Father God,

I pray that You would make our hearts and minds receptive to the Spirit’s work of sanctification through Providence and the Word. The submission to the Potter’s hands are often not easy as the Spirit presses into areas of our lives that we treasure, areas that we protect, areas that we want to hold back from Your molding and shaping. We thank You that Your are patient and gentle even as You strip away self-sufficiency, secret sins, little idols, false notions, and more. We also thank You that You love us so much that You press into these areas of our lives and will never forsake us.

Encourage us as we are shaped by Your Hands, knowing that our Heavenly Father spares no effort in caring for those He has chosen in His Son. Draw us closer and closer to You and Your ways through the working of Your Spirit in us. Then enable us to be Your hands and feet, serving as Your gentle Hands to bless others through the comfort and work by which You shaped us.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that Your children would understand what Isaiah 49:8-9 means for us as Your faithfulness to Your Servant is on full display in these verses. Though the Servant was deeply despised and abhorred by the nation, though the Servant lamented that He had labored in vain in 49:4, the Lord declares with repeated certainty that the Servant will accomplish all that He was intended to accomplish, even salvation to the “end of the earth”.

While we ourselves are not in any way the Servant, himself, we are in the Servant as He is our covenant (49:8) and we are the prisoners that He will set free in 49:9. We are also those whom shall be fed and provided for by the work of the Servant in 49:9-11. The guaranteeing by the Lord of the Servant’s work means that we will enjoy the blessings of such a salvation.

So as we lament and walk through any present storm or dark valley, keep us in full confidence of these promises so that we do not grow weary, so that we do not despair, so that we do not take our eyes off the Servant who saves and in whom we have all the blessings that accompany salvation in the covenant that He himself is. Your kingdom come, Your will be done. In this is our hope and greatest blessing.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I thank You that Christ understands our despair, our despondency that we experience like in Isaiah 49:4 in which the Servant says “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” So many times, we feel as though we have spent our every drop of effort and yet we feel empty handed for all our efforts. Christ knew the pain and expressed that in “My God, Why have your forsaken me?” as well as in these words in Isaiah.

Enable us to follow those words of Isaiah 49:4’s first half with the second half of 49:4 in which the Servant trusts the Lord’s will to provide recompense. May we always find our hope and its fulfillment in the power and promises of our loving Father. May we find peace for our souls in knowing that our Savior truly and fully understands the pains of our heart in our darkest hours.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray for our nation, that it would not get what it deserves. I pray for mercy as I read Your Word regarding obedience and honoring Your statutes, yet I see a rebellious spirit at work in so many of the people and in so many of the leaders. l know that we do not deserve blessing for having turned away from so many foundational principles of Your Word.

We as a nation has squandered away so much of the Godly heritage that once was. While there was never a golden time in which earthly society did merit the fullness of blessing, I recognize that we as a nation have continued to move further and further away from Your Word and Your Ways. What blessing of obedience we once had is fading with each step away from honoring You and Your Word.

Have mercy and let Your chastisement restore Your remnant in our nation to seeing Your Word in its rightful place, not only seeing it there, but submitting to it there in its fullness that we might walk in blessing rather than chastisement. Let that obedience shine forth before a watching world so that even they recognize Your work in us and through us and for us.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray against fear of the unknown that so many of us walk through in some form or fashion each day. Even when we know in one sense what has happened, we don’t know how You will use all things for good, sometimes even thinking “how could this possibly be used for good?”. I pray that we would be rooted in the promises of an all-wise and all-powerful Lord who holds us and all of creation in Your Mighty Hand.

Teach our hearts to remain calm in the storms with our eyes set on You, holding to the promises which have never let us down before. Cause those promises to wrap around us and give us peace that only comes from above.

For all those who are struggling today with the unknowns of this world, the broken promises of this world, the disappointments of this world, grant all a supernatural sense of Your presence and promises that they might know they have hope in You for You have prepared all they need for the unknowns and it is blessed.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that today we would treasure, we would cherish the precious reality of our irrevocable calling to be Yours. We read in Isaiah 48 how Your calling on Israel both in terms of preserving them despite their unfaithfulness and in terms of Your bringing about Your plans for them, even through Cyrus, was certain beyond any obstacle or hindrance to Your calling.

We clearly have no idea, no sense of the amazing nature of our calling as Your children if we are not overwhelmed by the beauty and glory of this adoption as sons and daughters of the Living God.

Cause our eyes to perceive beyond the physical and to peer into the spiritual world with spiritual eyes such that we would rejoice with overflowing joy in the calling upon our lives to belong to You.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray for Psalm 2’s command for the rulers of the world to Kiss the Son, submitting their rule to Christ as their king. We know that the Word makes clear that You direct the hearts and minds of rulers of this world to carry out Your will. Therefore we cry out for You to bring their rule under direct obedience to Your Word by their conversion to the faith.

We pray that those who do know Your Name already would also fully submit their lives as our leaders to Your commands. I pray against any false and wicked philosophy that their public service does not have to bow to Your commands for obedience.

And I pray for Your children who walk simply as citizens to come to a right and proper understanding of how our public servants are to walk before the face of God in submission rather than rebellion. Remove any false understandings and give us true wisdom in regards to the civil government. Enable us to pray in fullness of truth for our leaders so that we may live Godly lives upon this earth.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray that You would open the gates of heaven and rain down blessing upon those who have been waiting on You, those who have been praying without ceasing, those whose hearts are pure by Your Spirit at work in them, those who have been seeking and knocking, those who have been crying out night and day.

We call upon You by the Name of Christ, by the work of Christ in us, by the blood of the Lamb covering us.

Though we walk through the shadows of Psalm 88, we strive into Psalm 89 proclaiming the glories and promises of a God who delivers, a God who saves, a faithful God, a merciful God, a God who answers prayers.

Hear our cry and let our waiting come to an end.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today I pray against the enemy’s attempt to thwart or to hinder both the fruit of Your children’s kingdom work and the enjoyment of it. We know that the enemy continues to press against the building of the kingdom which he knows he cannot ultimately destroy. We know that the enemy wants to deprive Your children of every temporal enjoyment of Your promises even if he can’t prevent their fruition.

But, You have called us to a rest that the enemy cannot steal away from us as we look to You. His work in this world may distract and may seem to put at risk Your work, but the Word and Spirit make clear that Your will is always victorious and thus we will be conquerors in You.

Though we must not get preoccupied with the enemy’s work, lead us to pray against the enemy’s hand and through those prayers, let us overcome his intent and be free of his power as Christ’s victory brings his influence to an end.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.

Father God,

Today, I pray You would give sight to Your remnant both in terms of understanding Your Word rightly and in understanding the times in which we live. We live in an age where the number of “voices” we hear has multiplied and the ability to discern the trustworthiness of those voices has greatly diminished.

We can hear within seconds voices and reports across the world through technology, having awareness of events that may or may not have any impact on our lives. Yet, the distance and the multiplying of voices leaves us potentially even more uncertain about what is true as we cannot personally evaluate the truth of those reports due to that distance and its disconnection from the people involved in those events.

We hear so many voices saying so much that contradicts each other, leaving us unsure regarding what really happened. The media twists and distorts. The ideologies each present their own narratives. Beyond knowing what really “happened”, we do not even have the capacity to mentally sort through the complexities of motives behind the actions and events.

Make us to first fear You in order to seek the beginning of wisdom. Then let us consume Your Word and be consumed by it. Only then turn our gaze upon the world around us and see it through the lens of Word and Spirit, discerning the times like the tribe of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32). Make us to rest in trusting that though our understanding will always fall short of being complete, we can rest in the reality that our Heavenly Father holds all things in Your hands. Show us what we need to know so we can direct our steps rightly before Your Face and grant us peace to trust You with what we can’t see or know or understand.

In Christ’s Name,

Amen.