Daily Prayer for December 2, 2021

Prayer: Our glorious and majestic God in heaven, we thank you and praise you for another day to serve you and offer our lives a living sacrifice to your glory. Though we are your people, we often stray from your commands and use our tongues for evil instead of good. With the same mouth, we bless you and curse others. We are prone to think the worst of our brothers and sisters instead of extending maximum charity. We harbor ill-will, and bitterness grows in us like a rotten weed choking out all that is good and right. Indeed, our tongues are a restless evil -- small and capable of great destruction -- as a spark will level whole forests, so too our tongues destroy lives. Forgive us, Father, for our loose lips that demonstrate the evil in our hearts. Forgive us for failing to remember that you have not treated us as we deserve but extended your grace through the labors and death of your beloved Son. Please grant us more of the love described in your Word and help us to demonstrate it to others. Though our sin in this area is reprehensible in your sight, we know that even that cannot outrun your grace extended to all those who seek you in humility. 

We pray for your people today, especially those who are persecuted for the sake of the gospel. We thank you for the countless ways in which they have sacrificed to advance your kingdom and crush the kingdom of darkness. Though they are often maligned and rejected by men, we know that you love them and remember them with your eternal promise to be with them and sustain them. We pray that you would bless their labors and, through them, usher many into your glorious kingdom. All these things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture Meditation: Ps. 29; James 3:1-12; Eph. 4:31-32; Ps. 103:10; 1 Cor. 13