Father God,

Today, I pray for the wounded in spirit, who have the scars of life’s flow rather than life’s events.

We can more easily recognize those who were scarred by an event such as a loss, an attack, an illness, a pain, or other occurrence which came and went in a short time. What we don’t recognize, even when we ourselves experienced it, are the flows of our days which eroded us, leaving not cracks in our spirits, but wore away the shape of our beings including the deepening of the cracks of those visible events.

These scars can even be invisible in a sense to those who experience them, though they feel the pain. The pain does not affect their spirit in the same way however. Rather than a recognizable pain that is clearly connected to a present and/or past event, the pain of life’s flow cannot be described or connected so easily. The present pain seems out of proportion to the present’s events, yet the intensity is as undeniable as it is indescribable.

I pray that You would give sight into the darkness for those experience such scar of life’s flow and for those who walk presently with them. I pray that with Your light, they could both see what is the real reason for present pain as well as discover security in You and in those around them. I pray that the present security in You and Your hands and feet of loved ones would press healing into the previously invisible wounds and scars so that they would overcome.

Lord, have mercy on those who are captive to these invisible yet painful scars.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that You would remove our tastes for the pleasures of this world, even the simple ones, if they in any way interfere with pursuing holiness in Your sight. I pray not for the ascetic life, but for a life in which all the pleasures of this world are received as gifts which point to You and draw to You rather than distract from Your or attract to themselves.

Let us learn to enjoy this world in its fullness as children of the Living God who have been made stewards over it so that we might bear abundant fruit and enjoy Your blessings as they are determined by Your Providence. Let our daily bread overflow so that we might bless others around us and know that our God does not hold back sufficient blessings for His children.

Teach us to value all things according to Your Ways and Will rather than by our desires and ideas.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen

Father God,

Today, I pray for Your children to be able to rest in Your providence so that we may respond in fruitfulness to Your blessings that You rain down upon us. As we read in Isaiah 45:8, let us respond like the earth receiving rain and producing abounding fruit from the Lord’s rain. Let us not respond like Israel in the following verses, quibbling against their coming deliverance at the hand of a Gentile conqueror (Cyrus).

Let us receive from You, both in the ordinary and the extraordinary of our days, knowing that all rests in the hands of the one who created us, who forms us day by day, making us into the likeness of Christ as You provide our daily bread in sufficiency.

Show us where we are quibbling like Israel, speaking back to our Potter as an ungrateful and foolish potsherd.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,
Today, I pray for those who walk in invisibility, those whose darkness of body and/or soul is unrecognized by those around them. So many walk through their days feeling alone and without anyone to understand their struggles, their suffering. This often further leads to not even understanding their own pain or its source.
So many have given up on others to empathize or demonstrate caring through acts of mercy and service. So many have given up on receiving even kind words of comfort.
I pray that Your church would awaken to its deafness and blindness of the lonely in its midst. The church at large has lost sight of those in its midst who needs the cup of cold water, the words of encouragement, the silence of sitting with them through the storms they face. Remove the stony layer over the hearts of Your people that they might love one another as You command once again.

In Christ’s Name,
Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that as in Isaiah 44:25-26, that You would frustrate the signs of liars, make fools of diviners, turn the wise men back, and make their knowledge foolish as you simultaneously confirm the word of Your servant and fulfil the counsel of Your servant’s messengers.

We live in a day where both liars outside the church and liars supposedly inside the church who deny You and deny Your Word. They claim both superior supernatural knowledge and superior human knowledge that they claim is greater than Your wisdom.

Without the working of Your Word and Your Spirit in Your remnant, we would be deceived also.

Make their ways to be trapped in confusion of darkness even as Your light makes all others see their foolishness to the point of mocking and jeering. Grant that we, Your people would overcome and walk in Your light, Your ways, Your Word, by Your Spirit.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that You would speak clearly through Your Spirit to make Your people understand what our role as earthly citizens should be while we walk as heavenly citizens upon this earth. You made us body and spirit, commanding us to take dominion of this earth which requires us to relate one with another. You commanded us to love one another, to teach, to admonish, to address sins with one another, to administer justice, and to proclaim truth.

How we walk on this earth as individuals carrying out these commands intersects with how we collectively govern different bodies of people. The Bible provides that truth, but we need Your Spirit to make our minds to understand so that we can overcome the sinful nature which we are still mortifying.

Show us clearly how to apply Your truths to our voting, our participation in government, our alliance, to our emphases, to our public statements. Keep us in remembrance that Your Word applies to all of life as You are sovereign over all areas of life, personal and public, individual and collective.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen

Father God,

Today, I pray that You would have mercy on Your children in this nation, that we would not be deceived by those inside the church or outside the church who want to remove the Your influence through the church on the laws of our nation.

We are called to be a witness to the world of Your glory.

We are called to take every thought captive to Your will.

We are called to speak truth in all settings of our daily walk.

We are to tear down the gates of hell.

We are to proclaim God’s sovereignty over every aspect of life.

We are to love one another so that the world knows we belong to You.

Grant that we may see clearly how to vote, how to advocate for righteousness, how to resist wickedness, how to care for the persecuted, and how to stand for Your Word in all of life. Let us never forget that it all belongs to You and we are only stewards of these gifts.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that we, the people of God, would find peace and rest in the reality of Isaiah 44:22. The simple phrase “return to me, for I have redeemed you” meant that You, o Lord, had completed the work of redemption, not needing man’s contribution. Israel and we today belong to You. The call is not to come in order to be converted, but to come because You redeemed us.

We clearly don’t fully comprehend the fullness of this or the first half of the verse where You blot out transgressions which are nothing more than cloud and mist. Your work of redemption is not hindered by our works once You set Your Name upon us as Your elect.

Teach us to walk in the joy of having our transgressions blotted out. Let that replay over and over in our minds until it soaks and saturates all our moments of the days and of our nights.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

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Father God,

Today, I pray to You, the One Redeemer and One Provider of all good things, that You might hear my cries and the cries of Your remnant for strength for the day regardless of what may come. Each of us has something that we must face today. Each of us have physical, emotional, relational, and ultimately spiritual challenges standing before us today.

Grant that we have the faith to see through these challenges, through those waves, through those clouds and see You leading us as the Good Shepherd through to the green pastures and still waters. Then fill our bodies and spirits with the strength and wisdom to step into those challenges and overcome them through the power of the Spirit within us.

Make us overcomers of today’s challenges and build our faith in knowing that You will do the same for tomorrow’s challenges.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that Your children would see where we trust in modern idols which are just as worthless and foolish and shameful as those described in Isaiah 44:9-10. The idols of Isaiah’s day were wood and metal fashioned by the hands of craftsmen. The idols of our day are less immediately tangible, but just as foolish.

Today, man trusts in the power of their own hands whether that comes in following worldly philosophies, in trusting the plans of man in government, or simply the advancement of civilization and technology. Ultimately, it stills comes down to not putting our trust in the God of the Bible, in the One who redeemed us, in the Triune God whom we should worship and trust.

Cause us to see where we are trusting in today’s idols and let us cast them aside, looking again to the One who holds all things in Your hands, then One who determines our lives. Forgive us and set us free from these worldly bonds which bind us spiritually.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen