Tag: #prayers

What the Devil Wants from Us

The Devil wants us angry, because anger blinds people to reason and deafens them to dialogue

The Devil wants us to react, because reaction is anger-driven and anger blinds

The Devil wants us to ‘justifiably’ hate, because hate is a reaction of anger, which blinds

The Devil wants us to believe what we choose to believe—he doesn’t care one bit if we believe him so long as our autonomous beliefs are in conflict with our neighbor’s

The Devil wants us to stand and fight for our tribe and to remember that our ‘side’ cannot be wrong—because to divide is to dominate, and divisions come from anger, reaction, hatred and our own autonomous truth

The Devil doesn’t want us love our enemies and neighbors or to lay down our lives for others—anger is a foothold that works his will, even when that anger is justified

The Devil wants us full of outrage and righteous indignation, focused on whatever offends our autonomous sensibilities—because under no circumstances does he want us to see the big picture: how he is orchestrating through angry people a global coup predicted in the Bible, where he will dominate, deceive, divide and then reunite the world under a abominable man who will enthrall the world by fostering anger, hatred and autonomous truth against those who ‘disagree’ with him

The Devil doesn’t want us to think, pray, reason and respond like Jesus to the world’s chaos

The Devil wants us to forget that anger is his foothold and lies are his vocabulary

The Devil wants us to forget that Jesus will return to Judge the world

The Devil is just warming up the engines of destruction

And God wants us to know this.

POTD: A Prayer When God Does All the Talking

Confused, Stressed, Angry, Helpless, Hopeless. That’s everyone since Eden’s Fall. Humanity ruined God’s perfect creation—but the Maker still speaks amidst the ruins. Let’s pray—and let Him do the talking…

Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

—Psalm 46:8–11

Let it be as you have said, O Lord.

POTD: A Prayer in a World Gone Nuts

A world gone crazy is nothing new—it just reminds us how much we needed God all along. Let’s pray…

Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?”
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.
You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
—Psalm 4:6-8

Now say ‘amen’ and rest.

POTD: God’s Nocturne

A nocturne is music inspired by the night. Twenty-eight hundred years before Chopin composed his nocturnes, someone sang out in the deep darkness of night. Join their song—let’s pray…

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.

My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Thank you Lord.

(Psalm 42:1–11)

POTD: A Prayer when Waiting is Agony

Waiting for God to answer can be agony. King David was having ‘one of those days’, so he prayed this prayer. Join in…

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.
Blessed is the man
who makes the Lord his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.

Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.

I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O Lord.

I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.

Be pleased, O Lord, to save me;
O Lord, come quickly to help me.
May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“The Lord be exalted!”

Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

Amen to that.

(Psalm 40)

POTD: Reading Scripture, Praising God

A Rabbi once said, “Reading Scripture is the highest form of prayer because that’s when God does all the talking.” Here is a Scripture that prays gloriously—the Word of God praising its Author. Join in… 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” —Paul, to the Ephesians 1:3–6

Hallelujah.

POTD: A Prayer of Gratitude

We have more reasons than we know to give thanks to God. Here is another. Let’s pray…

Master of the World,
it is not on the basis of our righteousness
that we lay our requests before Your presence,
but because of Your great mercies.

— The Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book)

Amein.

POTD: A Prayer of Love and Joy

Among the great prayers given to mankind—every word is a perfect, every phrase a dance—it will leave you breathless in the joy of the God Who loves you. I dare you not to smile.

…of David

O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

—Psalm 139

Glory!

POTD: Feeling Dry? Here’s a Desert Prayer

In a desert? King David was many times, and this is what he prayed. Let’s join in…

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

—King David, Psalm 63:1–8

Ah, so good!

POTD: A Prayer in a World of Conspiracies

A world of conspiracies is no match for the King of all kings. Time to pray…

How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you.
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from the intrigues of men;
in your dwelling you keep them safe
from accusing tongues.

Praise be to the Lord,
for he showed his wonderful love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.
Love the Lord, all his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but the proud he pays back in full.
Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.

Ps 31:19–24

So Be It, Lord.