Daily Prayer for August 2, 2021
Prayer: Father, life can be very discouraging at times, especially as we seek to pilgrim faithfully through this world and life that you have ordained. We know that you guide each step and breath by your divine providence and that all things you order for us are tailor-made to strengthen our endurance and move us to persevere, leading to our arrival at our heavenly rest. Yet, we confess, there are times when the command to "count it all joy when you meet various trials" can be very hard. We face opposition on many sides. Friends suddenly disappear, and a sense of betrayal sets in. Our health crumbles, and our minds are plagued with worry and anxiety. We know you govern these things, and we long to respond as we are told: to trust you and place our hope in you because you are working to conform us to the Savior. Please help us and grant to us what you command, for we long to respond to these dark providences in a way that glorifies you. Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.
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Daily Prayer for July 31, 2021
Prayer: Grant almighty God that we as your people would learn to trust you in all things. We observe our lives and see that they are filled with manifold trials and difficulties. Those dark providences that you order are often difficult to withstand. Yet, we know that those things produce in your people perseverance and greater trust in you. We know that your Word highlights these things in the lives of your redeemed people and servants. Often you brought these great men and women of the faith through the floodwaters and fire to produce in them more and more of your image. We confess that there are times when we grumble and complain in the face of the refining fire of life. We know that this is an abomination before you, and we confess it openly with a great desire to submit to your will in all things. Thank you, our God, that you do not bring us through hardships because you don't care for us. We know that you do, and we know that even that troubles of this life are ordered by a loving Father who guides, directs, and upholds his people. Therefore, please help us submit to your will and allow those trials to perfect your goal of making us more like your Son in whose name we pray. Amen.
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Don't Be Wearied by Delay
Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:
Scripture: Acts 1:12-14
The narrative before us today follows on the heels of the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:6-11). in that final discourse, endeavoring to answer the question of his disciples (1:6), he promises that they "will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Of course, Jesus could have fulfilled that promise in an instant, but he chose to make them wait -- and wait, they did. Finally, after witnessing the ascension and hearing the comforting words of the two men (1:10-11), the disciples, along with a contingent of others, returned to Jerusalem and committed themselves to prayer. As they for the promise of Christ to be accomplished, they prayed.
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Daily Prayer for July 30, 2021
Prayer: Grant Almighty God that you would bring all glory to yourself today and that men, made in your image, would honor and adore you and glorify you in all that they do. We pray that your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Grant that your redeemed people, called by you and plucked from the world of sin and misery as a holy nation, would strive through all the means you have given to glorify you in every aspect of their lives. We confess to you that we rarely and consciously test our thoughts, words, and actions through the filter of your glory and what you command us to do. We are ashamed at how little we ponder your majesty and beauty. Though we are thankful for what you do for us, rarely do we sit still and meditate on who you are -- our God, full of glory and power, and might. Therefore, be pleased to help us through the eternal Spirit in that whatever we do, whether eating or drinking or whatever it may be, to honor and glorify you this day and every day. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Daily Prayer for July 29, 2021
Prayer: Grant Almighty God that we, as your redeemed people who you call the apple of your eye, might never lose our first love, that love we had for you and your Son at first. May we always be mindful of our sins that they are always before us to humble us and cause us to walk in dependence upon you. Grant to us, Father, a ready mind to meditate on the heart of Christ for his people and be pleased to then turn our hearts in warm affection for him and all that he has done, is doing and will do for us. We confess our weakness in this life as pilgrims in a strange land. Please grant to us perseverance that we might live as you have directed us. Be pleased to give us a willing mind and heart that we would dutifully and joyfully obey you in all things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Praying from Need and Desire
The events under consideration today are not unfamiliar to most. Here in John 11, we find the Savior raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was a friend and one Jesus loved deeply. Mary and Martha are the sisters of Lazarus, and they are in mourning over their brother's illness. Upon the news, they immediately sent word to Jesus (11:3). Jesus determined to delay for a brief period before making his way to Bethany near Jerusalem (11:18). In the meantime, the illness of Lazarus had taken its course, and, as a result, he died (11:14). Upon the Savior's arrival in Bethany, he first met Martha, who emphatically declared, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Later in the narrative, Mary utters the same words. How strong their faith in Christ! As the narrative moves to its climactic end, we take note of the heart of Christ for his children. On two occasions, we read that he was deeply moved (11:33, 38), and we also read that he wept over the circumstances he was facing. The love of Christ for us has not wavered since his ascension. He still loves his people in this way. Determining to resolve the matter, he raises Lazarus from the dead because he was the only one who could. Mary and Martha were utterly insufficient to resolve the problem that grieved them.
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Daily Prayer for July 28, 2021
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you have told us that our lives are brief, that they are a vapor. We are here today, and we are gone tomorrow. As your redeemed people, purchased with the blood of the spotless Lamb, your only begotten Son, we have been told by him to store for ourselves treasures in heaven where rust and rust will not destroy. In his great sermon, he has warned us that where our treasures are, there will our hearts be also. Forgive us, Father, for the numerous ways in which we value this fleeting life and store up treasures on this earth. Consciously or unconsciously, we create idols out of many things. We hold too tightly the material blessings of this world. So often, we seek to build our own kingdom and not the kingdom that you desire for us and command us to see. We labor for ourselves and not for that which is eternal. We groan and bewail our fleeting lives, knowing that you have ordered the very day of our death. Please help us to live with eternity always in view. Please grant us a zeal to do your holy will while it is still day because the night is coming when no man can work. Thank you for your abiding grace and continued presence, and cause us to persevere to your glory today and every day you grant to us. We pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Persistence in Prayer
Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:
Scripture: Luke 11:5-13
We live in a world today when people seemingly have everything they want instantly. The modern conveniences of our world have taught us to demand what we want and to get what we want now. Waiting? Patience? These virtues seem to be things of by-gone days. Accordingly, perseverance and persistence are lacking in the hearts and minds of many people. Laboring diligently and pressing forward even when things seem difficult are not things people are very good at, it seems. I am concerned that these virtues have been lost, by and large, in our world.
What is more alarming is how they seem to be lost in the church among professing Christians. Perseverance and persistence in the faith is something that all professing Christians are called to do. We are to do that in our lives as we strive after holiness and godliness using all the outward means whereby Christ communicates the benefits of redemption (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q85; Prov. 2:1-5). That is to say, that all of life is to be lived with persistence and perseverance. Therefore, that attitude and determination must be applied to the subject of prayer.
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Daily Prayer for June 26, 2021
Prayer: Our God in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you and praise you for another day that you have made. You have given us this day that we would glorify you in all that we do. As your people, we are committed to being glad that you have made this day that we might serve you and honor you and praise your name in thought, word, and deed. Therefore, please help us, Father. Forgive us for our sins and transgressions against you and help us to walk worthy of the calling you have placed on us. We thank you for the privilege of the preached Word that we heard yesterday and ask that you would cause us to meditate on it, confer with it, and seek to bring forth fruit from it in our lives. We know that we are often slow to hear, but please grant us willing hearts as we ponder the living voice of Christ to us, your redeemed children. Be merciful and grant us these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Daily Prayer for the Lord's Day, July 25, 2021
Prayer: Our God in heaven, you have redeemed a people to come apart from the world and be your chosen nation and treasured possession. Though we are not of the world, we still live in the world. As pilgrims, we are traveling to our heavenly rest, and you are pleased to give us one day in seven that we might come apart from our worldly employments and recreations and gather with our brothers and sisters in corporate worship. We thank you for this great privilege that is our in Christ. We know that you have no need of our worship but have given it to us that we might be reminded of your love for us as we exalt your name by singing your praises and hearing from you as your Word is read and, especially, proclaimed. Please help us, our Father, to take seriously the Lord's Day and especially the gathering of the saints. Do not allow us to make excuses to avoid your worship, knowing that as we miss worship, we miss Christ. Therefore, we pray for ourselves that we would have a zeal for your worship. We pray for our brothers and sisters who habitually miss worship. We ask that you would overwhelm our hearts with a desire to exalt you and that you would convict those who are absent for their disobedience. Please grant to us today a measure of your presence and give to us the eternal Spirit so we can worship you as you have commanded. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Prayers for Daily Needs
Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:
Scripture: Luke 11:1-4
The passage under consideration today is familiar to most. This text is the parallel passage that we find in Matt. 6. We know it as the Lord's Prayer. Traditionally the church has used this prayer as not merely a form of prayer, but one used in the corporate worship of God and quoted verbatim. It is a helpful prayer in that it teaches us much about prayer. The danger, however, is that we approach it with too much familiarity, not giving due attention to the words and meaning behind the words. Today we are considering the fourth petition (request) as given to us in Luke 11:3, "Give us this day our daily bread." The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches us what this means and what we should meditate on as we say this portion of the prayer. We read in WSC Q104, "What do we pray for in the fourth petition? In the fourth petition, which is, Give us this day our daily bread, we pray that of God's free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them." The fact is that all that we have in this life has come from God. He is the one who blesses us with the good things of this life. As you look around and take inventory of the many earthly possession in your life, do you frequently thank God for them, knowing that he is the one who has given them to you?
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Daily Prayer for July 23, 2021
Prayer: Almighty God in heaven, we praise your name today because you have granted us a new day to honor and serve you. This is the day you have made, and we will be glad and rejoice in it. We ask, our Father, that you would grant to us the zeal and perseverance to glorify you with the use of our time -- that we would redeem it, being careful to use the minutes and hours you have given us for your glory because the day and age in which we live are evil. Grant to us, holy God, a willing mind and spirit to spend each moment in your service and help us to resolve not to lose a single moment for the good of your kingdom. We ask that you would cause us to live with eternity in view and store up treasures in heaven and not earth. Please help us to remember that our lives are short and only those things done for you will last. Grant us these requests through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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