Spirit!

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

If you have received Christ as Savior, you were baptized BY the Holy Spirit into God’s family forever. But since you believed, have you been baptized WITH the Holy Spirit—drenched, saturated, overflowing? Have you received that promise of the Father? If not, in whose power are you trying to live the Christian life? Ask for the gift. Wait for the baptism. And by any means necessary, receive the drenching of the Holy Spirit.

A Simple Prayer for Spirit-Drenching:

God, drench me with the Holy Spirit. Fill me to overflowing with your love. Saturate me with your presence. Cleanse me with your fire. Enable me with your power. Equip me with your gifts. Transform me into what you want me to be. Let my life continually spread the fragrance of you wherever I go. For your glory alone, I ask in faith and with gratitude in advance for the promise of drenching in the Holy Spirit.

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God, I Give You My Best!

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

In everything you do this week, do it as if you were doing it for Jesus. If you are married, love your husband like you would if your spouse were Jesus. Serve your wife like you would if Jesus were your bride. Parent your children like Jesus were your child. If you are under someone’s authority—a parent, teacher, a policeman who pulls you over, a supervisor who knows less about the job than you do, or the owner of the company—treat them with the kind of respect you would give Jesus is he were in their place. If you are in authority, lead like Jesus would. Do it no matter how you feel or how they respond to you, and just see what happens. Try it—because in fact, it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

A Simple Prayer for Offering My Best:

God, in everything I do this week, I will give it my best shot. I will love more freely, encourage more fully, serve more diligently, and work more excellently. I will do it for you, because it is you I am serving.

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God, Heal Our Land!

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

Are you broken over the violence, disgusted by the wickedness, fed up with the corruption and hopeless over the divisiveness in America these days? Are you demoralized by the moral decay in our nation? Does your heart break that “men have forgotten God.” Does the condition of our culture turn your stomach? It should! But it shouldn’t stop there. Let the turning of your stomach turn your heart to God in intercession for a spiritual awakening once again in our land. Never get used to sin. Rather, let it provoke an urgency that leads you to humble yourself before the Lord to acknowledge sin—yours and ours—that we might repent and turn to the Great Healer for the healing of our land.

A Simple Prayer for National Repentance:

God, hear our cry, forgive our sin, and heal our nation! Cause us to lament our sinfulness, not the least of which is turning from you. Forgive our waywardness and our wickedness. Cleanse of from evil and impurity. Put an irresistible passion in our hearts to humble ourselves and fully return to you. Restore us, O Merciful God.