Category: Praying

“You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” – John Bunyan.

O Lord, the God of all mankind, enthroned in the heavens, the God who reigns supremely over all kingdoms and over all the nations of the earth! You are the self-sufficient and self-existent being, immutable and unchanging, a rock who is utterly trustworthy. Your greatness is irresistible, your wisdom is unsearchable, and your beauty is unequalled. You hold all power and might in your hand, and you offer your signet ring to whomever you will, according to your divine purposes.

You are in absolute control over all affairs of life, the transcendent God who is also imminent; the God who covers himself in darkness and darkness itself hides and becomes as light before you; the God who dwells in light unapproachable; the infinite One that cannot be contained – nothing perturbs you.

As high and lofty as you are, you have drawn near to us as we draw nigh to you, and you have brought us into an everlasting friendship! Friends of God, how possible? We stand in awe of your majesty and praise you because you always work in favour of your people, your chosen ones whom you have redeemed by your might and by your right arm. While the storms rage and the enemies supplant, we rest in your friendship as you have become our defender.

But why does evil seem to prevail? How come disaster has become natural? How long will the enemy triumph and our eyes grow dim in sorrow over the increasing rebellion of the wicked? How long, O Lord, will you allow your name to be mocked? How long will fear, anxiety and depression subsume your image bearers? Please take your hand from the fold of your garment and cause your wonders to be known once again. Let your righteousness and steadfast love extend over your creation. Would that the Lord rend the heavens and amaze us by your mighty sovereignty; heal and bind our brokenness and let us experience life instead of death.

O God, we toil under the sword of judgment; plagues and famine consume us; things that we cannot see with our naked eyes hold us to ransom and almost halt all human activities and flourishing. Our souls are bowed down to the dust, and our bodies are pressed to the earth, but we stand in your presence and cry to you from our distress for salvation. We are your people who are called by your name, please extend mercy to us since you are not ashamed to be called our God.

Our eyes are on you as we long for the consummation of the kingdom of your dear Son, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. We desperately ache for that day when your enemies become your footstool, and the King of kings befittingly sits on the throne of his father, David, and reign supremely, including over the last enemy, death. From that heavenly temple, please radiate on us the ever-shining glory of the Lion of Judah as we eagerly anticipate his coming when we shall see him face to face and our lowly bodies will be transformed as his glorious body. Until then, please keep us faithful.

Amen.

*Inspired by Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 20.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14

Even so, we pray still!

In our distress, we call to you, O Lord, please answer us. From the deep, in the realm of the dead, we call for help, please listen to our cry. You promised to answer when we call on you. We now call on you, who is worthy to be praised.

We have wallowed in the depths, in the very heart of calamity where the currents swirl us, and all your waves and breakers sweep over us; flood ahead and enemies behind. Seas of adversity, anxiety and depression overwhelm us, and our beds are wet with our tears.

Nevertheless, we look to your heavenly temple, where the curtain has been ripped into two, as we now access our great high priest, our dependable advocate that empathises with our weaknesses. We come with confidence to find mercy and grace in this time of need. For who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died for us, and it is with him we have now been united in an inestimable love that can never be unbound.

Even while the engulfing waters threaten and the deep surrounds us, we have confidence that we are not alone. We rest in the Spirit of Christ who sustains us, even through the shadows of death. May the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts cast out every form and trace of fear and may we walk with certain hope.

Lord, our God, when life seems to ebb away, please bring our lives from the pit and raise us out of the dungeon of hopelessness. Please deliver us from worthless idols and make us respond with loyalty and faithfulness to your love so that, with shouts of grateful praise, we may offer acceptable sacrifice to you. Indeed, salvation comes from the Lord!

We beg you to remove from our hearts all traces of apathy and lukewarmness. Instead, fill us with passionate desire to know and do your good pleasure. Let our ‘knee time’ exceed our ‘me time’; in public and private, may our lives be steeped in prayer, filled with the spirit of grace and supplication.

Amen.

*An adaptation of Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2.

Oh that praying would be of first importance, and not our last resort!

Father, we confess that you are the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love you and keep your commandments. What a privilege for us to be drawn into friendship and eternal covenant with the Godhead, and this is only made possible through the sacrifice of your Son. We thank you for that sacrifice that speaks better things on behalf of your chosen people.

Lord, we are sorry that we have not been faithful to you and to your covenant. At times, we have ignored you entirely, at other times, we have extremely worked hard to earn a right standing with you in our own strength, using our sanctification as means for our justification. We have often trusted in ourselves and things that we have made instead of trusting in you. Father, it does feel as if we are in exile once again; we have transgressed your laws and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. We are truly sorry.

We are experiencing agonising pain and suffering in our world. Civil unrests and wars, poverty and illiteracy; climate changes and a pandemic, and the list seems endless. The unprecedented dross, degradation and death are decimating humanity and marring your image bearers. We seek your favour amid these disasters that you have allowed, turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.

As we are covered in shame, we come to be clothed in the perfect righteousness of your Son. Even though we have rebelled against you and not kept your laws, we know that you are merciful and forgiving. Will you please shine your light in full strength on the global church? With your sharp sword, come and renew us and restore us to the place of fervency and great delight in your Son. Open our ear to hear what the Spirit of your Son is saying to us and grant us strength that we might be faithful ambassadors of your eternal kingdom.

Lord, you are righteous in everything you do, we recount your past mercies through redemptive history. In keeping with all your righteous acts, please turn away your anger and your wrath from us. Our sins and our disobedience have made us objects of scorn. Please hear the prayers and petitions of your servants. For your sake, Lord, look with favour on the church. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation in the world. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your world and your elect bear your Name.

We cast our fears and burdens at your feet. In our restlessness, please grant us grace to be still and to know that you are God. In our unending demands, grant us peace and freedom to accept your timetable and your ways. In our waiting, please grant us a very real sense of your presence and goodness. Help us discern between the good and the best, between the eternal and the temporary, and may the gospel compel us to love mercy, work for justice, and walk humbly with you until the day we see your face. We look forward to that Day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, but until that day, please give us oil in our lamps that we may patiently endure to the end.

Amen.

*An adaptation of Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9.

In light of all that is going on around us, would you lend your voice in prayer today, following in the footsteps of Nehemiah?

Oh sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, the great and awesome God, who loves relentlessly and sacrificially. Faithful and dependable are you. We love you because you have first loved us.

Please, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayers of your servants, prayers that are offered before you day and night on behalf of the peoples that you have made in your own image and after your own likeness. We are your people living in the world you created, and we come to you because you have promised to hear us when we earnestly seek your face; our souls thirst and long for you as a dry and parched land longs for rain.

We confess our sins to you. We have strayed away from your ways and order; we have rejected your truth and instead allowed falsehood, animosity, selfishness and hatred to fester. We have acted in unkind ways towards you and towards one another, and we have not been responsible enough to look after the world. We have neglected the poor and the needy as we have allowed our love of pleasure in me-centeredness to shape us. We are truly sorry as our sins are many, but your mercy is more.

Our paralysis seems not to be disconnected from our sins and disobedience, but we are convinced of your flood of mercy and forgiveness that you have promised to the penitent. We look to the cross of your Son where mercy and justice kiss, please relent and turn away from your wrath. Please cleanse our dirty feet and cure the leprosy of our hearts. Please clean our slate and dump our past, present and future sins into the sea of forgetfulness.

We now beg you to command your blessings upon your world at this dark hour. We, your people, whom you redeemed by your strength and your mighty hand, cry to you on behalf of your creation, may the flood of healing and restoration flow into the lives of both young and old, male and female. Cause your generosity and goodness to abound, reaching to the four corners of the earth; let light overcome darkness; let truth outwit lies; let salvation come to us all. And through it all, please make us ready to meet Your Son when he returns to bring the fullness of his kingdom. In the meantime, please let us enjoy a foretaste of the blessings of that perfect kingdom, in spite our fragility.Lord, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your people who delight in revering your name and give us success.

Amen.

J.C. Ryle, a 19th Century Anglican bishop, asks a pointed and necessary question in this very short book – Do you pray? A question for everybody.

Below is an excerpt of the book’s prologue:

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1)

I desire then that in every place the men should pray (1 Timothy 2:8)

“I want to ask you an exceptionally important question. It is the title of this short book and it is contained in just three words: Do you pray?

Only you can answer that question. Your minister knows whether you attend public worship or not. Your relatives know whether you have family prayers at home or not. Your friends may know whether you pray with other people. But only you know whether you pray in private. That is a matter between just you and God.

I beg you to think carefully about this. Please do not say that the question is too personal. If your heart is right in God’s sight, it should not be a problem. There is nothing to be worried about. Please do not try to sidestep my question by saying that you ‘say your prayers’. We all know that it is one thing to say your prayers, and another thing entirely to ‘pray’. And please do not tell me that my question is unnecessary. Bear with me a little while longer, and I will show you that I have some very good reasons for asking it.”

In a simple and straightforward manner, the book offers reasons why the question that doubles as its title is a vital one to ask and be asked. “Do you genuinely want to grow in grace and be a truly holy Christian? If you do, there is no more important question than this: Do you pray?“

Do pick up a copy to read.

Thanks for reading!

Sike Osinuga.