Category: Prayers

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Daily Prayer – A Prayer to Refocus Your Thoughts

A Prayer to Refocus Your Thoughts
By Jessica Van Roekel

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” –  Philippians 4:8

Have you ever walked into a room and felt you didn’t belong? I entered a meeting the other day, and I felt nobody wanted me there. Frowns and furrowed brows graced their faces. It spiraled me into a series of negative thoughts. I thought I wasn’t good enough, likable, or worthy of acknowledgment. I struggled to bring my attention to the purpose of the meeting because I felt rejected. Perceived rejection is assuming rejection before it has happened. I’m a genius at pre-rejecting myself on someone else’s behalf. I interpret the squint of the eyes as disapproval and the purse of the lips as annoyance toward me. I assume I’m already rejected to protect myself, but this behavior leads me into a cycle of being rejected and rejecting other people. I became aware of this tendency when the Lord revealed how the fear of rejection prevented me from walking in the ways he had for me.

God longs for us to grow in kindness and mercy. He wants us to know who we are in Christ, which is chosen, approved, desired, and discipled. Yet, when we get stuck in patterns of pre-rejection, we wrestle with these. We assume the worst about ourselves and others. Our focus drills inward until we see ourselves through a rejected lens. This rejected lens prevents us from seeing someone else’s struggles and worries. It interferes with compassion toward others. It takes us down a path of assumptions, leading to misunderstandings and broken relationships.

While many of us have external struggles with home, family, work, and finances, we also deal with internal battles. Our mind is one of the greatest places of battle, where external battles are won or lost. Pre-rejection steals our peace and promotes anxious thoughts, influencing our actions and attitudes. It’s amazing how I feed rejection when I assume I’ve been rejected. When I start from a place of assuming rejection, it impacts potential new relationships. If I’m closed off and self-protecting, it makes me seem cold and unfriendly. This is not who I am, but when I’m ruled by fear, it’s what I display. I’ve learned the secret to overcoming this tendency lies in my thoughts.

Romans 12:2 tells us to “be transformed by the renewal” of our minds, and pre-rejecting ourselves on behalf of someone else assumes the worst possible outcome. The Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippians to guard their hearts. Guarding our hearts promotes peace within ourselves and our relationships, but we must work at it. Our minds naturally run along negative tracks, but we can retrain our thoughts. Imagine what would happen if we concentrated on whatever is good, and when we walk into a room, we think about what is honorable. Rejecting yourself because you’re afraid someone might reject you doesn’t honor you or the other person.

One of the ways to overcome this tendency is to look for the good in others. I realized when I assume someone has rejected me, I’m projecting my fear of rejection onto them. They might be frowning in my direction, not because of me, but because of something in their life. Instead of responding with compassion and outward focus, we react with self-protection and self-focus. I still walk into meetings with the “Will they like me?” game playing in my head. But I’m learning to refocus my thoughts on myself and asking the Lord, “How can I show them you?” It starts in our minds and then translates into actions.

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you that you give us all the tools we need to live this life for you. Forgive us when we forget to use them and let our thoughts scatter to unhealthy and life-stealing pathways. We want to focus on you. You are honorable, lovely, true, commendable, just, and excellent, and when we think about you in these terms, you help us think about others in them too. Help us refocus our thoughts today. In Jesus’ name, Amen

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A Prayer for Durable Joy – Your Daily Prayer – June 25

A Prayer for Durable Joy – Your Daily Prayer – June 25

A Prayer for Durable Joy
By Ashley Moore

“Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.” – 2 Corinthians 6:10 NLT

Joy is a radical concept in the Bible. Difficult circumstances accompany many verses about joy. The Bible tells us to rejoice when we suffer (Romans 5:3) And to consider it joy when we face trials (James 1:2). The Bible says to be glad when we are persecuted because we will be rewarded in heaven (Matthew 5:12). And to greatly rejoice when we experience bouts of grief (1 Peter 1:6). This concept confuses most of us because we equate joy with happiness. Happiness is a fleeting emotion completely dependent on our experience or circumstances. For example, I feel happy when it is my birthday, but then I don’t feel as happy the next day. Or I feel happy when I win a game, but when another player wins in the next round, my happiness is squelched.

But joy is not a feeling, and it is not fleeting. Joy is not dependent on favorable circumstances. If anything, the Scriptures insinuate the opposite. The more unpleasant our circumstances are, the greater the opportunity to experience joy. Joy, unlike our fleeting feelings, is durable. Joy persists despite hardship. Joy propels us to endure despite extreme difficulties. Joy is never-ending and ever-present. When Jesus endured the heinous suffering of the cross, He was empowered to do so because of joy.

“…because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” – Hebrews 12:2

Joy is durable because it is found in the presence of God, not in the absence of struggles.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11

Today if you’re facing unfavorable circumstances, acknowledge and experience the durability of the joy made possible by Christ. I hope you understand that joy is always available in difficulties and despite hardships. Our hearts may ache, but we will always have joy because of our relationship with Christ (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord,
I don’t know what my brother or sister in Christ listening or reading this message is experiencing right now, Lord. They may face the deepest heartache or the most ravenous trial or difficulty of their life. Lord, I don’t know the details, but you do. You see them struggling. And not only are you carefully watching over them, but you suffered just like them. You were despised. You were mocked. You were rejected. You were hated and spit upon. You were jeered at and insulted. You were beaten and shamed. You were stripped of your dignity. You suffered for our sake. You were wrongly punished for our shortcomings and sin, Lord. You deeply and compassionately understand my friend’s suffering. And you endured your suffering by thinking about the joy of being with us in heaven for all eternity, where there would be no more sadness and no more sin.

This joy was you thinking of perfected relationships with your children and between your children for all eternity. That is an unshakeable and sure source of joy. That is secure joy. That is durable joy, made available to us right now. The seal of Your Holy Spirit ensures that joy. God, thank you for suffering so we can be eternally joyful. Thank You that nothing can take our joy in this life or the next if we are in You, Jesus. Let my brother and sisters listening or reading along immediately notice and rejoice in this truth. Comfort them and care for them through this trial. Remind them of the gospel and bring others along to redirect their thoughts to this truth with love and grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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A Prayer for Continuous Joy

A Prayer for Continuous Joy
By Jessica Van Roekel

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

I know what it’s like to feel joyless during dark gray days. Midwest winters blanket my world with snow and muted skies, and I can feel the joy seep out of me. I try to catch it, but it’s like trying to hold water in my bare hands. It seems like joy plays hide and seek and I cannot find it. I grow irritable, which doesn’t help me feel joyous. I think it will return when Spring comes, the barren ground turns green, and the sky transitions to brilliant blue, but joy is not dependent on the seasons.

We grow frustrated when we attempt to conjure joy in our strength. It feels fake and we develop an incorrect view of Biblical joy. God is full of joy and delights to share it with us, but how do we grow joy in our lives? How do we stop relying on ourselves and our circumstances to dictate its presence in our lives? I’m a failed gardener. I dreamed of having a beautiful flower bed, but the weeds won. Except for one plant—a pink yarrow. It grew profusely, spread beyond the flower bed and into the grass. Its soft, feathery leaves remind me it will grow no matter what I do to it. John 15:1-17 tells us that to bear fruit we must abide in Jesus. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and abiding in Jesus is the key to joy.

It’s easy to judge our lives based on what our physical eyes see and then feel disappointed when we don’t see what we want to see. But so much of the good God grows in our lives happens below the surface of what our eyes can see. It’s a change that occurs when we yield to the Holy Spirit and choose to stay attached to the vine. We can trust God’s process of transformation to bear fruit, including joy, even when life feels joyless. It’s in this place of abiding where we find the most complete joy we could ever know. We do not drift into spiritual maturity. We determine to cooperate with the power of God that is within us. Jesus asks us to obey, remain in him, and love. As we do these things, his joy becomes complete in us.

Life is full of trouble, agony, and sorrow, but it’s also filled with beauty, fun, and laughter. To live life with joy, we must cultivate its fruit in our lives by abiding in the Lord. It’s absorbing all our nutrients for spiritual growth from him and allowing him to prune us where we need pruning. We can practice joy by focusing on God’s heart for us. The Lord longs to grow, guide, and produce joy in us Choosing joy may be hard at first, but when we persist in it, we will see God turn what is bitter into sweet. You can be the brightest gift to those around you because of the joy that’s within you.

The Greek word for joy is chara. This means a strong inner sense of gladness that is not based on circumstances, but on the love, grace, blessings, promises, and nearness of God to those who belong to him through Jesus Christ. On long winter days when darkness pierces the day and my heart, I remember God. I remember how he loves me and how he is near me. I remember his grace and mercy. I remember he is kind, and he is my refuge and strength. This fills me with the kind of joy that anchors my heart and keeps me secure through the days of darkness.

Let’s pray:

Holy God,
Fill me with your joy today. Let me know the rooted, inner kind of gladness that comes from abiding in you. You keep me secure when my world crashes down. You shower me with undeserved grace when I fail. Your joy makes me complete. Let me rest in you and allow you to do your work in me so that joy grows as fruit in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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A Prayer for the One Feeling Overwhelmed

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27, NIV

Life is too short to be anxious and constantly bent out of shape. And even more, I’m convinced when I allow my life to become like that, that Jesus didn’t want it to be this way.

When Jesus was having one of several final conversations with His disciples before His death and resurrection, He said the words from our key verse. He wanted them to know He was leaving them, but He didn’t want them to live in a state of panic. He knew their life would be hard, but He didn’t want them to think that He had abandoned them. He acknowledged that they would miss His presence, but He wanted them to know that He would give them His presence in a new way, and with it, they would also have His peace (John 14:25-28).

I love that Jesus took the time to compare His peace to the false sense of peace that the world gives us. You see, the world says to have peace, you have to be on a luxurious vacation in Malibu. Or to have peace, you have to have complete financial security, a great job, and a 401k to boot. The world says that you’ll finally have peace when your life looks like someone else’s Instagram feed.

This world offers fake peace that leaves us chasing a moving target. Jesus said you will have peace when you have my Spirit because the fruit of the Spirit is peace ( Galatians 5:22-23). This isn’t peace that we can get from this world. This kind of peace only comes from a relationship with God.

This kind of peace isn’t rattled when our finances aren’t where we want them to be or worse, when we are in financial despair. Jesus’s peace is still there as we wait for daily bread, sometimes moment by moment. The peace that God gives helps us to celebrate others’ accomplishments and give thanks for what God has generously given us.

So when my heart is troubled and anxious, I have to ask myself, where are you looking for peace? When we find our peace in God, the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in a way that baffles the world. Onlookers don’t understand how we can be so peaceful while they frantically search for what can only be found in Christ. So today, when you are overwhelmed, instead of looking to the world for a reprieve, ask God for His peace.

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving us the gift of a relationship with you through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. But God, you don’t stop there! You also ensure that we know you have not abandoned us by giving us the gift of your Holy Spirit. Lord, when we face difficulties, and we get overwhelmed, we have the assurance that you are with us because we have your Spirit living inside of us. And God, with that, you give us the unshakeable gift of peace.

Lord, I pray you would help us to remember where we find true rest and true peace. Lord, forgive us for chasing down peace from this world. Lord, as you know, it never lasts. More money does not lead to peace; it creates new problems. More security just leads to more frenzied attempts at managing our lives. And attempting to live someone else’s life robs us of all joy, Jesus. I pray you’d give us the strength to turn away from these false sources of peace. Help us turn to you, God.

You give us peace that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away. Jesus, help us believe and trust that every word you say is true. You are with us, you are for us, and you will give us peace so we don’t have to be troubled or afraid.
In Jesus’ name, amen.

By Ashley Moore

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Slow Me Down Lord

Slow Me Down Lord
Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations—of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to pat a dog,
to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise,
that I may know that the race is not always to the swift—
that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak
and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
Amen.

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Prayer by Saint Anselm

O Lord my God,
Teach my heart this day where and how to see you,
Where and how to find you.
You have made me and remade me,
And you have bestowed on me
All the good things I possess,
And still I do not know you.
I have not yet done that
For which I was made.
Teach me to seek you,
For I cannot seek you
Unless you teach me,
Or find you
Unless you show yourself to me.
Let me seek you in my desire,
Let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you,
Let me love you when I find you.
–St. Anselm

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A Prayer

Loving Father,
Here I am.
I trust that you have an incredible plan for me. Transform me. Transform my life.
Everything is on the table.
Take what you want to take and give what you want to give.
Transform me into the person you created me to be, so I can live the life you envision for me.
I hold nothing back;
I am 100 percent available.
How can I help?
Amen.

– Matthew Kelly